As the city enters its third month of Burke-related scandal, with news continuing to break about Ald. Danny Solis’ (25) role in Burke’s troubles with the feds (and his own debts), and with few weeks to go until the polls close and the field likely narrows, mayoral candidate Bill Daley sat down for The Daily Line’s Aldercast podcast.

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The former Chief-of-Staff for Barack Obama and former U.S. Commerce Secretary for Bill Clinton had stints in the private sector at SBC Communications, JPMorgan Chase, and at  Swiss hedge fund, Argentiere Capital. And, of course in Chicago, Daley’s name carries weight – baggage or clout, depending on who you talk to –  as the son of Mayor Richard J. Daley, the brother of Mayor Richard M. Daley and Comm. John P. Daley (D-11) and uncle of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11).

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Daley is sticking to bread and butter issues on the trail – crime, education, and housing affordability – but expounded in this interview to discuss continuing #MeToo issues in Chicago, the potential for future school closings, and his thoughts on progressivism.  

Five takeaways:

• Surveillance on every block; build the new police academy – “We have more cameras than most cities, I’d have a camera on every block in the city, a very high definition camera in order to give comfort to people, not just in those areas that have high crime, but throughout the city,” he said. The ACLU described the city's already-extensive surveillance system in 2011 as "a pervasive and unregulated threat to our privacy." His crime platform also includes further investments in police Strategic Data Support Centers, incentives for businesses to invest in security cameras, and the use of drones. “I think the training part is the most important, that’s one of the reasons I think I’m the only one of the 13 people that are actually for a new academy,” Daley said. That’s in addition to investing $50 million in violence reduction programs similar to CeaseFire, a reinvestment in CPD’s CAPS program, and asking Springfield for harsher gun penalties and an assault weapons ban. 


• Strip down the FOP contract – The city’s contract with the Fraternal Order of Police is long-expired, and for reformers, is a key impediment to changing the culture of the police department. “The contract should be there, I get, to protect the police officer. He has rights. But it should not be there as an impediment for investigations or actions where actions are needed to correct a wrong,” Daley said. “I’ve asked somebody to bring in the copies of the contracts and I’ll be you need a Harvard Law degree to figure them out, which is ridiculous, okay? And usually, when it’s hard to understand these thing, it’s done for a reason – nobody wants you to understand them. So I think we ought to simplify them.” Many public employee contracts are “layered on, layered on, layered on,” he said. The FOP’s should be streamlined so they can be used “for the purpose they were originally developed: to make sure people are paid fairly, compensated fairly, and that they are not subject to political interference and a fair process for them to be adjudged when they make mistakes and not just the sort of tragedies we’ve seen with Laquan McDonald.”  


• On the millions he’s raised from out of state and corporate interests – “I’ve been fortunate over the years of having a lot of friendships and relationships around the country. I had one senior businessperson, a Republican, give me a substantial amount of money and has no interest in Chicago other than his attitude was we need reasonable sensible leadership in urban America,” he said. While many connected Chicagoans have donated to his campaign, including the Ricketts, former Tribune owner Sam Zell’s trust, and dozens of Chicago-based investors, he said, “The people that have supported me don’t play in the game of Chicago politics, they have no business interest in that sense. I’m proud of the fact that I am pro-business. I think the opportunity to address so many of our issues in this city relate to our ability to grow economically.” 


• On his definition of liberal – “Let’s be honest, ‘progressive’ is just because Democrats didn’t want to call themselves ‘liberals’ anymore because it was such a negative term... I think you understand that government is there to provide a service to help people and that it must interact and must interdict themselves for social good, but that you also must be part of making sure that the economic pie grows and isn’t just the economic pie of government, it’s the economic pie of the private sector, which is much larger and much more meaningful than government’s ability to affect things. Some people look at using government as a stick to force private sector to do what you want, or what you think is the right policy. I think you’ve got to work with the business community in many ways, and that’s one of the biggest challenges for the next mayor.” 


• On the CTU’s demand for higher pay and hiring nurses, librarians and aides – “Conceptually, everyone would like to see everybody get a pay raise as much as she could, and give everybody whatever they want. The reality is, we have to deal with reality. I’ve had three sisters teachers, daughter a teacher, I understand what a tough job and how we expect much more of them. I have respect. I plan to sit down with the leadership if I’m elected mayor, and we will work to being fair to them, fair to the kids of Chicago, and fair to the taxpayers and the future of this city,” he said. He floated a private partnership to provide some of those services, including healthcare, but said he didn’t believe “one should say that’s totally out and therefore you must just layer on more people into a system” already struggling to pay teachers.

A rendering of the proposed Lincoln Yards development. [Sterling Bay]

Nine aldermen are on record as of Thursday vowing to vote against the $6 billion Lincoln Yards development because it fails to combat Chicago’s affordable housing shortfall or reduce the economic or racial segregation plaguing the city.

