Daley’s Reign

Few American political dynasties can match the impact and longevity of the Daley family. Richard J. Daley was mayor of Chicago from 1955 until his death in 1976. His son, Richard M. Daley, has been mayor since 1989. But the younger Daley has ruled less with an iron fist and more with a green thumb. Daley has trumpeted streetscape projects and flower planters that have helped transform Chicago from a gritty manufacturing center to a pulsing hub with a diversified economy and booming real-estate market. But the Daley reign may soon be coming to an end. Daley has not publicly announced whether he will seek re-election in February 2007, and there are a handful of potential opponents testing the waters, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Daley’s administration has also been feeling the heat from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into city’s allegedly fraudulent hiring system. Though Daley is not under investigation and has denied any wrongdoing, his former patronage chief and three former city officials were convicted this past summer. And the mayor and city council haven’t always seen eye to eye. Daley recently vetoed the council’s ordinance that would have required retailers with at least $1 billion a year in sales and with stores of at least 90,000 square feet to pay their employees at least $13 in wages and benefits by 2010. Large chains, like Target and Wal-Mart, balked at the move and said it would hamper future store openings. Daley said the plan would crush development in the very neighborhoods, mostly black ones, which the minimum-wage bill was intended to help.

David Gerlach recently spoke with Daley about the minimum-wage issue, efforts to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago and government’s role in green initiatives. He would not comment about his future political plans or about the pending federal probe. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You recently issued your first veto over the minimum-wage push directed toward "big-box" retailers.

Richard M. Daley: That was not the veto. We’re not a proponent of big-box retailers [per se]. We want economic development—both for people to work for the first time and for sales taxes. You also get real-estate taxes. The only time people have objected is when [the big-box stores] went to the west side of Chicago. Why is it that suburban areas can have any type of store and no one says anything?

Who objected to the stores? The unions?