May well be today. While I’ve often thought he’d pretty much have another teflon scandal, the tone and evidence in terms of the Sorich indictment seems to change that calculus. Dan Mihalopoulos and Matt O’Connor cover the most recent events.
Before these scandals, it always seemed to be several levels removed, but having the patronage chief indicted raises a question of how could Daley not know, and if he didn’t, he should have.
No one ever thought that the City followed Shakman, but the new allegation is one that not only was the city giving lipservice to Shakman, but actually rigging civil service tests which raises the stakes.
O’Connor and Gary Washburn give some reasons why this is different. The most important to me is that it isn’t just some lackey or some clown who got a benefit and had given the Mayor money–it’s a key friend and Bridgeport neighbor. When you read about Daley’s father, people with money were important, but they were the people that let him run the Party and help out those from less wealthy backgrounds. He’d take their money, give them favors, but they weren’t the people for which he was looking out. The people he was looking out for were the working class people in bungalows and those were his friends.
As much as the son is an echo of his father, that same attitude prevails.
When I think of Daley’s administration giving contracts to Rezko or the Duff’s, it makes me mad, but I usually figured Daley kept his fingerprints off of such things. It’s the garbage he expects others to deal with and keep him from having to deal with and there better not be a problem because he’ll have to talk to the press. He does care about the people coming to get jobs from the City. He might not review the lists like his father did every day on the way into the office, but he cares. To show he cares he put a close ally in Sorich in the position and expected him to take care of it. That’s a lot closer than the scandals over contracts and it’s one of those types of scandals that people understand.
It’s hard to imagine that any of these guys turn on Daley so if he did know, they won’t say. I still don’t believe he’s very vulnerable to criminal prosecution if for nothing else trying to untangle his mangled syntax could provide a jury reasonable doubt on whatever he said.
It does, however, seriously open him up politically. I’m still not convinced anybody, but a guy in DC who has his sights set on something bigger than Mayor can beat the guy, but the possibility of a competitive race is certainly strong today.
Say, Daley is indicted or severely handicapped and thus politically vulnerable… Does that have an impact on the dems. ability to get the vote out in Chicago next year? If so, how does that impact statewide races?
I don’t know–but I’ll think about it.
The media report that Daley has fired the two who were just arrested.
I would not be so sure that they would not turn on Daley since they have no income.
In the past, Daley would have put them on paid administrative leave, wouldn’t he have?
The Machine has been rather unreliable lately, if you consider Obama’s thrashing of Hynes in the 04 primary. Democrats in Chicago have become more and more independent of the Machine.
But given the public rift between Daley and the Guv, the further Daley sinks the more things improve for Blagojevich. Blagojevich could have gotten the “Obama vote” anyhow, but with Daley going down in flames, the Machine might actually lift a finger to help the gov.