“(HEY TODD), WHO’S NAME IS ON THAT WATER TOWER OVER THERE?”

12/16/09

Much has been made of late of the “feud,” “bad blood,” or “animosity” between Mayor Richard M. Daley and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. Both men, of course, deny that any such bad feelings exist, but, remember, they are both career politicians and thus reflexively lie. As strange as this may sound, this is not a knock on either man; it is just an observation of the conduct of their profession. Politicians, as I have said numerous times on this blog and elsewhere, lie because it comes more naturally than telling the truth, only they don’t call it “lying.” They call it “posturing,” “bargaining,” or “public relations.” But I digress.

Apparently, Todd Stroger is upset with Rich Daley because Daley, or, more properly, Rich Daley’s brother John, who is chairman of the Cook County Board Finance Committee, did not support Mr. Stroger on his 1% increase in the sales tax. Indeed, John Daley was one of the leaders of the coalition of Board members who cut that sales tax increase in half. Stroger is also upset that neither (none really, but for purposes of this discussion, only Rich and John count, at least on the surface) Daley brother has endorsed him in his tough, four way primary race for effective reelection to the Board presidency. Reportedly, Stroger, who apparently doesn’t know much about politics in this city, is angry with the Daleys because House Speaker, 13th Ward Committeeman, and Democratic Party State Chairman Mike Madigan has not endorsed Mr. Stroger, as if Rich Daley can tell Mike Madigan what to do. More on that in my other 12/16 post “DON’T MAKE NO WAVES, DON’T BACK NO LOSERS.”

Despite denials on both sides, it is clear that the Daleys have had it with the Todd Stroger. But why? Some have argued that Stroger’s, er, inartful handling of his office has the Mayor very upset. While calling for austerity and arguing that the County was broke, Stroger went on a spree of hiring his relatives, friends, political cronies, lackeys, toadies, favorite busboys, and various other incompetent, unqualified hangers-on. The experienced observer is led to ask, however, how someone like Mayor Daley can criticize anyone for packing the payroll with relatives, friends, political cronies, lackeys, toadies, favorite busboys, and various other incompetent, unqualified hangers-on while warning of imminent financial demise. There is something to this argument, however, and to Daley’s anger with Stroger on this basis. While packing the payroll and handing out contracts to the favored few is a long time political tradition that still endures in these parts, the experienced and skilled politicians, like the Daleys, engage in activities with a degree of aplomb and style that Todd Stroger seems completely incapable of matching. Much like our former Governor, Mr. Stroger is simply too blatant about his corruption. Subtlety is a concept he, like Rod Blagojevich, has yet, and probably never, to grasp. This interferes with business as usual at City Hall and at the County Building by drawing too much attention to the nefarious goings-on that are part of government in and around the city of Chicago and the county of Cook.

Another angle argues that the Daleys are upset with Mr. Stroger because he has driven the County to financial ruin and was forced to raise taxes in order to keep the County afloat. But, again, it is difficult for Rich Daley to castigate someone for driving the political jurisdiction of which one is in charge to financial ruin while grasping for new sources of revenue. There is in this case also, however, an element of veracity and justification in the Mayor’s state of perturbation. The increase in the sales tax was huge, larger than the County needed, the latter even according to Todd Stroger, who said that the County could always use the extra revenue and, by taking this enormous bite of the apple now, could avoid coming back to the well later. (This explanation illustrates why Todd Stroger, the incumbent, is running fourth in a field of four candidates for his own job, but we are not talking about the opinions of the typical taxpayer and voter here; we are talking about the opinion of the Daleys.) Such a level of sales taxation has a direct impact on the city of Chicago, on doing business in the city of Chicago, in visiting the city of Chicago, and in living in the city of Chicago. The last thing that the Mayor wants is for the city to become a less attractive place, and Mr. Stroger’s tax increase did just that. Further, given the state of political literacy of the average voter, the Mayor is bound to continue to get some of the blame for this increase in taxes.

While there is certainly an element of truth in the argument that the Mayor is upset with the County Board president because of the blatant corruption and fiscal mismanagement leading to increased taxes at the County under Mr. Stroger’s tutelage, the true source of the Daleys’ displeasure with Mr. Stroger lies in a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago that found that Finance Committee Chairman John Daley voted with Board President Stroger on only half of fourteen votes the study considered pivotal. If this study understood the direction of power in this County or, more likely, were not striving so hard to be politically correct, it would have stated that Board President Stroger supported Finance Committee Chairman Daley only half the time on fourteen pivotal votes. Make no mistake—John Daley, almost certainly with the help of or at the behest of his brothers, runs the County Board and has done so for a long, long time. Apparently, young Mr. Stroger, unlike his politically more astute father, fails to understand this. The Stroger family exists politically to do the Daley family’s bidding. (See my 9/19/09 post “OF THE GOVERNMENT, BY THE GOVERNMENT, AND FOR THE GOVERNMENT”) This has been the case ever since Richard J. Daley took a liking to a young law student named John Stroger and effectively made him committeeman of the 8th Ward in 1968. Todd Stroger simply forgot, or was never told, who the boss is, and that is why the boss is angry with him.

Ironically, one of the sources of Mr. Stroger’s anger with the Daleys’ failure to endorse him (Again, see my other 12/16 post “DON’T MAKE NO WAVES, DON’T BACK NO LOSERS.”) is that Mr. Stroger feels he is owed for all the loyalty the Strogers have shown the Daleys over the years, including the senior Mr. Stroger’s backing Richard M. Daley for mayor in 1983 over Harold Washington. So one would suspect that, somewhere about halfway through that argument, the light would go off in Mr. Stroger’s head and he would realize who’s in charge. But apparently it hasn’t. And it also hasn’t dawned upon Mr. Stroger that politicians, and especially the Daleys, have short memories.