Richard M. Daley
Encyclopedia
Richard Michael Daley is a United States
politician
, member of the national and local Democratic Party
, and former Mayor of Chicago
, Illinois
. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his father, Richard J. Daley
, on December 26, 2010. Daley announced on September 7, 2010, that he would not run for re-election in 2011. His term ended May 16, 2011. On May 24, 2011 the University of Chicago
announced Daley's appointment as a senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy and on June 1, 2011 international law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP announced that Daley would be of counsel
to the firm.
Daley was chosen by Time
magazine in its April 25, 2005 issue as the best out of five mayors of large cities in the United States, and characterized as having "imperial" style and power, he has presided over a resurgence in tourism, the modernization of the Chicago Transit Authority
, the mayoral takeover of the Chicago Public Schools
, the construction of Millennium Park
, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's North Side, as well as the near South and West sides. He took over 70% of the mayoral vote in 1999, 2003, and 2007. According to a Chicago Tribune
poll taken in late 2009, however, Daley's approval rating was at an all-time low of 35%. Prior to serving as mayor, Daley served in the Illinois Senate
and then as the Cook County
State's Attorney
.
and Eleanor Daley, the late Mayor and First Lady of Chicago. Originally from Bridgeport
, a historically Irish-American neighborhood located southwest of the Chicago Loop
, Daley graduated from De La Salle Institute
and obtained his bachelor's degree
from Providence College
in 1964 and his Juris Doctor
from DePaul University
.
Prior to earning his law degree, Daley served in the Marine Reserves. He passed the Illinois Bar Examination on his third try. When asked about the subject, Daley said "I flunked the bar exam twice. I had to keep studying harder and harder and harder. I passed it the third time."
Mayor Daley was married to Margaret (née
Corbett) until her death from a ten-year battle with breast cancer on November 24, 2011. They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin, all of whom were born at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. Their second son, Kevin, was two years old when he died of complications of spina bifida
in 1981.
Mayor Daley is brother to William M. Daley
, current White House Chief of Staff
and former United States Secretary of Commerce
under President
Bill Clinton
; and John P. Daley
, a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners
who also serves as its finance chairman.
He also served as the 11th Ward Democratic committeeman
after his father died in 1976 until passing the role on to his brother John P. Daley
in 1980. Daley served as Committeman of the 11th Ward from 1976 to 1980, stepping down when he ran for States Attorney of Cook County. He succeeded his father, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley for the post, which the elder Daley had held from 1955 until his death. With John P. Daley holding the post from 1980 to the present, a Daley has held the post of 11th Ward Committeeman for 60 years.
to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention. On the strength of his father's political machine, Daley next ran for and won a seat in the Illinois Senate
, serving from 1972 to 1980. He left Springfield
to become Cook County
State's Attorney
, serving from 1981 to 1989. Daley's tenure as county prosecutor was interrupted in 1983 with his first mayoral campaign, losing in the three-way primary to Congressman
Harold Washington
. Incumbent Jane Byrne
, a former protege of Daley's father, was also defeated.
Four years later, on November 25, 1987, Washington died in office of a heart attack
. The succession problem after the death of Daley's father in office in 1976 had prompted the Chicago City Council
to set up an alderman as a short-term replacement for a deceased mayor, creating the office of vice mayor. The Council had appointed Alderman David Orr to that position. Orr served as mayor from the day of Washington's death to December 2, 1987, when the City Council appointed Eugene Sawyer
as mayor until a special election for the remaining two years of the term could be held in 1989.
As a result, Sawyer faced voters for the first time and Daley challenged him in the primary. After defeating Sawyer, Daley in the April 4, 1989 general election faced Aldermen
Timothy C. Evans
, candidate of the newly created Harold Washington Party, and Republican candidate Edward Vrdolyak
, a former Democrat who had antagonized Washington on the city council while Washington served as mayor. After winning the general election, Daley took office as Mayor of Chicago on April 24, 1989, his 47th birthday, at a ceremony in Orchestra Hall
.
Daley is an advocate of gun control
, supporting Chicago's ban on handguns that was implemented in 1982 and struck down by the Supreme Court in 2010. He is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and Boston
Mayor Thomas Menino
.
Daley is seen by some as favoring the interests of downtown businesses over neighborhoods in Chicago. He is supported by Chicago's traditionally Republican
business community. Daley came under criticism for his tendency to focus city resources on the development of the downtown, the North Side, and the Near South and West sides, while neglecting large portions of the city, in particular the needs of low-income residents.
