Richard M. Daley Biography

Richard M. Daley	Richard Michael Daley Born: 1942-04-24 Birthplace: Chicago, IL Race: White Religion: Roman Catholic Political Party: Democratic Field: Politician Famous for: Mayor of Chicago
Field: Politician

Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, powerful member of the national and local Democratic Party and current mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003. If he is re-elected, Mayor Daley will break his father's record as longest-serving Chicago mayor on December 25, 2010.

Chosen by Time Magazine in its April 25, 2005 issue as the best out of five mayors of large cities in the United States[1], Mayor Daley often inspires a love/hate reaction. He has presided over such successes as the resurgence of the Chicago Transit Authority, the building of Millennium Park, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's North Side. At the same time, critics decry what they see as the machine politics keeping Daley in office, the rampant poverty and crime in the city's South and West sides, and the corruption scandals that have surfaced during his time as mayor.

Mayor Daley is married to Margaret Daley, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 and is still undergoing treatment.[2] They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin (who died in 1981 at the age of two from spina bifida). Mayor Daley is brother to William M. Daley, former United States Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, and John P. Daley, a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners on which he serves as the powerful finance chairman.

Daley is the fourth of seven children and eldest son of Richard J. Daley and Eleanor Daley, former mayor and first lady of Chicago. Originally from Bridgeport, a traditionally Irish-American neighborhood located southwest of the Chicago Loop, Daley graduated from De La Salle Institute and obtained his bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor from DePaul University.

Daley was elected to his first public office as delegate to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention. On the strength of his father's political machine, Daley next ran for and won a seat in the Illinois Senate, serving from 1972 to 1980. He left Springfield to become Cook County State's Attorney, serving from 1980 to 1989. Daley's tenure as county prosecutor was interrupted in 1983 with his first mayoral campaign, losing in the three three-way primary to Congressman Harold Washington. Incumbent Jane Byrne, Daley's father's former protege, was also defeated.

Four years later, on November 25, 1987, Washington died in office of a heart attack. The Chicago City Council elected an interim mayor, David Orr, who served from the day of Washington's death to December 2, 1987. As Orr stepped down, Eugene Sawyer won a special election to permanently fill the two-year remainder of Washington's second term.

In 1989, Sawyer faced voters for the first time, and Daley challenged him in the primary. After defeating Sawyer handily, Daley moved on to the April 4, 1989 general election against Aldermen Timothy C. Evans and Edward Vrdolyak, a white former Democrat who had antagonized Washington on the city council while Washington served as mayor. After winning the general election, Daley took office as Mayor of Chicago on April 24, 1989.

One of Daley's first major acts upon re-election on February 25, 2003 was the illegal demoltion of Meigs Field on March 30, 2003. A small lakefront airport adjacent to Soldier Field, it was utilized by general aviation aircraft and helicopters. Its single runway was demolished overnight, with work starting just as local news was going off the air, and with high powered lights being shone towards Lake Shore Drive to prevent photography of the destruction. A unilateral decision by the mayor without approval from the Chicago City Council or Federal Aviation Administration, the act resulted in public uproar.

Aviation interest groups unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city into reopening the airport, claiming Daley had been trying to close Meigs Field with non-safety-related reasons since 1995 to create a park. However, the only citation handed over to the city concerned a failure to notify the federal agency of the plans within a thirty day time period as required by law. The city was fined thirty-three thousand dollars, the maximum then allowed by law. Other citations were not handed; the courts noted it was well within Daley's executive powers and jurisdiction to make the decision he made. The city has since agreed to a settlement with the FAA, the terms of which include both the $33,000 fine and the repayment of $1 million from taxes to federal airport development grants. The city admits no wrongdoing under this settlement.[3]

Daley and his supporters argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high profile skyscrapers, Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center. Daley defended his decision with the now-infamous quote "Mickey Mouse has a no-fly zone", referring to the restrictions in place over Orlando and Washington, D.C. and his longstanding conviction that Chicago should have similar restrictions. He also argued that the lakefront needs to be opened to all residents of Chicago, not just the relatively small portion of the population who have the necessary training to operate an aircraft. This led to the development of current Northerly Island park venues, including a concert staging area.

Despite an opposition to the War on Iraq, Daley's only surviving son Patrick enlisted in the U.S. Army and announced the decision publicly on November 30, 2004. Daley's second son, Kevin, was thirty-three months old when he died of complications of spina bifida in 1981. Kevin's death still weighs heavily upon Daley; he typically refers to Kevin in the present tense, as if he were still alive.

Daley has been a tireless supporter of gun control, with a de facto ban on handguns in Chicago [4].

Announcing the goal of making Chicago the "Greenest city in America", Mayor Daley is helping create initiatives to increase green roof usage within the city. Chicago City Hall's own rooftop, completed in 2001, being a pilot of that program.

Daley has also been an advocate for Chicago 2016 Olympic bid