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[ Anyone in/from Chicago, now is the time to act. -Ed. ]

Chicago Mayor Daley Running for 6th Term

Dec 11, 12:09 PM (ET)

By DEANNA BELLANDI


CHICAGO (AP) - Mayor Richard M. Daley announced Monday he will run for
a sixth term, a move that could put him office longer than his
legendary father.

"I'm proud of what we've accomplished together to improve the lives of
the people of Chicago," Daley, 64, said in announcing his re-election
bid.

The mayor will be facing some tough questions this time around,
including dealing with the fallout from federal investigations into
allegations of illegal political patronage and payoffs at City Hall.

Daley has not been accused of any wrongdoing. His former patronage
chief, however, faces almost four years in prison for engineering a
scheme to hide politics-based hiring by city offices. Other city
workers have been caught up in bid-rigging and bribery scandals.

Daley had been looking at two formidable opponents to his re-election
bid - Democratic U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez and Jesse Jackson Jr. But
after Democrats won control of Congress last month, the two congressmen
chose to keep the higher profile positions awaiting them in Washington.

Other candidates who have said they intend to run for mayor are Cook
County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and William "Dock" Walls, a
former aide to late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.

Daley was first elected mayor in 1989. If he wins re-election on Feb.
27 and serves the full term, he will become Chicago's longest-serving
mayor. His father served for 21 years before dying while in office.

Known as much for his quirky speech patterns as he is for major
projects undertaken in the city, the younger Daley can remind voters of
a list of accomplishments. Among them are taking over the Chicago
Public Schools in 1995 and then the Chicago Housing Authority a few
years later.

But some of his projects have also drawn controversy.

There was the nighttime run to close down the small lakefront airport
Meigs Field so it could be turned into a park; a massive renovation of
Soldier Field - the home of the Chicago Bears - that left some carping
about its look; and the development of Millennium Park, a now popular
downtown destination that was beset by construction delays and a
ballooning price tag.

Now, Daley is hoping to lure the Olympics to Chicago. If the U.S.
Olympic Committee decides to advance a U.S. city, the International
Olympic Committee won't pick the 2016 host until 2009.

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
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