Daley opposed the war in Iraq, he is a Globalist
, and has endorsed same-sex marriage
.
He won control of the Chicago Public School system in 1995 and appointed Paul Vallas
. When Vallas left the post to run for governor, Daley chose the relatively obscure Arne Duncan
, now the U.S. Secretary of Education, to lead the district.
on March 30, 2003. A small lakefront airport
adjacent to Soldier Field
, it was used by general aviation
aircraft and helicopters. Bulldozers carved large Xs into the runways to disable them. Since the airport was still operational when this happened, this left planes trapped without a usable runway. In the days following, many of those aircraft were able to take off using the remaining taxiway. Daley planned to make a prairie preserve and bandshell. A unilateral decision by the mayor without approval from the Chicago City Council or Federal Aviation Administration, the act resulted in public debate. Aviation interest groups unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city into reopening the airport, claiming Daley had been trying to close Meigs Field with non-safety-related reasons since 1995.
Daley argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high profile skyscrapers, the Willis Tower, known then as the Sears Tower, and the John Hancock Center
. Daley defended his decision with the now-infamous quote "Mickey Mouse has a no-fly zone", referring to the restrictions in place over Orlando, Florida
, and it was his belief that Chicago should have similar restrictions. In some ways, closing the airport made the airspace less restrictive. When the airport was open, downtown Chicago was within Meigs Field's Class D airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower. The buildings in downtown Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1000 feet (304.8 m) from these buildings with no radio communication at all.
After this episode, the only citation handed over to the city concerned a failure to notify the federal agency of the plans within a thirty-day time period, as required by law. The city was fined $33,000, the maximum allowable. The city has since agreed to a settlement with the FAA, the terms of which include both the $33,000 fine and the repayment of $1 million from taxes to federal airport development grants. The city admits no wrongdoing under this settlement. Daley defended his actions by claiming that the airport was abandoned, in spite of the fact that the Chicago Fire Department had several helicopters based on the field at the time, in addition to the dozens of private aircraft left stranded.
This closure led to the development of the current Northerly Island
park venues, including the concert staging area, prairie preserve, and bird rehabilitation center.
resulted in a three-day series of articles in January 2004 that revealed some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had mob connections or were tied to city employees. Truck owners also paid bribes in order to get into the program. The program was overhauled in 2004 (and phased out beginning in 2005).
, with Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, facing mail fraud charges for allegedly rigging city hiring to favor people with political connections. On July 5, 2006, Sorich was convicted on two counts of mail fraud for rigging city jobs and promotions. Daley said that "It is fair criticism to say I should have exercised greater oversight to ensure that every worker the city hired, regardless of who recommended them, was qualified and that proper procedures were always followed."
to the Skyway Concession Company, a joint venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group
and Spanish Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A.
, which assumed operations on the Skyway on a 99-year operating lease. The deal was worth over $1.8 billion to the City of Chicago, which used the money primarily to repay debt.
In 2008, Chicago agreed to lease its parking meter system to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley
in a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal as it struggled to close a yawning budget deficit. Daley was quoted as saying that the "agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy." However, the deal quadrupled the fees that taxpayers pay to park at meters in the first year alone, while the times between which people have to pay for parking were changed from 9am-6pm to 8am-9pm, on every day of the week in stead of Monday through Saturday. Additionally, any time any road on which parking meters can be found is closed by the city for anything from maintenance work to public festivals, the city has to compensate the new owners for loss of revenue. Daley said the deal would not solve the city's budget problems, which depended on the depth of the economic recession that led him to lay off hundreds of workers, including police officers and paramedics, and several furlough
days for city workers occurring after federal holidays.
In September 2008, Chicago accepted a $2.52 billion bid to lease Midway International Airport for 99 years to a group of private bidders that included Citigroup
. The Midway deal later fell through when the private bidders were unable to secure adequate financing to fund the lease. In December 2006, Morgan Stanley closed a deal that paid the city $563 million for a 99-year lease of the city’s parking garages.
case.
columnist Steve Chapman, "Daley lasted 22 years in office partly because he resolved to ingratiate himself with black Chicagoans. He appointed blacks to high positions, stressed his commitment to provide services to all neighborhoods, tore down scary public housing projects, and pushed reform of the minority-dominated public schools."
