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Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th
mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...
, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, his was the longest tenure in Chicago mayoral history, surpassing the 21-year mayoralty of his father,
Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...
. As Mayor, Daley took over the
Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...
, developed tourism, oversaw the construction of
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...
, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's central business district downtown and adjacent near North, South and West sides. He also approved expansion of city workers' benefits to their partners regardless of gender, and advocated for gun control. Daley received criticism when family, personal friends, and political allies disproportionately benefited from city contracting. He took office in a city with regular annual budget surpluses and left the city with massive structural deficits. His budgets ran up the largest
deficits The government budget balance, also referred to as the general government balance, public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the difference between government revenues and spending. For a government that uses accrual accounting (ra ...
in Chicago history. A national leader in
privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
, he temporarily reduced budgetary shortfalls by leasing and selling public assets to private corporations, but this practice removed future sources of revenue, contributing to the city's near insolvency at the end of his tenure. A “tough-on-crime” politician, Daley oversaw the creation of one of the largest police surveillance systems in the nation, but
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
was also a recurring issue during his mayorship.


Early and personal life

Richard M. Daley is the fourth of seven children and eldest son of Richard J. and Eleanor Daley, who later became Mayor and First Lady of Chicago in 1955. Born on April 24, 1942, he grew up in
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Is ...
, a historically Irish-American neighborhood located on Chicago's South Side. Daley is a brother of
William M. Daley William Michael Daley (born August 9, 1948) is an American politician and former banker who served as the 24th White House Chief of Staff from January 2011 to January 2012 under President Barack Obama. Before this, he served as the 32nd U.S. ...
, former
White House Chief of Staff The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States. The chief of staff is a Political appointments in the United States, politi ...
and former
United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...
under President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
; John P. Daley, a commissioner on the
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, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms. Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, which includes the City ...
and chairman of the Board's Finance Committee; and Michael Daley, an attorney with Daley & Georges, a law firm founded by their father Richard J. Daley, that specializes in
zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...
law and is often hired by developers to help get zoning changes through city hall. Daley was married to Margaret "Maggie" Corbett until her death on
Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
, November 24, 2011 after a decade-long battle with
metastatic breast cancer Metastatic breast cancer, also referred to as metastases, advanced breast cancer, secondary tumors, secondaries or stage IV breast cancer, is a stage of breast cancer where the breast cancer cells have spread to distant sites beyond the axillary l ...
, which had spread to her bones and liver.
Maggie Daley Park Maggie Daley Park is a public park in the Loop community area of Chicago operated by the Chicago Park District. It is near the Lake Michigan shoreline in northeastern Grant Park where Daley Bicentennial Plaza previously stood. Maggie Daley ...
in the
Chicago Loop The Loop is Chicago's central business district and one of the city's 77 municipally recognized Community areas in Chicago, community areas. Located at the center of downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, it is the second-largest busi ...
commemorates her, and her nonprofit
After School Matters After School Matters is a non-profit organization that provides Chicago high school teens with after-school and summer opportunities. It offers project-based after-school and summer programs in the arts, communications and leadership, sports and S ...
continues to serve Chicago's young people. They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin, all born at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. Their second son, Kevin, died at age two of complications from
spina bifida Spina bifida (SB; ; Latin for 'split spine') is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebral column, spine and the meninges, membranes around the spinal cord during embryonic development, early development in pregnancy. T ...
in 1981. Daley was raised
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. Daley graduated from
De La Salle Institute De La Salle Institute is a private, Catholic, coeducational high school run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by Brother Adjutor o ...
high school in Chicago and obtained his
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
from
DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...
in 1964, having transferred from
Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...
in Providence, Rhode Island after two years. In 1962, at age 19, home on Christmas break, Daley was ticketed for running a stop sign at Huron and Rush, and the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' headline was "Mayor's Son Gets Ticket, Uses No Clout," with a subhead reading "Quiet Boy." Sources conflict on Daley's military record. The only book-length biography of Daley makes no mention of military service. A 1995 profile in the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' stated that Daley served in the
United States Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Reserve is an expedit ...
from 1961 to 1967, while a 1996 profile in ''
People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...
'' cited 1960 to 1964. A civilian website for Marines and their families found no military record for Daley. Daley earned a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
degree from
DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...
. He passed the Illinois
Bar Examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...
on his third try. Daley later reflected, "I flunked the bar exam twice. I had to keep studying harder and harder and harder. I passed it the third time." Daley never tried a case.


Early political career

Daley was elected to his first office as a delegate to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention, which created the current
Constitution of Illinois The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions, with the fourth version adopted in 1970. That constitution is referred to as the "Constitution of Illinois ...
(adopted after voters approved it in a 1970 special election). According to journalist Rick Perlstein, in June 1972, Daley led a mob on behalf of his father's Democratic Party regulars against pro-
McGovern McGovern may refer to the following: * McGovern (name), surname of Irish origin * McGovern Institute for Brain Research People: * Alison McGovern (b. 1980), British Labour politician * Barry McGovern, Irish Actor * Bill McGovern (American foot ...
reformers meeting in a church in Illinois' Fifth Congressional District. The action was unsuccessful and the reformers' slate (which included Rev. Jesse Jackson) replaced the Daley slate at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida. After his father died in 1976, Daley succeeded his father as the 11th Ward Democratic committeeman, a party post, until succeeded in the post by his brother John P. Daley in 1980. 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.


