John P. Daley
Encyclopedia
John P. Daley is the 11th Ward Democratic Committeeman
in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
(11th District), and the Chair of the Cook County Board Audit and Finance Committee. He has previously served in both the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives
, as well as being employed as a school teacher. He is the son of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
and brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley
, as well as William M. Daley
, President Obama
's White House Chief of Staff
and former United States Secretary of Commerce
under President
Bill Clinton
. Unlike his brothers, he continues to live in the neighborhood the family was raised in.
Daley is also an insurance broker
who earns several hundred thousand dollars a year in this second job. In 2005, the City of Chicago endured a hired truck corruption scandal
involving bribe money. The case involved a federal investigation and criminal charges to Daley associates.
community area
of Chicago, he is the second-youngest child of Richard J. Daley and Eleanor "Sis" Daley, brother of Richard M. Daley and William M. Daley, husband of Mary Lou Daley née Briatta, father of John R., Michael, and Christine Daley. Daley is an alumnus of St. Ignatius College Preparatory School and Loyola University
. With a six-term Chicago Mayor as father, Daley grew up in a Bridgeport house at 3536 S. Lowe with Chicago Police Department
guards in the front and back at all times, but walked to school unescorted. He was about eight years old when his father was first elected Mayor. His siblings were three older sisters: Pat, Mary Carol, Eleanor, and three brothers: Richard, Mike, and Bill (in birth order with the women all being older). He sent his children to parochial school
s.
When John's wedding was announced in the Chicago Tribune
the April 24, 1975 headline
read: "Daley's son to wed hood's daughter." because his wife-to-be was the daughter of Louis Briatta who was reputed to be member of gambling crime syndicate. The couple has been married since about a month after the headline, and the couple's youngest children, Michael and Christine, are twins
.
Daley is the only son of the former mayor who still lives in Bridgeport. He keeps up the family traditions of his father such as attending wake
s.
State's Attorney
. Daley oversees the ward's 50 precincts and their captains as well as assistants year round. Among the duties of the ward committeemen are to determine Democratic endorsed nominees for office in their region. For example, when a United States Congressman such as Bill Lipinski
leaves an unexpired term of office, Daley and other Ward Committeemen from affected districts such as Ed Burke
and Michael Madigan
meet to endorse a new candidate such as Dan Lipinski
.
John Vitek resigned from the Illinois House of Representatives on September 19, 1985 due to health reasons, which made way for Daley's appointment. In the Illinois House of Representatives, Daley served the 21st District.
In 1989, when his brother Mayor-elect Richard Daley named Tim Degnan to his cabinet, John was able to move from the Illinois House of Representatives into Degnan's seat in the Illinois Senate that Degnan had assumed when Richard Daley went on to become Cook County states attorney nine years earlier. In 1991, the Republican Party
controlled the decennial redistricting
and the Illinois State Senate districts were drawn to place John Daley into an unfavorable majority Black district. In 1991, Charles Bernardini vacated a seat on the Cook County Board. On February 3, 1992, after a few months of political dealings, Daley was voted in as the new 10th Chicago member of the Board by the other nine. Pamela Munizzi was Daley's successors in both moves from Illinois General Assembly
posts.
When John Stroger
, who was first elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1970 and who served three terms as President beginning in 1994, suffered a stroke
on March 14, 2006, Daley was mentioned as a likely fill-in who could be trusted until Stroger's son, Todd Stroger
, could run to replace his father as President and William Beavers
could run for his seat in the November 2006 elections. Time
described Daley as the second most powerful person on the board at the time. In 2001, U.S. News & World Report
felt Daley might rise to the presidency of the board himself on more than an interim basis.
On the Cook County Board, he serves as chairman of the Audit and Finance committees. He is a member of the Health & Hospital, Information Technology & Automation, and Rules & Administration committees.
insurance firm with which John had business ties.
In 2003, Daley confirmed that he earned US$400,000 annually from insurance commission
s. In 2005, a hired truck scandal involved a client of Daley who plead guilty in the bribes-for-work scandal. Several of Daley's 11th Ward organization political operatives were charged or accused of being involved in the situation. Daley, however, escaped direct involvement in the ordeal, which was investigated by United States Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald
in a federal investigation.