Daley focused on rebuilding Chicago as a destination city as opposed to a manufacturing base, improving and expanding parkland, adding flower planters along many primary streets, and overseeing the creation of Millennium Park
on what had previously been an abandoned train yard. He also spearheaded the conversion of Navy Pier
from an underused white elephant into a popular tourist destination, and openly supported immigration reform
, gay rights, and green building initiatives, for which he was presented with an Honor Award
from the National Building Museum
in 2009 as a "visionary in sustainability." While other midwest Rust Belt
cities such as Detroit and Cleveland shrank, Chicago avoided this and managed to grow.
Daley chaired his final city council meeting on Wednesday morning, May 11th, 2011. Daley passed the mayor's office to Rahm Emanuel
on May 16th. Daley, David Duvall Orr
, and Jane Byrne
are currently the only living former Mayors of Chicago.
announced Daley's appointment as a "distinguished senior fellow" at the Harris School of Public Policy. The five-year, part-time appointment is scheduled to begin July 1, 2011, and will include responsibility for coordinating a guest lecture series.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, member of the national and local Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, and former Mayor of Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his father, Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
, on December 26, 2010. Daley announced on September 7, 2010, that he would not run for re-election in 2011. His term ended May 16, 2011. On May 24, 2011 the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
announced Daley's appointment as a senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy and on June 1, 2011 international law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP announced that Daley would be of counsel
Of counsel
Of counsel is often the title of an attorney who is employed by a law firm or an organization, but is not an associate or a partner. Some firms use titles like "counsel," "special counsel," and "senior counsel" for the same concept...
to the firm.
Daley was chosen by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine in its April 25, 2005 issue as the best out of five mayors of large cities in the United States, and characterized as having "imperial" style and power, he has presided over a resurgence in tourism, the modernization of the Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
, the mayoral takeover of the Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois...
, the construction of Millennium Park
Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, USA and originally intended to celebrate the millennium. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously...
, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's North Side, as well as the near South and West sides. He took over 70% of the mayoral vote in 1999, 2003, and 2007. According to a Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
poll taken in late 2009, however, Daley's approval rating was at an all-time low of 35%. Prior to serving as mayor, Daley served in the Illinois Senate
Illinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from...
and then as the Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
State's Attorney
State's Attorney
In the United States, the State's Attorney is, most commonly, an elected official who represents the State in criminal prosecutions and is often the chief law enforcement officer of their respective county, circuit...
.
Early and personal life
Richard M. Daley is the fourth of seven children and eldest son of Richard J.Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
and Eleanor Daley, the late Mayor and First Lady of Chicago. Originally from Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Chicago
Bridgeport, one of 77 community areas of Chicago, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. It is bounded, generally, on the west and north by the Chicago River, on the east by Canal Street, and on the south by Pershing Road.-History:...
, a historically Irish-American neighborhood located southwest of the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
, Daley graduated from De La Salle Institute
De La Salle Institute
De La Salle Institute is a Catholic, Lasallian, secondary school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The school is currently housed on two separate campuses. The original school, now called the Institute Campus is for men...
and obtained his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
in 1964 and his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
.
Prior to earning his law degree, Daley served in the Marine Reserves. He passed the Illinois Bar Examination on his third try. When asked about the subject, Daley said "I flunked the bar exam twice. I had to keep studying harder and harder and harder. I passed it the third time."
Mayor Daley was married to Margaret (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Corbett) until her death from a ten-year battle with breast cancer on November 24, 2011. They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin, all of whom were born at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. Their second son, Kevin, was two years old when he died of complications of spina bifida
Spina bifida
Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through...
in 1981.
Mayor Daley is brother to William M. Daley
William M. Daley
William Michael “Bill” Daley is an American lawyer and former banker and is the current White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. He served as U.S...
, current White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
and former United States Secretary of Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
under President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
; and John P. Daley
John P. Daley
John P. Daley is the 11th Ward Democratic Committeeman in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners , and the Chair of the Cook County Board Audit and Finance Committee. He has previously served in both the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of...
, a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners
Cook County Board of Commissioners
The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district for four year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the nation's second largest county with a population of 5.2 million residents...
who also serves as its finance chairman.