Illinois State Senate (1972–1980)

After Edward Nihill stepped down, Daley, with the support of the Democratic political organization, was elected to the
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. Under the ...
, serving from 1972 to 1980. State Senator Daley rarely spoke to reporters and didn't hold a news conference for six years. Daley chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Daley was named one of Illinois' ten worst state legislators by ''
Chicago Magazine ''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, l ...
'' "for arrogance, for sharklike qualities, for living off his father's name, and for pulling puppet strings attached to some of the worst members of the Senate." He was considered "too shrewd to be one of the worst, but he controls so many of the worst senators that he belongs on the list to represent all of them." After the Spring 1975 state legislative session, Chicago Democrat
Dawn Clark Netsch Dawn Clark Netsch (born Patricia Dawn Clark; September 16, 1926 – March 5, 2013) was an American politician and Northwestern University law professor. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she served in the Ill ...
, who served with Daley as Illinois Constitutional Convention delegates and as State Senators, blamed "dirty little Richie" for frustrating her
good government Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the ...
legislative agenda in the state legislature.


Cook County State's Attorney (1981–1989)

In 1980, Daley challenged incumbent Republican
Bernard Carey Clarence Bernard "Bernie" Carey Jr. (December 16, 1934 – June 1, 2018) was an American politician who served as Cook County State's Attorney from 1972 through 1980. Afterwards, he would serve on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and as a j ...
for
Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...
State's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
. Democratic Mayor
Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...
endorsed Alderman Edward M. Burke in the Democratic primary, and after Daley prevailed in the primary, endorsed Carey in the general election. Daley prevailed and served from 1981 to 1989. His election over Carey saw him win by merely sixteen thousand votes, one of the narrowest wins for the Cook County State's Attorney election.


Police torture reported to Daley, 1982

In February 1982, Andrew Wilson was arrested for the murder of two Chicago police officers. Wilson was taken to Area 2 detective headquarters on the South Side for interrogation under Chicago Police Detective
Jon Burge Jon Graham Burge (December 20, 1947 – September 19, 2018) was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department. He was found guilty of lying about "directly participating in or implicitly approving the torture" o ...
. Dr. John Raba, Medical Director of Cermak Health Services, the prison hospital in the Cook County Hospital system, examined Wilson, determined Wilson had been
tortured Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions restrict torture to ac ...
, and complained in writing to then Chicago Police Superintendent Richard J. Brzeczek:
I examined Mr. Andrew Wilson on February 15 & 16, 1982. He had multiple bruises, swellings and abrasions on his face and head. His right eye was battered and had a superficial laceration. Andrew Wilson had several linear blisters on his right thigh, right cheek and anterior chest which were consistent with radiator burns. He stated he'd been cuffed to a radiator and pushed into it. He also stated that electrical shocks had been administered to his gums, lips and genitals. All these injuries occurred prior to his arrival at the Jail. There must be a thorough investigation of this alleged brutality.
Brzeczek forwarded the letter to State's Attorney Daley. Daley never replied, and charges were never brought against any officers. Daley's prosecutors convicted Wilson and his brother Jackie of murder, and Andrew Wilson was sentenced to death. On April 2, 1987, the
Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...
overturned the convictions, ruling that Wilson was forced to confess involuntarily after being beaten by police.


First campaign for mayor: 1983 challenge to Jane Byrne

In November 1982, Daley announced his first campaign for mayor. The candidates in the three-way Democratic primary, which included incumbent Mayor
Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...
, a former protégée of his father, and Congressman
Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st mayor of Chicago. In April 1983, Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city’s mayor at the age of ...
, held a series of four televised debates. Daley finished third. Many of Richard J.'s political allies blamed Richard M. for splitting the white vote, enabling Washington to become Chicago's first black mayor.


Second campaign for mayor: 1989 victory over Eugene Sawyer

On November 25, 1987, Mayor Washington died in office of a heart attack. On December 2, 1987, the
Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...
appointed Alderman
Eugene Sawyer Eugene Sawyer Jr. (September 3, 1934January 19, 2008) was an American businessman, educator, and politician. Sawyer was selected by the Chicago City Council as the 53rd Mayor of Chicago, Illinois after the sudden death of then–mayor Harold Was ...
as mayor until a special election for the remaining two years of the term could be held in 1989. Daley announced his candidacy on December 6, 1988, saying
Let's face it: we have a problem in Chicago. The name-calling and politics at City Hall are keeping us from tackling the real issues ... I may not be the best speaker in town, but I know how to run a government and how to bring people together.
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...
worked for the Daley campaign as a fundraiser, David Axelrod as campaign strategist, William Daley as chief strategist, and
Forrest Claypool Forrest Edward Claypool is an American politician who has held several positions in the governments of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from July 27, 2015, until Decem ...
as a campaign aide. Among four Daley campaign appearances on a Sunday shortly before the primary was a rally of Polish Highlanders at 4808 S. Archer Ave. In a videotaped television newscast, it appeared that Daley said, "You want a white mayor to sit down with everybody." Sawyer said he was "shocked." Daley explained, "It was my standard stump speech. I'm not maybe the best speaker in town, but I have never used the word
hite Hite or HITE may refer to: *HiteJinro, a South Korean brewery **Hite Brewery *Hite (surname) *Hite, California, former name of Hite Cove, California *Hite, Utah Historic Hite is a flooded ghost town at the north end of Lake Powell along the Co ...
" That Friday, the campaign watchdog group CONDUCT censured Daley and commended Sawyer for his "rejection of racially inflammatory comments." Daley defeated Sawyer in the primary. In the 1989 general election, Daley faced Republican candidate
Edward Vrdolyak Edward Robert Vrdolyak (; born December 28, 1937), also known as "Fast Eddie", is a former American politician and lawyer. He was a longtime Chicago alderman and the head of the Cook County Democratic Party until 1987 when he ran unsuccessfully ...
, a former Democratic alderman who had opposed Mayor Washington, and
Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
Timothy C. Evans, the candidate of the newly created Harold Washington Party. Daley won the general election on April 4, 1989. Daley was inaugurated as Mayor of Chicago on April 24, 1989, his 47th birthday, at a ceremony in Orchestra Hall.


