After Rahm, Chicago may revert to the Daley Dynasty

Chicagoans already have been able to talk about their “Mayor Daley” for 42 years, considering the 10 two-year terms served by Richard J. Daley, and the 11 terms served by his son, Richard M. (“Richie”) Daley. But now, a new “Mayor Daley” may emerge from political scramble following the announcement that Rahm Emanuel will not run for re-election. Bill Ruthhart reports for the Chicago Tribune:

Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley will announce Monday that he’s going to run for a job once held by his brother and father — mayor of Chicago.

Daley would mark the first big-name candidate to officially jump in the race since Mayor Rahm Emanuel made the stunning announcement earlier this month that he would not seek a third term. Daley, whose nascent campaign confirmed Friday he would run, succeeded Emanuel as then-President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff after Emanuel left the job to run for mayor in 2010. He also worked as commerce secretary for more than three years under former President Bill Clinton.

William Daley official portrait as White House chief of staff

Bill Daley has two significant advantages in the primary race. One is sheer name recognition, which is very important in a field that is likely to include at least a dozen candidates. The second is that he will get massive support from Chicago’s corporate sector, as the sane alternative to fiscally reckless progressives and identity politics candidates. Daley is a guy that the moneybags feel confident about:

Daley worked as a lawyer and later as president of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago before his first round working in Washington. After his years in the Clinton administration, he ran Al Gore’s presidential campaign before being named president of SBC Communications (now AT&T), where he was in charge of strategic planning and lobbying. Daley then became JPMorgan’s Midwest chairman in 2004 and later was named the company’s head of corporate responsibility, where he oversaw lobbying efforts.

Daley left JPMorgan to serve in the Obama White House. He also stepped down from positions on corporate boards at the time, including Boeing Co. and Abbott Laboratories. In 2014 he was named head of U.S. operations for the Switzerland-based hedge fund Argentiere Capital.

He would enter a race with a dozen or so candidates, many of whom have struggled to raise money so far. That would not figure to be a problem for Daley, who has strong ties to New York’s Wall Street and Chicago’s LaSalle Street. He also has personal wealth he could tap, though not to the extent of Gov. Bruce Rauner or the self-funding Democratic nominee for governor, J.B. Pritzker.

Chicago has a nonpartisan “jungle primary” system in which the tow highest vote-getters rub in the general election, regardless of party. With a large field and a strong pull in the direction of ethnic solidarity in the current fashion of the left, Chicago may well revert to dynastic politics.

There is almost no chance that Daley, 70 years old, would come anywhere close to the tenure of his father or brother.

Chicago continues to epitomize what’s wrong with politics in the current political era.

 

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