He also served as the 11th Ward Democratic committeeman
Committeemen and Committeewomen (Cook County)
Ward Committeemen and Township Committeemen are political party officials who serve many standard committeemen and committeewomen duties on behalf of their political party in Cook County, Illinois....
after his father died in 1976 until passing the role on to his brother John P. Daley
John P. Daley
John P. Daley is the 11th Ward Democratic Committeeman in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners , and the Chair of the Cook County Board Audit and Finance Committee. He has previously served in both the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of...
in 1980. Daley served as Committeman of the 11th Ward from 1976 to 1980, stepping down when he ran for States Attorney of Cook County. He succeeded his father, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley for the post, which the elder Daley had held from 1955 until his death. With John P. Daley holding the post from 1980 to the present, a Daley has held the post of 11th Ward Committeeman for 60 years.
Political beginnings
Daley was elected to his first party office as a delegateDelegate
A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization at a meeting or conference between organizations of the same level A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization (e.g., a government, a charity, an NGO, or a trade union) at a meeting or conference...
to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention. On the strength of his father's political machine, Daley next ran for and won a seat in the Illinois Senate
Illinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from...
, serving from 1972 to 1980. He left Springfield
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
to become Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
State's Attorney
State's Attorney
In the United States, the State's Attorney is, most commonly, an elected official who represents the State in criminal prosecutions and is often the chief law enforcement officer of their respective county, circuit...
, serving from 1981 to 1989. Daley's tenure as county prosecutor was interrupted in 1983 with his first mayoral campaign, losing in the three-way primary to Congressman
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
. Incumbent Jane Byrne
Jane Byrne
Jane Margaret Byrne was the first and to date only female Mayor of Chicago. She served from April 16, 1979 to April 29, 1983. Chicago is the largest city in the United States to have had a female mayor as of 2011.-Early political career:...
, a former protege of Daley's father, was also defeated.
Four years later, on November 25, 1987, Washington died in office of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. The succession problem after the death of Daley's father in office in 1976 had prompted the Chicago City Council
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
to set up an alderman as a short-term replacement for a deceased mayor, creating the office of vice mayor. The Council had appointed Alderman David Orr to that position. Orr served as mayor from the day of Washington's death to December 2, 1987, when the City Council appointed Eugene Sawyer
Eugene Sawyer
Eugene Sawyer was an American businessman and politician who served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois as a member of the Democratic Party. He was the second African American to serve as mayor of Chicago....
as mayor until a special election for the remaining two years of the term could be held in 1989.
As a result, Sawyer faced voters for the first time and Daley challenged him in the primary. After defeating Sawyer, Daley in the April 4, 1989 general election faced Aldermen
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
Timothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans is the Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. He is the first black Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court and a graduate of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He was first elected to the bench in 1992....
, candidate of the newly created Harold Washington Party, and Republican candidate Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Robert Vrdolyak is a noted Chicago lawyer and politician and a convicted felon. He was a powerful longtime Chicago Alderman and also head of the Cook County Democratic Party before running unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago as a Republican...
, a former Democrat who had antagonized Washington on the city council while Washington served as mayor. After winning the general election, Daley took office as Mayor of Chicago on April 24, 1989, his 47th birthday, at a ceremony in Orchestra Hall
Symphony Center
Symphony Center is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta, Symphony Center includes the 2,522-seat Orchestra Hall, which dates from 1904; Buntrock Hall, a rehearsal and...
.
Political beliefs and actions
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
, supporting Chicago's ban on handguns that was implemented in 1982 and struck down by the Supreme Court in 2010. He is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of over 600 mayors who support a number of gun control initiatives that the group calls "commonsense reforms" to fight illegal gun trafficking and gun violence in the United States...
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
Mayor Thomas Menino
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...
.
Daley is seen by some as favoring the interests of downtown businesses over neighborhoods in Chicago. He is supported by Chicago's traditionally Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
business community. Daley came under criticism for his tendency to focus city resources on the development of the downtown, the North Side, and the Near South and West sides, while neglecting large portions of the city, in particular the needs of low-income residents.
Daley opposed the war in Iraq, he is a Globalist
Globalism
Globalism can have at least two different and opposing meanings. One meaning is the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations...
, and has endorsed same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
.
He won control of the Chicago Public School system in 1995 and appointed Paul Vallas
Paul Vallas
Paul Gust Vallas is the superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana, and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools and the School District of Philadelphia....
. When Vallas left the post to run for governor, Daley chose the relatively obscure Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan is an American education administrator and currently United States Secretary of Education. Duncan previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.-Early years and personal:...
, now the U.S. Secretary of Education, to lead the district.