Mayor of Chicago (1989–2011)


First term (1989–1991)

Daley presided over the most docile City Council since his father. One of the new mayor's first acts was to appropriate the City Council's power to approve city contracts, a right aldermen exercised under former Mayors Washington and Sawyer. Daley's first budget proposal, the 1990 budget, included $3 billion in spending, $50 million more than 1989, featured a $25 million reduction in the property tax levy, extended Mayor Sawyer's hiring freeze, piloted recycling, and privatized the city's tow truck fleet. Daley became the first Chicago Mayor to lead Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade, at the 20th annual parade on Sunday, June 26, 1989. On August 22, 1990, Daley told reporters that "people are getting hurt in drive-by shoot-a-longs." In December 1990,
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
issued a report "Allegations of Police Torture in Chicago, Illinois" calling for a full inquiry into allegations that some Chicago police officers tortured criminal suspects between 1972 and 1984.


Second term (1991–1995)

On April 2, 1991, Daley was reelected to a second term (his first full, four-year term), with 70.7% of the vote, over African American civil rights attorney and Appellate Judge R. Eugene Pincham. Questioned about the city's rising homicide rate on September 10, 1991, Daley said "The more killing and homicides you have, the more havoc it prevents."


Brawl at Daley home in Michigan

On the weekend of March 1–2, 1992, Daley and his wife arranged for 16-year-old son
Patrick Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
to stay with relatives while they attended a family event in New York. Patrick told the relatives he was staying with friends, drove his father's new sports utility vehicle to the Daley second home in
Grand Beach, Michigan Grand Beach is a village in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 310 at the 2020 census. The village is within New Buffalo Township on the shore of Lake Michigan near to the Michigan-Indiana border. History Grand B ...
and threw a party Saturday night without parental consent or adult supervision. Someone asked two Filipino and two white youths to leave, racial epithets were exchanged, and a fistfight broke out. Patrick retrieved Richard J. Daley's shotgun from the house and gave it to his cousin, who was aged 17. A youth was seriously injured when a juvenile struck him in the head with a baseball bat. On Monday a sobbing Mayor Daley read a statement at a City Hall press conference, pausing repeatedly as he tried to maintain his composure,
I am very disappointed, as any parent would be, after his son held a party in their home while his parents were away. I am more deeply distressed for the welfare of the young man who was injured in this fight.
Patrick pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of furnishing alcohol to minors and disturbing the peace and was sentenced to six months' probation, 50 hours of community service in Grand Beach, fined $1,950 and ordered to pay restitution to his parents for property damage. His cousin pleaded guilty to aiming a firearm without malice and was fined $1,235. Sixteen other youths were charged with juvenile and adult offenses. The injured youth recovered.


Third term (1995–1999)

Joseph E. Gardner ran against Daley and lost. Daley took control of the
Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...
system in 1995 and appointed
Paul Vallas Paul Gust Vallas Sr. (; born June 10, 1953) is an American politician and former Superintendent (education), education superintendent. He served as the superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut and the Recovery School Distri ...
. When Vallas left the post to run for governor, Daley chose the relatively obscure
Arne Duncan Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator and former professional basketball player who served as the 9th United States secretary of education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools ...
, who later became the U.S. Secretary of Education under Barack Obama, to lead the district. On March 19, 1997, the Chicago City Council adopted the Domestic Partners Ordinance, which made employee benefits available to same-sex partners of City employees. Daley said it was an issue of fairness.


