One thing you can say about the Daleys: they pay their dues.
Just months after his Uncle Rich left the mayor’s office, Patrick Daley Thompson is looking to get into politics: as a member of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Thompson, an attorney, has some experience with the district, having served it as bond counsel. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, he appeared at a Democratic Party pre-slating meeting on Monday and declared his intention to run.
Thompson lives at the most famous address in Chicago politics: 3536 S. Lowe Ave., the bungalow where his uncle grew up, and where his grandmother, Eleanor “Sis” Daley, lived until her death in 2003. (Thompson is the son of Patricia, the eldest of the seven Daley children.)
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District oversees wastewater treatment in Cook County. There’s an opening on the nine-member board because President Terrence O’Brien, who ran unsuccessfully for Cook County Board President in 2010, has decided to retire after 34 years.
Thompson’s grandfather and uncle both got their start in politics in similarly obscure, unglamorous offices. Richard J. Daley was a bell-ringer for the 11th Ward Democratic Party in Bridgeport. Richard M. Daley was a delegate to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention.
Thompson is not the only member of a political family running for a spot on the MWRD. Barbara Moore, wife of 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore, is also a candidate. Moore never got along with Mayor Daley. He won his office by beating a Daley-appointed alderman, then sponsored the foie gras ban and the Big Box ordinance, which drove Daley nuts.
In Chicago, political dynasties never go away, and neither do political rivalries.
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