Meigs Field
One of Daley's first major acts upon re-election on February 25, 2003 was the demolition of Meigs FieldMeigs Field
Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport , was a single strip airport that operated from December 1948 until March 2003. It was built on Northerly Island, the man-made peninsula that was also the site of the 1933–1934 Century of Progress in Chicago....
on March 30, 2003. A small lakefront airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
adjacent to Soldier Field
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
, it was used by general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
aircraft and helicopters. Bulldozers carved large Xs into the runways to disable them. Since the airport was still operational when this happened, this left planes trapped without a usable runway. In the days following, many of those aircraft were able to take off using the remaining taxiway. Daley planned to make a prairie preserve and bandshell. A unilateral decision by the mayor without approval from the Chicago City Council or Federal Aviation Administration, the act resulted in public debate. Aviation interest groups unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city into reopening the airport, claiming Daley had been trying to close Meigs Field with non-safety-related reasons since 1995.
Daley argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high profile skyscrapers, the Willis Tower, known then as the Sears Tower, and the John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
. Daley defended his decision with the now-infamous quote "Mickey Mouse has a no-fly zone", referring to the restrictions in place over Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, and it was his belief that Chicago should have similar restrictions. In some ways, closing the airport made the airspace less restrictive. When the airport was open, downtown Chicago was within Meigs Field's Class D airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower. The buildings in downtown Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1000 feet (304.8 m) from these buildings with no radio communication at all.
After this episode, the only citation handed over to the city concerned a failure to notify the federal agency of the plans within a thirty-day time period, as required by law. The city was fined $33,000, the maximum allowable. The city has since agreed to a settlement with the FAA, the terms of which include both the $33,000 fine and the repayment of $1 million from taxes to federal airport development grants. The city admits no wrongdoing under this settlement. Daley defended his actions by claiming that the airport was abandoned, in spite of the fact that the Chicago Fire Department had several helicopters based on the field at the time, in addition to the dozens of private aircraft left stranded.
This closure led to the development of the current Northerly Island
Northerly Island
Northerly Island is a man-made peninsula along Chicago's lakefront. The site of the Adler Planetarium, Northerly Island connects to the mainland through a narrow isthmus along Solidarity Drive dominated by Neoclassical sculptures of Kościuszko, Havliček and Copernicus...
park venues, including the concert staging area, prairie preserve, and bird rehabilitation center.
Hired Truck Program
The Hired Truck Program involved hiring private trucks to do city work. A six-month investigation by the Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
resulted in a three-day series of articles in January 2004 that revealed some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had mob connections or were tied to city employees. Truck owners also paid bribes in order to get into the program. The program was overhauled in 2004 (and phased out beginning in 2005).
Patronage
The hired truck scandal eventually sparked a Federal investigation into hiring practices at Chicago City HallChicago City Hall
Chicago City Hall is the official seat of government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. Adjacent to the Richard J. Daley Center and the James R...
, with Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, facing mail fraud charges for allegedly rigging city hiring to favor people with political connections. On July 5, 2006, Sorich was convicted on two counts of mail fraud for rigging city jobs and promotions. Daley said that "It is fair criticism to say I should have exercised greater oversight to ensure that every worker the city hired, regardless of who recommended them, was qualified and that proper procedures were always followed."
Leasing of city infrastructure (budget crisis)
In 2006, under Daley's leadership, Chicago leased the Chicago SkywayChicago Skyway
The Chicago Skyway, also known as Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System, is a toll road in Chicago, Illinois, United States, carrying Interstate 90 from the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side leading into the Chicago Loop....
to the Skyway Concession Company, a joint venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group
Macquarie Infrastructure Group
Intoll Group, formerly Macquarie Infrastructure Group currently owns and manages a 25.0% interest in the Westlink M7 to the west of Sydney in Australia and a 30% interest in the 108 km-long Highway 407/ETR in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada,...
and Spanish Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A.
Cintra
Cintra, S.A. is one of the largest private developers of transport infrastructure in the world. Its assets are fundamentally toll roads and car parks, in which it has a total investment of €16billion...
, which assumed operations on the Skyway on a 99-year operating lease. The deal was worth over $1.8 billion to the City of Chicago, which used the money primarily to repay debt.