Daley's floor leader in City Council resigns

The first major public corruption scandal of Daley's tenure as mayor involved the circumstances of the resignation of his City Council
floor leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are thei ...
, Alderman Patrick Huels, in October 1997. Daley, Huels, and another close friend Michael Tadin grew up within two blocks on S. Emerald Avenue in
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Is ...
. Huels attended De La Salle Institute, the same high school attended by Daley, his father, and
Michael Bilandic Michael Bilandic may refer to: * Michael A. Bilandic (1923–2002), American politician, mayor of Chicago * Michael M. Bilandic, American film director, writer and producer {{hndis, Bilandic, Michael ...
. Huels worked for the city's
Public Works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...
Department as a laborer and tree trimmer, then as an administrative assistant in the Environment Department, and then as a City Council investigator. He answered phones for the 11th Ward Democratic organization, and was its secretary for several years. When Mayor
Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...
died, 11th Ward Alderman Bilandic was named acting mayor, and Huels, then 26, replaced Bilandic as alderman. Huels chaired the council's Transportation Committee and became Mayor Richard M. Daley's floor leader. In the summer of 2007, in reaction to ongoing indictments and convictions of aldermen, Daley and Huels shepherded a package of ethics reforms through city council. Huels owned a security firm, SDI Security, Inc. along with his wife and his brother, a Chicago police lieutenant. In the mid-1990s, the firm had about 390 full-time employees and was grossing $7 million a year. Huels was president and a director, and Council Finance Committee Chairman Alderman Edward M. Burke (14th) was secretary. Huels and Burke authorized $633,971 in legal consulting fees from their respective Council committees to attorney Michael A. Pedicone, a long-time officer of SDI. In March 1995 the
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
placed a
lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...
on SDI for $326,951 and in June 1996 for $997,382 for failing to pay
payroll taxes Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees. They are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the ...
, including money withheld from its employees' pay checks. In 1970, after high school, Tadin went to work for Marina Cartage; within a decade, he owned the company, and over the next 15 years expanded it from 20 trucks to 150. Between 1992 and 1997, the city paid Marina Cartage and another Tadin company $49 million for supplying the city with snow removal and other heavy equipment and operators. Tadin earned millions of dollars by buying land cheaply, then leasing or selling it to the city. Marina Cartage used Huels' SDI Security services since 1992. In 1995, with Huels' support, the City Council approved a tax reduction which halved the assessment on a new $4.5 million headquarters and trucking terminal for Marina Cartage at 4450 S. Morgan in Huels' ward, a tax savings of as much as $80,000 per year. In 1996, with Huels' support, the City Council approved a $1.1 million direct grant for the construction of the facility. Weeks later, Tadin created a new company which was used to originate a $1.25 million bailout loan to SDI. Daley said Huels "did the right thing resigning" and claimed no knowledge of Huels' business dealings. "I don't get into people's private lives. I am not into that," Daley said. Daley announced an executive order and new ethics legislation, saying:
The goal of this executive order is to help address questions about favoritism in city contracting by preventing conflicts of interest, or even the appearance of such conflicts. ... There should be a level playing field, where no one has an advantage—or a disadvantage—in obtaining city contracts, simply because they know me or anyone else in government. ... Under the steps I'm taking today and recommending to the City Council, the public can easily learn everything there is to know about a city contract: who is involved, who will benefit and whether the city is paying a fair price. I and every other city official must be prepared to defend every contract on its merits.


Fourth term (1999–2003)

On February 23, 1999, Daley won reelection to a fourth term with 68.9 percent of the vote over challenger U.S. Congressman
Bobby Rush Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist, and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades, ending in 2023. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter ...
. In August 1999, prompted by police excessive-force incidents in Chicago, New York and other cities, the U.S. affiliate of Amnesty International issued a report "Race, Rights & Brutality: Portraits of Abuse in the USA," that called on federal officials to better document excessive-force cases and to pursue prosecutions of the officers involved. In October 1999, the organization issued a report "Summary of Amnesty International's concerns on police abuse in Chicago" which expressed concerns including improper interrogation tactics, excessive force, shootings of unarmed suspects, and the detention and interrogation of children. The Duff family formed a janitorial services company, Windy City Maintenance Inc., one month after Daley's inauguration. Bruce DuMont, president of the
Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum that showcases historic and contemporary radio and television content. It is headquartered in Chicago. Museum locations (1987–present) The Museum of Broadcast Communications wa ...
, said that Daley recommended that Dumont's wife Kathy Osterman, then director of the Mayor's Office of Special Events, award city contracts to Duff family companies. Daley denied steering contracts to the Duffs, and said he would "look into" the allegations, while stopping short of promising to do so, saying "I don't promise. That's the wrong word to use. You know ... promising, promising. We do look into it, yes." In September 2003, a federal investigation led to indictments of Patricia Green Duff, her sons John M. Duff and James Duff, and others on charges they won nearly $100 million in city contracts through the city's set-aside program by misrepresenting their companies as women- and minority-owned. John M. Duff pleaded guilty to 33 counts of racketeering, fraud and other charges on January 10, 2004. A 1978 state law designed by Illinois Democrats gave the Mayor the power to appoint to fill vacancies in the City Council rather than holding special elections, and by 2002 more than a third of the council's 50 aldermen were initially appointed by Daley. The Council became even more of a
rubber stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved, or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to a rub ...
than in Richard J. Daley's terms. In the 18 months from January 12, 2000 to June 6, 2001, only 13 votes in the council were divided, less than one a month. 32 aldermen supported the mayor 90-100% of the time and another 14 80-89% of the time.


Fifth term (2003–2007)

On February 26, 2003, Daley took 78.5% of the vote to prevail over challenger Reverend Paul Jakes Jr. Daley endorsed
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
, saying on February 18, 2004, he would have "no problem" with Cook County issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine in its April 25, 2005 issue named Daley as the best out of five mayors of large cities in the United States, and characterized Daley as having "imperial" style and power. In May 2006, in Geneva, Switzerland the United Nations
Committee Against Torture The Committee Against Torture (CAT) is a treaty body of human rights experts that monitors implementation of the United Nations Convention against Torture by state parties. The committee is one of eight UN-linked human rights treaty bodies. A ...
released a report which noted the "limited investigation and lack of prosecution" into allegations of torture in Areas 2 and 3 of the Chicago Police Department and called on American authorities to "promptly, thoroughly and impartially" investigate the allegations, and provide the committee with more information. Daley was inducted into the
Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame (formerly Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame) is an institution founded in 1991 to honor persons and entities who have made significant contributions to the quality of life or well-being of the LGBT community in Ch ...
in 2006 as a Friend of the Community.


