John Harris: Go-to guy for Daley, Blago

JOHN HARRIS | Chief of staff 'thinks he's the governor'

John Harris has a picture on his office wall that shows him standing at Meigs Field on that infamous March 2003 night when Mayor Daley sent in the bulldozers to carve giant X's on the runway.

"He was supervising the destruction of Meigs. He took a lot of gusto in that," said a former colleague.

On Tuesday, Harris was in the eye of a bigger storm.

Federal prosecutors accused Rod Blagojevich's chief of staff of doing the governor's political dirty work in a series of shakedown schemes that involved the appointment of a U.S. Senate replacement for President-elect Barack Obama and such iconic Chicago institutions as Children's Memorial Hospital and the Chicago Tribune.

It was a stunning fall from grace for Harris, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer who was once the mayor's go-to guy.

An ally of longtime Daley aides Victor Reyes and Frank Kruesi, Harris hopscotched from deputy police superintendent to first deputy aviation commissioner in charge of contracts and runway expansion before landing in the all-important job of budget director.

Harris was also active in an army of Aviation Department employees that did precinct work for Daley's handpicked candidates, including incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel when he ran for Congress.

"It's sad. It's a sad day. It's very sad," Daley said of charges against Harris.

"He was a very good employee. I'll be very frank. You know that. You worked with him. You knew him personally. He worked very hard. . . . [But], once you step over there, you don't know what they did," he said.

Aggressive and tough as nails, Harris was drawn to power -- so much so that he left City Hall in a huff to join Blagojevich in 2005 after Daley chose Ron Huberman as chief of staff to clean up the mess caused by the Hired Truck and city hiring scandals.

Harris never forgave Huberman for inheriting the chief of staff's job he coveted.

During the drive nearly a year ago to avert "doomsday" service cuts and fare increases, Huberman put up signs warning riders their bus routes would be cut because of a state funding shortage. Harris called his archrival and threatened that the CTA would not get "another penny" until the signs were taken down.

It's that dark, bullying side of Harris that was alleged in the federal affidavit. Harris has been playing hardball with City Hall colleagues for years on issues including casino gambling

But the change in Harris' outlook and demeanor when he went to work for Blagojevich was so striking that some former colleagues actually asked Harris to his face: "What happened to you?"

What happened is that a desperately ambitious Harris filled a power vacuum in state government caused by the investigations swirling around Blagojevich.

"The governor isn't around. He's never at the Thompson Center. . . . Everything goes through John Harris. He's been filling the void. John Harris thinks he's the governor," one longtime observer said.