See, I'm not the only one that thinks Daley's "record isn't as pretty as the flowers he's planted." Before a Daley re-election bid in 2002, Chicago Magazine made The Case Against Daley:
Now it's re-election time again...Daley will run. Not only that, he'll win. There are no serious challengers in sight.
Too bad for Chicago.
For the past decade, Daley has refused to debate his opponents. Now it looks as if he won't even have anyone to refuse (the only announced candidate so far is a computer consultant named Pat McAllister, who has quickly faded into oblivion).
No debates, no real campaign, no airing of the issues, no holding the mayor to account, no competing visions.
"Opposition tends to dwindle after a couple of re-election wins," says Dick Simpson, the former alderman who teaches political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "With more and more power, the mayor becomes like a czar."
This isn't right. No matter how good Daley looks from a distance, he has plenty of warts up close-and they should be examined. His record should be evaluated. What's more, Chicagoans deserve to know how he plans to face the bushel of serious problems confronting the city.
So, while there are compelling reasons why Daley should be returned to power, we present ten compelling reasons why he should not.
1. He's an arrogant, antidemocratic autocrat
...
2. Contract croynism
...
3. He bungles big projects
...
4. The O'Hare mess
...
5. The middle-class squeeze
...
6. The have-nots
...
7. Murder capital, USA
...
8. The police department
...
9. The heat wave
...
10. School days
...
Look, we're happy to give Daley some credit. Running Chicago is incredibly complicated. No one's record is going to be perfect. Maybe he really is the best guy for the job. He's grown in office tremendously. But if you strip away the public relations, this mayor's record isn't as pretty as the flowers he's planted. At the least, his record ought to be debated in a healthy, contentious campaign. He should be challenged by a smart, loyal opposition that would rescue the city's political culture from its one-man rule. That, to us, would produce a stronger Chicago.
No comments:
Post a Comment