Daley orders demolition of Meigs Field

A long-standing agreement between the city and state required the city to maintain and operate
Meigs Field Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (pronounced , formerly ) was a single-runway airport in Chicago, named for newspaper publisher and aviation enthusiast Merrill C. Meigs. It was located on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula in Lake Michigan, ...
, a small, downtown, lakefront airport on
Northerly Island Northerly Island (also Northerly Island Park) is a land reclamation, human-made peninsula and park located on Chicago's Lake Michigan lakefront. Originally constructed in 1925, Northerly Island was the former site of the Century of Progress w ...
used by
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
aircraft and helicopters, until 2011 or turn it over to the state. On September 12, 1996, the City Council approved Daley's plan to convert the airport into a park, and the state began planning to take over operation of the airport. Fresh off a 2003 re-election mandate, one of Daley's first major acts was ordering the demolition of Meigs Field. On Sunday, March 30, 2003, shortly before midnight, transport trucks carrying construction equipment moved onto Meigs with Chicago Police escort. By early Monday morning, city crews excavated six large X's into the only runway. The city's 50 aldermen, Illinois Governor
Rod Blagojevich Rod R. Blagojevich ( ; born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked ...
, the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
and the
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
were not consulted on the plan. The demolition of the runway trapped planes. In the days following, many of those aircraft were able to take off using the
taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...
. "To do this any other way would have been needlessly contentious," Daley explained at a news conference Monday morning. Daley argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high-profile skyscrapers, such as the
Sears Tower The Willis Tower, formerly and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan ...
and the
John Hancock Center 875 North Michigan Avenue (officially known until 2018 as the John Hancock Center and still commonly referred to under that name) is a 100- story, supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the ...
. Daley criticized the Federal Aviation Administration, saying "Now, think of that; Mickey and Minnie have it. I mean, I can't believe that. They get it first before we get it?", referring to the post-
9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
air space restrictions in place over
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. "The signature act of Richard Daley's 22 years in office was the midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field," according to ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' columnist
Eric Zorn Eric Zorn (born January 6, 1958) is an American former op-ed columnist and daily blogger for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who specialized in local news as well as politics. Early life and education Zorn is a graduate of the University of Michigan, whe ...
. "He ruined Meigs because he wanted to, because he could," ''Chicago Tribune'' columnist John Kass wrote of Daley. "The issue is Daley's increasingly authoritarian style that brooks no disagreements, legal challenges, negotiations, compromise or any of that messy give-and-take normally associated with democratic government," the ''Chicago Tribune'' editorialized. The Federal Aviation Administration cited the city for failure to comply with federal law requiring thirty-day advance notice to the FAA of plans for an airport closure. The city was fined $33,000, the maximum allowable. The city paid the fine and repaid $1 million in misspent federal airport development grants. 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.


Hired Truck Program scandal

The $40 million-a-year Hired Truck program was the biggest scandal of Daley's first 15 years as mayor. The Hired Truck Program hired private truck companies to do city work. A six-month investigation by the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' 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
American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply to ...
connections or were tied to city employees, or paid bribes to get into the program. Between 1996 and 2004, companies in the Hired Truck Program gave more than $800,000 in campaign contributions to various politicians, including Daley, House Speaker
Michael Madigan Michael Joseph Madigan (born April 19, 1942) is an American politician and convicted felon who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the longes ...
, and Governor
Rod Blagojevich Rod R. Blagojevich ( ; born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked ...
; Daley received at least $108,575 and his brother John Daley and his ward organization more than $47,500. Mark Gyrion, Daley's
second cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...
, was a superintendent of garages for the city's Water Management Department, and among his duties was deciding when City-owned trucks should be sold for scrap. Gyrion's mother-in-law's firm, Jacz Transportation, participated in the Hired Truck Program, receiving about $1 million between 1998 and 2004. Jacz Transportation bought a truck three days after the city sold it to a Franklin Park dealership and then leased it back to the city. Gyrion was accused of failing to disclose his mother-in-law's role in the Hired Truck Program and the transfer of the truck. Gyrion was fired and Jacz Transportation was one of 13 truck companies suspended from the Hired Truck program. About 35% of the 70 firms in the program were suspended or referred to the city's Inspector General. The program was overhauled in 2004, and phased out in 2005.


Daley patronage chief among officials convicted of fraud

On July 5, 2006, Robert Sorich, formally, director of the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and, informally, Daley's
patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
chief, and Timothy McCarthy, Sorich's aide, were each convicted on two counts of mail fraud connected to rigging blue-collar city jobs and promotions. Sorich's best friend, former Streets and Sanitation official Patrick Slattery was convicted of one count of mail fraud. A former Streets and Sanitation managing deputy commissioner was found guilty of lying to federal agents about political hiring. Sorich, McCarthy and Slattery lived in the Bridgeport neighborhood in 11th Ward, the Daley family's home neighborhood and ward. "I've never known them to be anything but hard working, and I feel for them at this difficult time," Daley said. "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," Daley admitted a few days later. Weeks later, David Axelrod, a Democratic political consultant whose clients included Daley, defended patronage in an
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
in the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
''.


