To coin a phrase, Chicago is hardly a change machine

John Kass of The Chicago Tribune has an article on Chicago and "change":

Mayor John Hickenlooper doesn't talk like a Chicago politician, though he'll open the Democratic National Convention here Monday night, to be followed on stage by several young Chicago politicians who are the children of Chicago politicians.

These children of Chicago political insiders will talk about change we can believe in, as long as that change happens in Washington, not Chicago.

Hickenlooper knows about change too. The former geologist and Denver pub owner is building a decent reputation here with clean and open government and a thriving downtown. He began his political career a few years ago with several handfuls of quarters.

Politicians raised the parking meter fees to cover a budget shortfall and outraged citizens complained. Hickenlooper, a political neophyte, decided to fight the parking squeeze. He ran for mayor on the quarters platform.

"We did a commercial, sort of like 'High Noon,' though I'm not Gary Cooper," Hickenlooper told me Sunday. "We had a great actor, heavyset, sort of like Broderick Crawford, giving out parking tickets. And I walk on to say how bad it was that the city raised the parking. And just before he writes a ticket, I put a quarter in somebody's meter. It was a great commercial."

For weeks, he walked through Denver feeding meters.

"It was all about making change," he said. "To change the way we do business. To bring new people in, talented young people, not through old-style politics."

Quarters, eh?

"Quarters," he said.

So I felt compelled to tell him the story of Chicago political legend John "Quarters" Boyle.

As some of you know, Boyle stole millions of dollars worth of quarters from the Illinois Tollway. After serving a prison sentence, Boyle got a job with the City of Chicago through the Coalition for Better Government, one of Mayor Richard Daley's patronage armies. And Daley defended him.

You'll want to read the whole article.For some information on Quarters Boyle's bother "Matches" Boyle,click on this link to learn about the politically connected arsonist.