In a surprising move, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced he won't be running for reelection next year. Daley has served as mayor since 1989 and was the recipient of my vote four times. Sure, I don't agree with him on everything, but I liked his pro-business views. The Hired Truck Scandal didn't break until 2004, by then I was a suburbanite. Just as with his father, Richard J. Daley, the last and greatest of the big city bosses, the nature of his iron-fisted rule will have an unfortunate side effect--it will dwarf the next generation of leadership. After the death of Richard I in 1976, the ineffective Michael J. Bilandic followed. He was defeated in his attempt for a full term by Jane Byrne. After four chaotic years of the woman Mike Royko dubbed "Mayor Bossy," Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor, edged Byrne and Richard II. Washington died, he was succeeded by another ineffective leader, Eugene Sawyer, who lost to "Richie."
Fearing an historical repeat, Chicago's business leaders are concerned about another journey in the wilderness of what was called Beirut-by-the-lake. They should be worried. Business likes predictability and Chicago has been hit hard by the recession. The economic downturn won't last 13 years, but the Daley-to-Daley unhappy interregnum did.
Daley's numbers had been slipping in the polls, but it was my opinion he would have easily won reelection. But his wife, Maggie, is suffering from cancer. His priorities are different at age 68.
Who will be the next mayor of Chicago? It could be anyone, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Leaving now would allow him to save face--he can always say he wants to be mayor to those who will claim he is abandoning a sinking ship.
Related post:
Steve Goodman: Daley's Gone
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