Mayor Daley Says No to Illinois Ethics Reform

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Flanked by a cast of thousands, Mayor Daley turned up the heat today on the Illinois General Assembly to approve his Springfield agenda with one conspicuous omission: ethics reform.

With one governor in prison and another impeached and indicted, reforming a state government mired in corruption and pay-to-pay politics is high on just about everybody's agenda.

Not Daley's. Not even after the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals resulted in dozens of convictions, including the March guilty verdict against former Streets and Sanitation commissioner and Hispanic Democratic Organization chieftain Al Sanchez for rigging city hiring and promotions.

Why not champion the issue?

"We've done everything here. We're leading the way with our inspector general, office of compliance — all the things we've done. We're more transparent than any other government. Look at it. We're doing a tremendous job here. We lead by example," he said.

Leading by example means having your Water Department labeled as racketeering enterprise by Patrick Fitzgerald.You might find it strange that the Mayor of America's third largest city would honor a "high ranking made member" of the Chicago Mob.