THE LAST NEW DEMOCRAT:

Daley rips gov for beating up on business (FRAN SPIELMAN, 3/14/07, Chicago Sun-Times)

Arguing that business leaders are "not fat cats," Mayor Daley accused Gov. Blagojevich on Tuesday of playing with fire by using anti-business rhetoric to sell a proposed gross receipts tax and demanded that property tax relief be added to the mix.

Daley said business leaders are committed to education funding reform and they should have been consulted upfront -- before the governor unveiled the biggest tax increase in Illinois history.

By keeping them in the dark -- and turning business leaders into whipping boys -- Daley said the governor is all but inviting businesses to leave the state.

"Business people are not fat cats. . . . To describe every major CEO in Illinois as fat cats is a mistake. . . . They don't have to be here. They can go to Wisconsin. They can go Indiana. They can go to India. They can go to China. So if you want to beat up businesses, go beat them up and when they leave, just wave to them, and they're going to wave back to you," Daley said.