In 2008, Chicago agreed to lease its parking meter system to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
in a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal as it struggled to close a yawning budget deficit. Daley was quoted as saying that the "agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy." However, the deal quadrupled the fees that taxpayers pay to park at meters in the first year alone, while the times between which people have to pay for parking were changed from 9am-6pm to 8am-9pm, on every day of the week in stead of Monday through Saturday. Additionally, any time any road on which parking meters can be found is closed by the city for anything from maintenance work to public festivals, the city has to compensate the new owners for loss of revenue. Daley said the deal would not solve the city's budget problems, which depended on the depth of the economic recession that led him to lay off hundreds of workers, including police officers and paramedics, and several furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
days for city workers occurring after federal holidays.
In September 2008, Chicago accepted a $2.52 billion bid to lease Midway International Airport for 99 years to a group of private bidders that included Citigroup
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
. The Midway deal later fell through when the private bidders were unable to secure adequate financing to fund the lease. In December 2006, Morgan Stanley closed a deal that paid the city $563 million for a 99-year lease of the city’s parking garages.
Gun remark
In May 2010, after Mick Dumke, a reporter for the Chicago Reader, questioned the effectiveness of the city's handgun ban, Daley picked up a rifle with a bayonet and told him, "If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is." Daley made the statement at a news conference where he was talking about gun control and a possible adverse decision in the McDonald v. ChicagoMcDonald v. Chicago
McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 3025, 130 S.Ct. 3020 , was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that determined whether the Second Amendment applies to the individual states...
case.
Retirement and legacy
On September 7, 2010, Daley announced that he would not seek a seventh term and would retire when his sixth term runs out. According to a statement made by Daley, "I've always believed that every person, especially public officials, must understand when it's time to move on. For me, that time is now." On December 26, 2010, Daley surpassed his father as Chicago's longest-serving mayor. Since 1955, a Daley has served as Chicago's mayor for all but 12 years. According to Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
columnist Steve Chapman, "Daley lasted 22 years in office partly because he resolved to ingratiate himself with black Chicagoans. He appointed blacks to high positions, stressed his commitment to provide services to all neighborhoods, tore down scary public housing projects, and pushed reform of the minority-dominated public schools."
Daley focused on rebuilding Chicago as a destination city as opposed to a manufacturing base, improving and expanding parkland, adding flower planters along many primary streets, and overseeing the creation of Millennium Park
Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, USA and originally intended to celebrate the millennium. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously...
on what had previously been an abandoned train yard. He also spearheaded the conversion of Navy Pier
Navy Pier
Navy Pier is a long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The pier was built in 1916 at a cost of $4.5 million, equivalent to $ today. It was a part of the Plan of Chicago developed by architect and...
from an underused white elephant into a popular tourist destination, and openly supported immigration reform
Immigration reform
Immigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, "reform " means to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses....
, gay rights, and green building initiatives, for which he was presented with an Honor Award
Honor Award
The National Building Museum promotes excellence in architecture, engineering, construction, planning, and design. In furtherance of that mission, the Museum instituted an annual Honor Award in 1986 to recognize individuals and organizations that have made important contributions to the U.S.'s...
from the National Building Museum
National Building Museum
The National Builders Museum, in Washington, D.C., United States, is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning"...
in 2009 as a "visionary in sustainability." While other midwest Rust Belt
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...
cities such as Detroit and Cleveland shrank, Chicago avoided this and managed to grow.
Daley chaired his final city council meeting on Wednesday morning, May 11th, 2011. Daley passed the mayor's office to Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
on May 16th. Daley, David Duvall Orr
David Duvall Orr
David Duvall Orr is an American Democratic politician from Chicago, Illinois. He was Alderman of the 49th Ward in Chicago from 1979 to 1991. In 1987, he served briefly as Mayor of Chicago after the death of Mayor Harold Washington. Since 1991, he has been County Clerk of Cook County...
, and Jane Byrne
Jane Byrne
Jane Margaret Byrne was the first and to date only female Mayor of Chicago. She served from April 16, 1979 to April 29, 1983. Chicago is the largest city in the United States to have had a female mayor as of 2011.-Early political career:...
are currently the only living former Mayors of Chicago.
Appointment at Harris School of Public Policy
On May 24, 2011 the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
announced Daley's appointment as a "distinguished senior fellow" at the Harris School of Public Policy. The five-year, part-time appointment is scheduled to begin July 1, 2011, and will include responsibility for coordinating a guest lecture series.
External links
- CityMayors profile
- Campaign contributions
- The Mayor's Schedule, Quotes and Coverage in the Press
- Mayor Daley’s Mark – slideshow by The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...