Former City Hall Insiders Propose Ethics Reforms In Mayor's Race
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Does the name Paddy Bauler ring a bell? He's the legendary Chicago alderman – infamous alderman, that is -- who immortalized the words, "Chicago ain't ready for reform." That was 55 years ago.
Can it be that now finally Chicago is ready for reform? Mayoral candidates Gery Chico and Rahm Emanuel have unveiled their plans to clean up City Hall, while the truth is that each of them is connected there.
Both men sounded like reformers Thursday, despite owing their successful and lucrative careers to time spent as aides to Mayor Richard Daley, CBS 2's Walter Jacobson reports.
Emanuel, the former top fundraiser and campaign strategist for Daley, would:
-Halt the "revolving door" for city officials leaving to become lobbyists
-Conduct a major overhaul of Chicago's ethics ordinance
-Rein in no-bid contracts
-Crack down on abuse of businesses claiming to be minority- and women-owned
-Overhaul the city's hiring process to take politics out.
Five and a half years ago, Daley also said he would reform the hiring system at City Hall, after his top aide, Robert Sorich, was caught rewarding the mayor's political pals with plum city jobs.
Emanuel was asked how he can take politics out of hiring when he's getting campaign support from the same ward bosses implicated five years ago.
"People will see the type of changes I want to make to business-as-usual," Emanuel said.
Chico, the former Daley chief of staff, would strengthen the inspector general's office, abolish no-bid contracts and impose a two-year ban on the revolving door for city officials planning to becoming lobbyists.
"It's now incumbent on me, if I'm privileged enough to be elected by the voters, to set the tone," Chico told reporters.
Even if it looks like shutting the barn door after the horses got out?
"The owner of the barn has something to say about what the barn looks like," Chico said.
In other words, what Chico and Emanuel are saying is: Do as I say, not as I did.
Chico and Emanuel are the only two mayoral candidates to offer concrete ethics packages for City Hall.
Contributing: CBS 2 Political Producer Ed Marhsall
