DADDY DALEY AND HIS ALDERCHILDREN'S ALLOWANCE

Have you ever wondered what the taxpayer bill is for the 50 members of the our City Council? Well, the Chicago Tribune decided to look into this very issue:

The yearly city tab to keep all 50 aldermen in business tops $25 million. More than $15 million covers payroll for workers employed by aldermen and the committees they head.

Aldermanic salaries are $110,556, although eight opted not to take the most recent raise of about $6,400, for an annual total of $5.5 million. That's all before the expense allotment of up to $73,280 each, which boosts city costs by as much as $3.7 million. Every alderman also has discretion over how to spend $1.32 million on ward improvements under Mayor Richard Daley's 2009 budget.

This is one way Daley controls the City Council. He lays off city employees and forces many others to take pay cuts, but then he gives the aldermen millions of dollars to control, increases their expense allotments, and sits compliantly while they vote to give themselves and their staffs a pay raise.

Daddy Daley gives his 50 little alderchildren a $75,000 allowance. Wanna know how they spend all that money?:

Chicago aldermen have used their newly expanded, taxpayer-funded expense accounts to hire relatives, lease expensive vehicles and pay for downtown parking, according to a Tribune analysis.

See for yourself how each alderman spends this money here.

And then, maybe you will want to ask these aldermen some questions. Like, maybe they can explain why taxpayers need to lease cars for their part-time job. Everyone in this city is driving around in taxpayer-funded cars - City Council, CTA, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Seems pretty ridiculous to me. As Mick Dumke said, it's A Perk That Needs to Die. Pay for your own cars like everyone else, you bums! It sure must be easy to sell off our parking meters and parking garages and raise fees on both when many of you park your cars on the taxpayers' dime.

Seriously. WHY THE HELL DO WE HAVE 50 ALDERMEN?!

New York has 51 city council members.
But NYC also has almost 3 times as many people as Chicago!
NYC population: 8,363,710, Chicago population: 2,853,114

Los Angeles has 15 city council members.
And LA is bigger than Chicago by 1 million people!
LA population: 3,833,995, Chicago population: 2,853,114

Houston has 14 city council members.
And Houston is nearly the same size as Chicago.
Houston population: 2,242,193, Chicago population: 2,853,114