Daley son concealed city contracting

Mayor Daley's son Patrick R. Daley was an
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
student at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business working as an unpaid intern at Cardinal Growth, a Chicago
venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
firm, when he profited from two Cardinal Growth ventures formed to win city contracts while concealing his role. Patrick's cousin, and Mayor Daley's nephew, is Robert G. Vanecko. In June 2003, Patrick and Vanecko formed a Delaware company, MSS Investors LLC, and invested $65,000 each. MSS Investors LLC in turn purchased a 5% stake in Municipal Sewer Services, a Cardinal Growth venture. Patrick and Vanecko failed to disclose their ownership stake in Municipal Sewer Services as required by city ethics ordinances. Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc. was one of the largest black-owned contractors in the
Hired Truck The Hired Truck Program was a scandal-plagued program in the city of Chicago that involved hiring private trucks to do city work. It was overhauled in 2004 (and phased out beginning in 2005) after an investigation by the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' rev ...
program. Municipal Sewer Services partnered with Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc. in their bid for City sewer-inspection contracts. Five months after Patrick and Vanecko became owners, Municipal Sewer Services' city contract was extended by $3 million, the first of two no-bid contract extensions, totaled an additional 23 months and $4 million. Patrick and Vanecko cashed out their initial investment after about a year as the federal investigation into the Hired Truck program advanced. Patrick and Vanecko got a $13,114 "tax distribution" in December 2004. Patrick, then 29 and a recent University of Chicago MBA graduate, enlisted in the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
. The day after the Mayor's son's and nephew's hidden involvement in the city contract was disclosed by the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'', Daley spoke at a Chicago police recruit graduation ceremony, then left for
Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
to see his son deployed. Before departing, Mayor Daley read a statement to reporters, his voice cracking, fighting back tears,
I did not know about atrick'sinvolvement in this company. As an adult, he made that decision. It was a lapse in judgement for him to get involved with this company. I wish he hadn't done it. I know the expectations for elected officials, their families, are very high—rightfully so—especially for me. ... Patrick is a very good son. I love him. Maggie and I are very proud of him. I hope you respect I have nothing more to say on this.
Mayor Daley also said he didn't know if there were other city contracts involving the younger Daley. The city's Inspector General and federal authorities began investigations in December 2007. Patrick and Vanecko hired
criminal defense attorney A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various j ...
s. Municipal Sewer Services LLC folded in April 2008. In January 2011, Anthony Duffy, the president of Municipal Sewer Services, was charged with three counts of mail fraud in conjunction with minority-contracting and Jesse Brunt and his company, Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc., were indicted on three counts of mail fraud. Patrick and Vanecko were not charged. In 2005, Concourse Communications, another Cardinal Growth venture, signed a city contract for airport
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
service at city-owned O'Hare and Midway airports. For years, the Daley administration maintained that Patrick had no financial stake in the deal. Concourse disclosed its investors to the city, as required, but Patrick was not reported. Patrick lined up investors for Concourse. On June 27, 2006, nine months after Concourse signed the contract, Concourse was sold at a 33% profit to Boingo Wireless Inc. for $45 million. On June 30, 2006, Patrick received the first of five payments totaling $708,999. On December 3, 2007, shortly after Patrick received the last of those payments, Mayor Daley's press secretary, Jacquelyn Heard said Patrick Daley "has no financial interest with the Wi-Fi contract at O'Hare." The ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' editorialized, "... the conflict of interest was blatant."


Park Grill contracting scandal

In 2003, an operating company included over 80 investors, including some of Mayor Daley's friends and neighbors won, under controversial circumstances, a lucrative contract to operate the Park Grill, the only restaurant in the new
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...
. In 2005 Daley criticized the deal, saying that the city wanted to renegotiate the pact. The ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' dubbed the Park Grill the "Clout Cafe" and included the contract award process in a year-end review of 2005 Daley administration scandals. The contract was never renegotiated, and after Daley announced he would not seek a seventh term, the owners of the Park Grill sought to sell. Deposed in August 2013 in Mayor
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...
's administration's lawsuit to renegotiate the contract, former Mayor Daley responded "I don't recall" 139 times.


Long-term leases of public infrastructure

In January 2006, Skyway Concession Company, a joint venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Spanish Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A., paid the City $1.83 billion for rights to operate the
Chicago Skyway Interstate 90 (I-90) in the US state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, Illinois, South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford, Illinois, Ro ...
and collect tolls for 99 years. The deal was the first of its kind in the U.S. In December 2006,
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...
paid Chicago $563 million for a 99-year lease of the city's parking garages. "I'm the one who started talking about leasing public assets. No other city has done this in America," Daley recalled in 2009.
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning commentator George F. Will wrote of the deals in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'',
Unfortunately, Daley's theory—that it can be better to get a sum X immediately, rather than getting over many years a sum Y that is substantially larger than X—assumes something that cannot be assumed. It assumes that governments will prudently husband sudden surges of revenue from the lease or sale of assets.


Sixth term (2007–2011)

On February 6, 2008, the Chicago City Council approved, by a 41–6 vote, an increase in the city's
real estate transfer tax Real estate transfer tax is a tax that may be imposed by states, counties, or municipalities on the privilege of transferring real property within the jurisdiction. Rates In the USA, total transfer taxes can range between very small (for example ...
to fund the
Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...
. Presiding over the meeting, Daley harshly chastized the dissenting aldermen. On March 15, 2010, Daley appointed two aldermen on the same day, bringing to 19 the number of alderman initially appointed by Daley.


More long-term leases of public infrastructure

In September 2008, Chicago accepted a $2.52 billion bid on a 99-year lease of
Midway International Airport Chicago Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Loop business district, and divided between the city's Clearing and ...
to a group of private investors, but the deal fell through due to the collapse of credit markets during the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
. In 2008, as Chicago struggled to close a growing budget deficit, the city agreed to a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal to lease its
parking meter A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to Parking, park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by Municipality, municipalities as a tool for enforcing their i ...
system to an operating company created by
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...
. Daley said 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." The agreement quadrupled rates, in the first year alone, while the hours which people have to pay for parking were broadened from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., and from Monday through Saturday to every day of the week. Additionally, the city agreed to compensate the new owners for loss of revenue any time any road with parking meters is closed by the city for anything from maintenance work to street festivals.* * * * In three years, the proceeds from the lease were all but spent.


