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Seiffe advises, "the Mayor should plan on retiring at the end of this term. Assuming he is as pure as the….well, at least un-indictable, the Mayor’s “legal” actions are reason enough to conclude that his tenure is heading towards tragedy."

Friday, August 19, 2005

By Ralf Seiffe

OPINION - Reportedly, Mayor Daley wants to serve longer than his father did in Illinois’ most powerful job. Since Richard I reigned from 1955 until he died in office in 1976, Richard II would have to serve until at least 2010 to best his father.

Given the metastacising scandals and the mounting indictments, a growing number wonder if he can last that long.

Observers remember the water torture of indictments in L’Affaire Ryan when the designated prosecutor slowly issued indictments until he snagged the governor.

The current catalog of city hall indictments and convictions seems to be a very similar process and it’s not too much of a stretch to conclude that the Mayor might be fighting his own charges at about the time of the next mayoral inauguration in 2007. Many critics of what’s left of the Chicago machine will consider Fitzgerald’s tenure a failure unless he charges the mayor.

I prefer to believe that the Mayor so loves his city that he would do nothing to hurt it. I believe he has successfully resisted the scams that are part of the city’s genetic code. I believe he knows nothing of the dirty money flowing into idle trucks and I believe he’s unaware of the alleged wrongful hiring practices at the hall or the heroin dealing at the Water Department. I sure he’s already on the track of the real grafters.

That said, the Mayor should plan on retiring at the end of this term. Assuming he is as pure as the….well, at least un-indictable, the Mayor’s “legal” actions are reason enough to conclude that his tenure is heading towards tragedy.

Three actions the mayor has taken bother me because they show the mayor has become corrupt in an “official” sense. The three gambits---the theft of the Lincoln Park Gun Club, the hijacking of Meigs Field, and the discredited attempt to bankrupt the gun industry---demonstrate that Richard II Mayor to be corrupt, probably as a consequence of the absolute power he enjoys.

Long ago Daley seized and bulldozed the Lincoln Park Gun Club. The clubhouse was a building erected to demonstrate the feasibility of Daniel Burnham’s plan to create an off-shore roadway a century ago. It was an interesting bit of architecture built to withstand any event imaginable before the atomic age and it should have been preserved if only for that reason. A better reason was because of the gun club, itself. Few remember that the Lincoln Park Traps was one of the few gun clubs open to the public---it hosted many charitable events and even paid the city rent. Old hands at the club told me that Richard J. Daley was often attended these events.

Nevertheless, the Mayor set his sights on the Lincoln Park Club early in his administration. He cited phony evidence of “pollution” and allied with the fiends who call themselves the “Friends” of Lincoln Park. Chicago lost a lakefront treasure of national value as a result.

The seizure of the gun club reveals Mayor’s firearms prejudices trump the rights of a small minority who should be permitted access to the park, just like boaters, golfers and the onanists that have taken over the beach just north of the club’s former location.

Similarly, hijacking Meigs Field in the dead of night, aggravated by blinding the cameras that should have recorded the airport’s seizure, reveals the mayor places his personal comforts above the economic welfare of the city.

Ostensibly, the mayor trashed Meigs for “security” reasons. Just like the standard, right-wing kook who justifies any affront to the public weal by quoting “national security”, the Mayor’s assertion rings hollow.

The way I understand it, the Mayor had just moved from Bridgeport to a development near the airport. Once he got there, the noise of airplanes bothered him. So, by tearing up the runways, he stopped the noise and, no doubt, enhanced the value of the townhomes. All perfectly legal but one wonders if he’s as concerned about noise he’ll inflict on clout-less residents near the expanded O’Hare.

In exchange for the mayor’s comfort, Chicago lost one of the best general aviation facilities in the nation. No longer can McCormick Place exhibitors make quick day trips into the city giving those executives another reason to move their conventions to Las Vegas or Orlando. Nor will recreational fliers be able to enjoy the unduplicated experience of a great city’s lakefront airport.

Finally, there’s the mayor’s participation in a plan to bankrupt the gun industry by suing under a legal theory thoroughly discredited in federal court. This quixotic enterprise holds that gun makers are liable for inner-city violence. Since these firearms are illegal to sell or possess in Chicago, one wonders how the manufacturer can be responsible for their criminal misuse.

This foolish tactic has attracted the attention of Congress but the cynic in me sees this lawsuit as a bit of misdirection on the part of the mayor and his fellow, big-city plaintiffs. The purpose of the suit is not to collect damages from the gun makers but to disguise the damage Democrat’s big city policies have done to their client voting blocks. No rational person would continue this fool’s errand, so, spending the city’s money on these doomed cases is simply a conceit of the part of the mayor.

Moreover, if the mayor were to succeed and establish precedent, his participation would soon come to vex him. Using the mayor’s logic, it wouldn’t take a month for a public housing resident to bring a case alleging that the city, as owner of the projects, is responsible for the violence within.

There is no doubt that Richard M. Daley has done a lot for the city and has a developing legacy.

However, three examples clearly show that over time, even the most sincere person can be corrupted by the absolute power of office. I doubt the mayor regards these three incidents as anything but honorable but, they aren’t. They were only possible because of the iron hand the city council allows him.

Whether Patrick Fitzgerald snares the mayor or not, it’s time for the mayor to recognize it is time to move on. That way, Richie will be remembered as the greater, if not the longest serving Daley.

© 2005 IllinoisLeader.com -- all rights reserved

Ralf Seiffe advises business start-ups and product launches from Chicago, Illinois and is a political analyst and columnist for the Illinois Leader.