Daley's business causes him many conflicts of interests in the course of business as a Commissioner on the Cook County Board. He frequently recuses himself or abstains from voting on various matters of business because of his extensive insurance network. Several of his clients do millions of dollars of business with the city and some are active in the city's hired truck program. In addition to his own clients, he is an officer in another insurance company that has no city government business.
Committeemen and Committeewomen (Cook County)
Ward Committeemen and Township Committeemen are political party officials who serve many standard committeemen and committeewomen duties on behalf of their political party in Cook County, Illinois....
in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
Cook County Board of Commissioners
The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district for four year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the nation's second largest county with a population of 5.2 million residents...
(11th District), and the Chair of the Cook County Board Audit and Finance Committee. He has previously served in both the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
, as well as being employed as a school teacher. He is the son of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
and brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
, as well as William M. Daley
William M. Daley
William Michael “Bill” Daley is an American lawyer and former banker and is the current White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. He served as U.S...
, President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
and former United States Secretary of Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
under President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Unlike his brothers, he continues to live in the neighborhood the family was raised in.
Daley is also an insurance broker
Insurance broker
An insurance broker finds sources for contracts of insurance on behalf of their customers. The three largest insurance brokers in the world, by revenue, are Aon, Marsh & McLennan, and Willis Group Holdings.-Purpose of insurance brokers:...
who earns several hundred thousand dollars a year in this second job. In 2005, the City of Chicago endured a hired truck corruption scandal
Hired Truck Program
The Hired Truck Program was a scandal-plagued program in the city of Chicago that involved hiring private trucks to do city work. It was overhauled in 2004 after an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had...
involving bribe money. The case involved a federal investigation and criminal charges to Daley associates.
Personal
Born and raised in the BridgeportBridgeport, Chicago
Bridgeport, one of 77 community areas of Chicago, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. It is bounded, generally, on the west and north by the Chicago River, on the east by Canal Street, and on the south by Pershing Road.-History:...
community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
of Chicago, he is the second-youngest child of Richard J. Daley and Eleanor "Sis" Daley, brother of Richard M. Daley and William M. Daley, husband of Mary Lou Daley née Briatta, father of John R., Michael, and Christine Daley. Daley is an alumnus of St. Ignatius College Preparatory School and Loyola University
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
. With a six-term Chicago Mayor as father, Daley grew up in a Bridgeport house at 3536 S. Lowe with Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
guards in the front and back at all times, but walked to school unescorted. He was about eight years old when his father was first elected Mayor. His siblings were three older sisters: Pat, Mary Carol, Eleanor, and three brothers: Richard, Mike, and Bill (in birth order with the women all being older). He sent his children to parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
s.
When John's wedding was announced in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
the April 24, 1975 headline
Headline
The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
read: "Daley's son to wed hood's daughter." because his wife-to-be was the daughter of Louis Briatta who was reputed to be member of gambling crime syndicate. The couple has been married since about a month after the headline, and the couple's youngest children, Michael and Christine, are twins
TWINS
Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral-Atom Spectrometers are a pair of NASA instruments aboard two United States National Reconnaissance Office satellites in Molniya orbits. TWINS was designed to provide stereo images of the Earth's ring current. The first instrument, TWINS-1, was launched aboard USA-184...
.
Daley is the only son of the former mayor who still lives in Bridgeport. He keeps up the family traditions of his father such as attending wake
Wake (ceremony)
A wake is a ceremony associated with death. Traditionally, a wake takes place in the house of the deceased, with the body present; however, modern wakes are often performed at a funeral home. In the United States and Canada it is synonymous with a viewing...
s.
Political career
Daley serves as the Ward Democratic Committeeman for the same 11th Ward that his father and brother served before him in the same capacity. He assumed the position in 1980 from his brother who left the post to become Cook County'sCook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
State's Attorney
State's Attorney
In the United States, the State's Attorney is, most commonly, an elected official who represents the State in criminal prosecutions and is often the chief law enforcement officer of their respective county, circuit...