Failed Olympic bid

In 2007, Daley entered into ten-year contracts with the city's labor unions to preclude labor unrest as Chicago launched a bid to host the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
. For months in 2009, Daley promoted the economic benefits of the proposal to the city and its corporate community. Many thought the games would be a capstone of Daley's career. On October 2, 2009, in a major disappointment for Daley, Chicago was the first of four finalists to be eliminated during selection ceremonies in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
. According to a March 2011 report from the city's Office of the Inspector General,
By signing a 10-year (contract) with the
Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...
(and with over 30 other unions representing city employees), the current administration and City Council unduly hamstrung not only the current management of city government, but the next six years of management as well, a period that extends well beyond the elected terms of the incoming administration and City Council.


Gun control

"If it was up to me, no one except law enforcement officers would own a handgun. But I understand that's impractical," Daley told attendees at a conference of
gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...
advocates in Washington, D.C. in 1998, during his third term. Daley was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...
and
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
Mayor
Thomas Menino Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three mont ...
. On January 17, 2006, during Daley's fifth term, at a joint press conference with Illinois Governor
Rod Blagojevich Rod R. Blagojevich ( ; born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked ...
calling for a statewide ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, Daley said, "If we are really to make the progress that we want, we have to keep the most dangerous weapons that are right here off of our streets." The
US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
took up ''
McDonald v. Chicago ''McDonald v. City of Chicago'', 561 U.S. 742 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms", as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporate ...
'', 561 U.S. 3025, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010), which challenged handgun bans in the Chicago and in the neighboring suburb of Oak Park. In May 2010, Daley held a press conference to address gun control and a pending possible adverse decision in ''McDonald v. Chicago''. After Mick Dumke, a reporter for the ''
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
'', questioned the effectiveness of the city's handgun ban, Daley picked up a rifle with a bayonet from a display table of confiscated weapons and told him, "If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is. Let me put a round up your, you know." The remark was voted "the stoopidest thing that Mayor Richard Daley the Younger has ever said" in an online poll by the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
''. On June 28, 2010, the
US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
held, in a 5–4 decision in ''McDonald v. Chicago'', that the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the Right to keep and bear arms in the United States, right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Un ...
was incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment, thus protecting the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" from local governments, and all but declared Mayor
Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...
's 1982 handgun ban unconstitutional. That afternoon, at a press conference concerning the gun ban, Daley said,
We'll publicly propose a new ordinance very soon ... As a city we must continue to stand up ... and fight for a ban on assault weapons ... as well as a crackdown on gun shops ... We are a country of laws not a nation of guns.
Daley called a special meeting of the city council for four days later, and the Council approved a gun control ordinance revised to include city
firearms license A firearms license (also known as a gun license; or licence in British English) is a license or permit issued by a government authority (typically by the police) of a jurisdiction, that allows the licensee to buy, own, possess, or carry a f ...
s.


Daley budget deficits and fund draw-downs

Daley came into office in a city with revenue-generating assets, manageable debt and flush pension funds, but he left behind a city with a structural deficit that Mayor-elect
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...
estimated at $1.2 billion when under-funded
pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides pension, retirement income. The U.S. Government's Social Security Trust Fund, which oversees $2.57 trillion in assets, is the ...
s were included. The Daley administration's expenditures exceeded revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. In August 2010,
Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered as being one of the " Bi ...
downgraded the city's
bond credit rating In investment, the bond credit rating represents the credit worthiness of corporate or government bonds. The ratings are published by credit rating agencies and used by investment professionals to assess the likelihood the debt will be repaid. C ...
, citing the administration's use of reserve funds for general
operating expenses An operating expense (opex) is an ongoing cost for running a product, business, or system. Its counterpart, a ''capital expenditure'' (capex), is the cost of developing or providing non-consumable parts for the product or system. For example, th ...
and under-funding of its pension funds, and noted that the city faced rising fixed operating costs yet lacked plans for new revenue.
Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
analysts noted that the Daley administration began drawing on the city's reserves as early as 2006, before the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
. "While there had been sound economic growth in years prior to 2008, there were still sizable fund balance drawdowns in both 2006 and 2007," Fitch wrote. The city's budgets continued to increase even after the recession began, to more than $6 billion a year, and, when under-funded city employee pension funds were included, the city's annual deficit exceeded $1 billion. In January 2011,
Moody's Investors Service Moody's Ratings, previously and still legally known as Moody's Investors Service and often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its histo ...
downgraded to a "negative" outlook some of the revenue bonds issued for the $15 billion
O'Hare Modernization Program Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop business district. The airport is operated by the ...
and related infrastructure projects, citing the city's plan to postpone repayment of interest and principal on some construction bonds. In his annual budget address in City Council Chambers on October 15, 2008, Daley proposed a 2009 budget totaling $5.97 billion, including not filling 1,350 vacancies on the 38,000 employee city payroll and $150 million in new revenue from a then-obscure parking meter lease deal to help erase a $469 million budget shortfall. The Daley administration employed an in-house staff of more than 50
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
officers across City departments at a cost of $4.7 million, and millions more on seven private public relations firms. "It's worth it", Daley said. On the first day of City Council hearings on Daley's 2009 budget proposal, several aldermen questioned the administration's public relations spending. On November 4, 2008, Jacquelyn Heard, the mayor's
press secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dutie ...
, said the city would halt spending on 10 public relations contracts that could have paid as much as $5 million each. In his annual budget address on October 21, 2009, Daley projected a deficit for 2009 of more than $520 million. Daley proposed a 2010 budget totaling $6.14 billion, including spending $370 million from the $1.15 billion proceeds from the parking meter lease. In his annual budget address on October 13, 2010, Daley projected a deficit for 2010 of $655 million, the largest in city history. Daley proposed a 2011 budget totaling $6.15 billion, including spending all but $76 million of what remained of the parking meter lease proceeds, and received a standing ovation from aldermen.


