Why Chicago sticks with its Daleys

Mayor Richard M. Daley, reelected Tuesday in a landslide, overcame little-known opponents and whiffs of scandal.

from the March 1, 2007 edition

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Three incumbents lost their seats Tuesday, and another 11 face a runoff election in April because they failed to win a majority of the votes. Among the newcomers is Sandi Jackson, wife of Representative Jackson and a Daley foe, who ousted incumbent alderman Darcel Beavers.

The results led some to suggest Daley will face a more independent City Council than the one he's had for most of his tenure. "The independent block in the City Council will double," says Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman and a political scientist at the University of Illinois here. "If they can find an organizer, they'll be an effective force. They'll be pushing a living-wage ordinance and affordable housing."

The term is expected to be Daley's last. He's on track to become the city's longest-serving mayor on Dec. 26, 2010, breaking his father's record, though Daley has said repeatedly he is unconcerned with that feat. Most observers expect him to focus on his legacy: the schools, the economy, and his efforts to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago.

Daley is likely to be remembered favorably for helping to overcome Chicago's racial divide and for bringing smart development to the city, says Don Rose, a Chicago political consultant. But Mr. Rose doesn't expect him to make serious efforts to take on the corruption and hiring scandals that are increasingly identified with city government.

"He's been the beneficiary of this corruption," says Rose. "Is he going to become a reform-minded mayor in the next four years? We don't see that happening anywhere."

But if Daley was helped by low turnout and weak opponents, he's also genuinely loved by most Chicagoans. He's an awkward orator – his acceptance speech was typically short – but a politician with whom many residents can identify: He has no ambition but his current job, wears his heart on his sleeve, and adores this city.

"He's made the city look beautiful," says Harry Walter, a radiologist who has lived near the lakefront for 20 years. He voted – in an election that only about one-third of Chicagoans turned out for – because he likes the mayor and "wanted to put in my two cents." In Mr. Walter's ward, in which the race for alderman was uncontested, he was only the 75th voter to show up at his polling station as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Pam Baumgartner, an art teacher who was on her way to vote, says concerns about corruption, in the end, didn't much factor into her decision to support Daley, who she likes and who she says has improved the city. "I'm born and raised in Chicago," she says. "We become really, really jaded. I think they're all somewhat corrupt."

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