. Daley oversees the ward's 50 precincts and their captains as well as assistants year round. Among the duties of the ward committeemen are to determine Democratic endorsed nominees for office in their region. For example, when a United States Congressman such as Bill Lipinski
Bill Lipinski
William Oliver Lipinski , American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2005, representing a district in Chicago....
leaves an unexpired term of office, Daley and other Ward Committeemen from affected districts such as Ed Burke
Ed Burke
Edward M. Burke is alderman of the 14th Ward of the City of Chicago. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the Chicago City Council in 1969, and represents part of the city's Southwest Side. Burke has been called Chicago's "most powerful alderman" by the Chicago Sun-Times...
and Michael Madigan
Michael Madigan
Michael J. Madigan is the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois...
meet to endorse a new candidate such as Dan Lipinski
Dan Lipinski
Daniel William Lipinski is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district includes much of the southwest side of Chicago, along with such suburbs as Oak Lawn and Brookfield....
.
John Vitek resigned from the Illinois House of Representatives on September 19, 1985 due to health reasons, which made way for Daley's appointment. In the Illinois House of Representatives, Daley served the 21st District.
In 1989, when his brother Mayor-elect Richard Daley named Tim Degnan to his cabinet, John was able to move from the Illinois House of Representatives into Degnan's seat in the Illinois Senate that Degnan had assumed when Richard Daley went on to become Cook County states attorney nine years earlier. In 1991, the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
controlled the decennial redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
and the Illinois State Senate districts were drawn to place John Daley into an unfavorable majority Black district. In 1991, Charles Bernardini vacated a seat on the Cook County Board. On February 3, 1992, after a few months of political dealings, Daley was voted in as the new 10th Chicago member of the Board by the other nine. Pamela Munizzi was Daley's successors in both moves from Illinois General Assembly
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois and comprises the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Illinois has 59 legislative districts, with two...
posts.
When John Stroger
John Stroger
John H. Stroger, Jr. was an American politician who served from 1994 until 2006 as the first African-American president of the Cook County, Illinois Board of Commissioners. Stroger was a member of the Democratic Party. He was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...
, who was first elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1970 and who served three terms as President beginning in 1994, suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
on March 14, 2006, Daley was mentioned as a likely fill-in who could be trusted until Stroger's son, Todd Stroger
Todd Stroger
Todd H. Stroger is the former president of the Cook County, Illinois Board and a former alderman for the 8th Ward in Chicago. Stroger is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2001, he was appointed to the Chicago City Council by Richard M. Daley...
, could run to replace his father as President and William Beavers
William Beavers
William M. Beavers is a County Commissioner for District 4 of Cook County, Illinois, which encompasses part of Chicago's South Side and southern suburbs. He previously was an alderman of the 7th Ward in Chicago. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the Chicago City Council from 1983 to...
could run for his seat in the November 2006 elections. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
described Daley as the second most powerful person on the board at the time. In 2001, U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
felt Daley might rise to the presidency of the board himself on more than an interim basis.
On the Cook County Board, he serves as chairman of the Audit and Finance committees. He is a member of the Health & Hospital, Information Technology & Automation, and Rules & Administration committees.
Insurance career
In 1973 when he was 26, Daley first met with controversy involving his insurance career. At that time, the press made an issue of his father's decision to shift some of the city's insurance business to the Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
insurance firm with which John had business ties.
In 2003, Daley confirmed that he earned US$400,000 annually from insurance commission
Commission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
s. In 2005, a hired truck scandal involved a client of Daley who plead guilty in the bribes-for-work scandal. Several of Daley's 11th Ward organization political operatives were charged or accused of being involved in the situation. Daley, however, escaped direct involvement in the ordeal, which was investigated by United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
Patrick Fitzgerald
Patrick Fitzgerald
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a member of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel...
in a federal investigation.
Daley's business causes him many conflicts of interests in the course of business as a Commissioner on the Cook County Board. He frequently recuses himself or abstains from voting on various matters of business because of his extensive insurance network. Several of his clients do millions of dollars of business with the city and some are active in the city's hired truck program. In addition to his own clients, he is an officer in another insurance company that has no city government business.