I spent many years living in Chicago & suburbs during the “real” mayor Daley’s reign. During his time, Chicago was well known as the city that works. Jobs were plentiful, garbage was picked up on time, crime was under control, and Chicago prospered. After graduating from university of Iowa I arrived in Chicago to look for a job and found one within a week. People said, if you can’t find a job in Chicago, you may not find it any where. The reason Da mayor stayed in power so long until his death, in spite of his political shenanigans, was IMHO he was never involved in stealing money for personal gain. His only goal was political power. He also was a devoted family man with no hint of scandals.
My boss was connected with the city and once I accompanied him to a conference of Chicago business people presided over by Da mayor. We were considerably late in arriving. The mayor walked up to my boss and asked us if we had a chance to eat something, and my boss said they had already put away the food, so the mayor ordered one of his assistants to get two dishes of food prepared for us from the kitchen. I was struck by how much the mayor cared after his supporters.
Yes Romney will find out what Chicago was all about. Just how Rahm got all the votes over Gery Chico, so to will the innocent bystander get all the votes over Romney.
The other reply about Old man Daley being more about power than money is true, but the second generation of Daleys figured out that the money is just as important. But don't kid yourself. Papa Daley had things that he could not afford on his salary [homes in Indiana, land trust, and enough to put kids through college]. He just was not lavish in a time that saw no lavishing. I often wondered how his kid Richard II was able to buy a $1.2 million townhouse on the mayor's salary.