HE DIDN'T LEAVE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, IT LEFT HIM (via Kevin Whited):

Mayor Daley vs. Labor (Robert Novak, 9/18/06, Real Clear Politics)

Richard M. Daley had just prevailed in the City Council, sustaining his first veto cast in 17 years as mayor of Chicago. But as I sat with him in his City Hall office late last Wednesday afternoon, he was not triumphant in defeating labor union efforts to punish Wal-Mart. Rather, he seemed frustrated by a confrontation that points to long-term problems for the Democratic Party nationally.

The council fell three votes short of overriding Daley's veto as it lined up 31 to 18 for the "big-box ordinance" to require Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers to pay workers $13 an hour. Daley turned around three aldermen from their July 26 vote after Target threatened to kill a planned store in Chicago. As I entered the mayor's office, demonstrating union members and community activists chanted that aldermen who voted against the ordinance "got to go."

This political situation transcends Chicago. Unions aligned against a Daley in a council vote actually represent weakness rather than strength by the labor movement. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, facing declining union membership and a depleted labor federation, launched a national campaign against Wal-Mart (employer of 1.2 million in America). However, even in its weakened state, labor remains a dominant Democratic interest group that can control Chicago aldermen and U.S. congressmen alike.

It is difficult to imagine the mayor's father, Richard J. Daley, facing a labor-driven City Council rebellion during his 21 years as mayor. But the son's role is quite different from the father's. While the two Daleys share credit for transforming dark and dingy Chicago into the shining city on the lake, they face different political circumstances.

Richard J., as the unchallenged Democratic leader of Chicago (and longtime Cook County party chairman), was assailed by Republicans as an evil political boss. Richard M., only vaguely a Democrat, is much admired by Republicans and talks occasionally on the phone with the target of Democratic abuse, George W. Bush. "I have a lot of respect for President Bush," he told me.

If his father were hosting a Democratic convention today, he'd have to loose the Chicago cops inside the hall as well as out.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 18, 2006 10:51 AM