Daley's woes of his own making, his critics say

Mayor's rule by fear has some aldermen feeling bitter

After enduring two hours of interrogation by federal investigators probing City Hall corruption, Mayor Daley stood before a wall of cameras with a lump in his throat and his heart on his sleeve.

Everyday Chicagoans couldn't help but feel some measure of sympathy for their besieged mayor. The sympathy was lost on Chicago aldermen, who have had it up to here with Daley's dictatorial style.

For 16 years, City Council members feel like they've been taken for granted by a mayor who governs by fiat, leaves them in the dark about key decisions and established a network of independent political organizations that siphoned jobs away from ward organizations in an end-run around the Shakman decree and the Democratic Party structure.

Those same aldermen now see a measure of justice in the fact that the renegade organizations the mayor used to govern by fear are at the root of scandal. Chief among them is the Hispanic Democratic Organization, led by Victor Reyes, former director of the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

"The single most important fear was this army of thugs that he had on the street. Come election time, all he had to do was snap his fingers, and 500 of them were in your ward kicking your ass," said an alderman who asked to remain anonymous.

"This political underworld shut out the traditional party structure. He created it. He ran wild with it, and now it's starting to devour him. These organizations are the single-biggest factor in the mayor's undoing."

Ald. Joe Moore (49th) agreed that there is not a "tremendous amount of sympathy" for Daley because of his dictatorial style and renegade political army. That explains why U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has so far been the only prominent Democrat to stand up and publicly defend Daley.

"Whether it was by design or just willful ignorance, the mayor bears responsibility for the growth of these independent political organizations loyal only to the mayor and the fact that so many people in those organizations received city jobs in violation of the Shakman decree," Moore said.

Ald. Brian Doherty (41st), the Council's lone Republican, said he knows how bitter his Democratic colleagues are about the mayor's political army.

"HDO, the Coalition for a Better Government -- these organizations under his people's leadership -- they acted like rogues. They weren't answerable to anybody, so they basically did what they wanted to do," Doherty said.

Like his father, former Mayor Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley has a closed circle of advisers that has been tightened even more as the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals move ever closer to his door, said another alderman who is a Daley supporter.

Mayor's selfish image

"Do I feel badly? No. I have never been that close to him or in that inner circle. Not like family. I like him. I think he's been a good leader with a great vision for the city. But he trusts me only on certain issues. You can only respond to the way you've been treated," the alderman said.

On the day he was interrogated in his office, Daley was at his emotional best. He talked about how he loves his job so much, it's almost like he's "married to it." He talked about a city he loves so dearly, he sometimes "defends too much." He ate humble pie again last week when he apologized to the people of Chicago for failing to move aggressively enough to weed out corruption.

Another one of Daley's Council allies went so far as to question the mayor's sincerity. "Any time he's in trouble, out comes that woe-is-me side. You wonder: Is it a side or a facade?" the ally said.

Daley has long been viewed among fellow politicians as prince of the city and a one-way street.

Part of that is based on the mayor's failure to go to bat for longtime allies seeking elective office -- Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th) and former chiefs of staff John Schmidt and Forrest Claypool, just to name a few. It's also based on his history of cutting off friends at the first sign of controversy.

Another part of the equation is jealousy stemming from Daley's political pedigree as Son of Boss.

Whether envy plays a role, the mayor's selfish image has only been enhanced by the scandal-induced housecleaning that has thrown so many city department heads under the bus, Moore said.

"People who were very close allies of the mayor feel as though they didn't always receive the same degree of loyalty in return, particularly when the going got tough," Moore said.

Some aldermen pointed to Daley's penchant for keeping aldermen in the dark on key issues -- like the midnight destruction of Meigs Field and his ill-fated plan to wash his hands of city hiring and promotions. Doherty talked about the mayor's intolerance for Council dissent.

"Freshmen aldermen who just got appointed were pressured to vote for a pay raise when they didn't need the votes. It was like they had to pitch a shutout every time. They wouldn't tolerate opposition. Why would you do that to your allies -- force them to take a bad vote when you don't need the votes?" Doherty said.

Several aldermen cited the Meigs debacle as a seminal moment for Daley.

Meigs decision was pivotal

That infamous decision by a mayor newly re-elected with 78 percent of the vote lifted the cover on Daley as a politician who believes the end justifies the means. It was a dark side that those in the closed circle of Chicago politics had known about for years, but the public had rarely seen.

"The decision to tear up Meigs Field was a sign he was suffering from a certain degree of political hubris," Moore said.

"That's when people started to turn on Daley," another alderman said.

It's not unusual for aldermen to chafe under a mayor's iron-fisted control. Now, the same dynamic appears to be working against Daley, a mayoral ally said.

"A bunch of guys were not too unhappy initially about the fast-moving federal investigation. They wanted to see him taken down a peg or two. There'd be a little more interaction, openness and inclusiveness. But I don't think they wanted to see the whole castle falling down," the alderman said.