Daley declines to run for seventh term

Daley's approval rating was at an all-time low of 35% by late 2009. On September 7, 2010, Daley announced that he would not seek a seventh term. "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," Daley said. On December 26, 2010, Daley surpassed his father as Chicago's longest-serving mayor. Daley chaired his final city council meeting on Wednesday morning, May 11, 2011. His term ended on May 16, 2011, and he was succeeded by
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...
.


Approval ratings


Legacy

Daley was supported by Chicago's traditionally Republican business community. He came under criticism for focusing city resources on the development of businesses downtown, the North, Near South, and Near West Sides, while neglecting neighborhoods in the other areas of the city; in particular the needs of low-income residents. According to ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' 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 public housing projects, and pushed reform of the minority-dominated public schools." Daley focused on Chicago as a tourist destination as opposed to a manufacturing base, improved and expanded parkland, added flower planters along many primary streets, and oversaw the creation of
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...
on what had previously been an abandoned train yard. He spearheaded the conversion of
Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of shops, restaura ...
into a popular tourist destination. Daley supported
immigration reform Immigration reform is change to the 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". In the political sense, "immigratio ...
, and green building initiatives, for which he was presented with an Honor Award from the
National Building Museum The National Building Museum is a museum of architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning in Northwest Washington, D.C., U.S. It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private non-profit institution. Located at ...
in 2009 as a "visionary in sustainability." Chicago avoided some of the most severe economic contractions of other Midwest cities along the Great Lakes such as Detroit and
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
.


Post-mayoral career

Days after leaving office, the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
appointed Daley a "distinguished senior fellow" at the
Harris School of Public Policy The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy is the public policy graduate school of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located on the University of Chicago's main campus in Hyde Park. The school ...
. The five-year, part-time appointment includes responsibility for coordinating a guest lecture series. Weeks after leaving office, Daley joined the international law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, one of the law firms to which he had awarded no-bid legal work as mayor. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP had negotiated the city's much-criticized long-term lease of its
parking meters A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street par ...
, parking garages, and the
Chicago Skyway Interstate 90 (I-90) in the US state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, Illinois, South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford, Illinois, Ro ...
. Daley joined an exclusive
speakers bureau A speakers bureau is a collection of speakers who talk about a particular subject, or a company, which operates to facilitate speakers for clients requiring motivational speakers, celebrity appearances, conference facilitators, or keynote speakers ...
, the Harry Walker Agency, that pays tens of thousands of dollars an appearance. Daley was on the board of directors of The
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
Company from 2011 to 2019. Daley is a managing
principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...
of Tur Partners LLC, an
investment firm An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...
, where Daley's son, Patrick Daley, is a principal. ''
The National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly news ...
'' included Daley in its 2013 list of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America," based on "his political connections — the best in Chicago." In 2022, Daley's daughter Nora became chair of the Illinois Arts Council. In June 2022, Daley was hospitalized at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located on Northwestern University's Campus of Northwestern University, Chicago campus in Streeterville, Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship campus for Nort ...
in Chicago for a "neurological" illness.


Recognition

In 1999, Daley received the Arbor Day Foundation's Lifetime Stewardship Award. In 2002, Daley received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
presented by Awards Council member and Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Frank McCourt Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book '' Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood. Early life and education Frank M ...
. He was the Host of the 2004 International Achievement Summit in Chicago. In 2017, Daley received the ULI Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award.


Publications

*


See also

* Electoral history of Richard M. Daley * Timeline of Chicago, 1980s–2010s


Footnotes


References


Further reading

* * * * Scholarly biography. * * **


External links


Mayor Daley's Mark
slideshow by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
Mayor Richard M. Daley
archive at the ''
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
''
Daley
archive a
Chicagoist

Mayor Daley Backgrounder: Our Best Stories About Richard M. Daley, From His Rise to Power Until Now
at ''
Chicago Magazine ''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, l ...
''
Richard M. Daley
biography a
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP



Richard M. Daley
at the Harry Walker Agency speaker's agency
Richard Michael Daley
archive at the
Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the Chicago, City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, three regional libraries, and branches distributed thr ...
, including inaugural addresses
Richard M. Daley materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

Tur Partners LLC
investment firm An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...
where Daley and son Patrick are principals
Photo gallery: Mayor Richard M. Daley
at the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daley, Richard M. 1942 births 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century mayors of places in Illinois 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century mayors of places in Illinois American gun control activists American people of Irish descent Catholics from Illinois Richard M. De La Salle Institute alumni DePaul University alumni Democratic Party Illinois state senators Directors of The Coca-Cola Company Cook County state's attorneys Living people Mayors of Chicago Members of Illinois constitutional conventions Military personnel from Chicago Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors United States Marine Corps reservists United States Marines