Chicago Union Boss Collects Biggest Pension and Prevents Wal-Mart Expansion in the Windy City

Crain's Chicago Business reports on Dennis Gannon union boss:

The city's biggest pensioner, Mr. Gannon, 55, also has the clout to frustrate attempts to defuse the public-pension bomb threatening the city's long-term fiscal health.

With unemployment in some union locals at post-Depression highs, he has emerged as an influential and richly compensated union leader, sans cigar but with a monogrammed shirt and a presidential seal on his cufflinks. His job, pension and corporate directorships net him more than $500,000 annually.

Three years ago, the CFL helped install the first group of truly independent aldermen in decades — a sign of more politicking to come, Mr. Gannon says.

"We've elected a lot of our friends, and we've gotten rid of some folks that weren't necessarily on organized labor's side," he says. His list of political intimates extends to the White House, where he lobbied President Barack Obama at a holiday reception last month for more jobs-stimulus legislation. "He said, 'I'm working on it,' " Mr. Gannon recalls.

Here's more on the cushy world of Dennis Gannon.