Like father, like son? Jackson disagrees

Like father, like son? Jackson disagr

Published October 4, 2006


Is Rev. Jesse Jackson a political liability for his son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is considering a campaign for mayor of Chicago?

And what does Junior think of my observation that Mayor Richard Daley--worried about a challenge to his re-election--has become Mayor Soul Man?

Rather than speculate, I asked the congressman at breakfast the other day.

In considering a citywide campaign, he's concerned about being marginalized by the Daley machine as the "black" candidate. Race is a fact of politics in Chicago. Daley ran as the white candidate in 1989 but didn't have to advertise it. Instead, his press agents offered code words like "stability" and "an end to the divisiveness." And the Daleys will invoke Jackson Sr. as a symbol of those days before pax Daley.

"Let me say I am proud of the work my father has done nationally, and I am really proud of the role he has played in my life, in terms of providing me with the courage and the willingness to fight for what I believe in," Jackson told me.

He said Daley is proud of Richard J. Daley's accomplishments for Chicago.

"But I am not sure the mayor is proud of everything his father did," Jackson said. "His father was responsible for segregated policies of the city. I'm sure the mayor is not excited about the shoot-to-kill order, the protests or how Dr. King was treated. I'm sure he is not proud of that.

"And there are some things about my father that I am not in total agreement on, that I am not very proud of. These are moments all of us have had. But I would not separate who I am as a person in the name of achieving political office. He is my dad."

I'm not asking you to disavow him.

"I know you aren't. I am saying it is not easy for me to overcome. I hope the people accept me for who I am, for what I am attempting to bring to the table. There are substantive issues that I think confront the city of Chicago."

He plans to campaign on the high cost of corruption and the city's shaky finances, issues that cross all demographic lines. Taxpaying homeowners are on the verge of revolt. They're already overburdened by the cost of cronyism and picking up the extra tab to make up for tax breaks given to downtown developers. To balance his budgets, Daley continues to sell off the city's most prized assets without a peep from the City Council. A year ago, he dumped the Skyway. This year, he's considering privatizing Midway Airport.

And Daley's political people will try to put Jackson on the defensive about his father.

"This I can assure you," Jackson said of his father. "He will not be running City Hall if I am mayor of the city of Chicago, no more than he runs my office in the 2nd Congressional District.

"I respect his opinion. If I am mayor, I will listen to some of his opinions, and frankly, if I am mayor I will even take the former mayor of Chicago's advice on occasion."

Jackson needs campaign funds, extremely difficult in a town where political donors are terrified of angering Daley.

I asked Jackson about Daley's Olympic plans, which may be about the thrill of victory or about making promises to friendly construction companies, financiers and trade unions that support the mayor.

"In 2016, the mayor will be 75 or 76 years old," Jackson said. "He's not the athlete to carry the torch in 2016. So whoever the mayor of the city of Chicago is will not only be carrying the torch, but will also be carrying the Daley debt well into the future."

It also bothers him that some say that corruption isn't an issue, that it's simply the cost Chicagoans must pay for those pretty flowerpots and wrought iron fences and fountains and so on.

Jackson's litany continues: The high cost of maintenance contracts at the ridiculously expensive Millennium Park; City Hall's costly midnight destruction of Meigs Field; the $40 million per year Hired Truck scandal; the $100 million in taxpayer money in affirmative-action contracts to the mayor's white drinking buddies, the Duffs. And that doesn't even begin to cover what the federal grand juries are working on these days.

"I think the city's broke," Jackson said. "And it's hidden behind the myth of what the mayor has done to beautify the city."

He wonders whether the Chicago media--so stern in spanking the Stroger family for political patronage abuse in Cook County government--will treat Daley with the same vigor during his re-election drive.

"The answer we consistently hear is: But the city is beautiful. So it's Mr. Stroger's own fault that the county doesn't look beautiful," Jackson said with a sarcastic smile. "He should have planted more flowers and more trees, and then [the media] should ignore what's happening in the county."

What about Daley lately sounding like a black preacher, voice rising, finger pointing, a Mayor Soul Man if you will?

"On one level, it's laughable," Jackson said. "On another level, it's smart politics."

Jackson's smart too. We might even get to see how smart he really is.