As the opposition to the project swelled Thursday, Ald. James Cappleman (46) — who controls the fate of the megaproject as the new chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee — said he would insist developer Sterling Bay commit to building affordable units earmarked for the city’s poorest residents in the 2nd Ward — but not as part of the development itself.

A hearing is set on whether city officials should create a new tax-increment financing district to fuel the massive development set to reshape the riverfront between the South Loop and Chinatown. Mayor Rahm Emanuel touted a new record for Chicago Animal Care and Control, as more animals than ever are finding forever homes.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown — who has been under investigation by federal authorities for several years — will make her pick in the crowded mayoral contest, but it won’t be Toni Preckwinkle, who booted her from the ballot. Amara Enyia sat down with one of her most famous supporters, while Lori Lightfoot backed three challenges trying to unseat incumbent aldermen.

Chicago voters have no idea where $75,000 contributed to the candidates running for mayor came from because of a “loophole” in state campaign finance regulations, according to an analysis by The Daily Line.

With potentially record-breaking cold enveloping the city, some county offices and the courts will close — but others will be open, officials announced. The the deputy CEO for finance and strategy at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System announced his retirement, and the city clerk is looking for some feedback on fines and fees.

Arrestees at Illinois jails would be afforded three phone calls within an hour of being detained, if a push from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Public Defender Amy Campanelli and First Defense Legal Aid is successful.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners — responsible for next month’s municipal elections — “cannot assure the public that it would be able to maintain election operations in the event of an attack or disaster,” according to an audit by Inspector General Joe Ferguson.

Early voting finally started Tuesday after being delayed by numerous ballot challenges — but then was frozen in place by the Polar Vortex. Meanwhile, requests to vote by mail surged, and the mayor’s biggest contributor backed several aldermen running for re-election.

Ald. Danny Solis (25) resigned Tuesday evening as chairman of the City Council's Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and building standards, less than 12 hours after the the Sun-Times reported he received sex acts at massage parlors, the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra and campaign contributions in exchange for ushering deals through City Council.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement that Solis "made the right decision" by resigning.

“Alderman Danny Solis has recognized that he cannot effectively preside over the matters before the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, and he has communicated with my office his intent to resign as chairman," Emanuel said. "I commend him for making the right decision for the City Council and the City of Chicago.”

Solis will be replaced by the committee's vice chairman, Ald. James Cappleman (46) under the City Council's rules of procedures.

It will be up to Cappleman to shepherd the mega-projects fueled by $1.6 billion in subsidies through the City Council during Emanuel's final weeks in office.

Solis is the second close ally of Emanuel's to be forced from a powerful perch by the spiraling investigation that has upended politics as usual at City Hall. The Sun-Times reported that Solis wore a wire as part of the investigation into Ald. Ed Burke (14), who was forced to step down as chairman of the Finance Committee after being charged with attempted extortion. Burke maintains his innocence.

Solis, who is not running for re-election, has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Two of the candidates running to replace Solis — Hilario Dominquez and Alex Acevedo — reiterated their calls Tuesday for the alderman to step down, although window for Emanuel to appoint a replacement before Solis' replacement is elected is closing quickly.

At a City Hall news conference, mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot called for Emanuel to issue an executive order to rein in aldermanic prerogative, as she called for in her platform, and audit zoning decisions going back to 2014.

Rival Paul Vallas also headed to City Hall — brandishing another broom — to blast opponents’ past ties with Solis and Burke.

"I think I’m going to need a bigger one to clean up City Hall,” Vallas said, who has an ethics plan. "This is a new low."

Mayoral candidate Amara Enyia, who released a good governance plan several weeks ago, noted her lack of ties to Burke or Solis.

"This is just the tip of an iceberg that could entangle more public officials who've been part of the political machine for years," Enyia said.

City officials are on the cusp of approving $1.6 billion in city subsidies to fuel two massive developments that will transform Chicago’s landscape with 16,000 new apartments and condominiums — but barely put a dent in Chicago’s affordable housing shortfall or reduce the economic or racial segregation plaguing the city.

City Colleges faculty will not be walking the picket lines next week, after reaching a deal with city officials for a new labor agreement.

With early voting — finally — starting in Chicago’s elections, the race for 13th Ward alderman ended up in federal court Monday, with challenger David Krupa alleging that Ald. Marty Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan broke the law in working to keep him off the ballot. In the mayoral race, rivals Toni Preckwinkle and Susana Mendoza traded barbs over ethics. Meanwhile, Gery Chico made a play for the votes of snow-weary Chicagoans.

The ballot for mayor, clerk, treasurer and alderman is set, and early voting will start at the Loop Super Site, 175 W. Washington St., at 9 a.m. Tuesday — one day later than the already-delayed expected start of voting.

Donors to the best-funded Chicago mayoral candidates are hyper-concentrated in the Loop and its surrounding neighborhoods, along the Lakefront, on the city's North and Northwest Side and around Hyde Park and Kenwood, according to an analysis by The Daily Line.

Big bucks are also flowing into Chicago’s mayor’s race from donors clustered around New York, Washington D.C., Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the analysis shows.