On June 28 the City Council chamber was buzzing. Before things got going, aldermen, city officials, reporters, and even state and county leaders moved about the chamber floor glad-handing and gossiping about the latest developments in the John Stroger saga. That morning word had circulated that Democratic Party leaders had worked out a plan for replacing the County Board president on the November ballot with his son, Todd Stroger, who’s served as Eighth Ward alderman since Mayor Daley appointed him in 2001. The choice was almost as unsurprising as it was unimaginative.
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And there was a rumor that Beavers would work to get his City Council seat filled by his chief of staff, Darcel Beavers, who happens to be his daughter. That decision would be made by Mayor Daley in consultation with the Seventh Ward’s committeeman–who happens to be William Beavers.
The council meeting opened with a series of eulogies for former Democratic patronage boss George Dunne, who died in May at the age of 93. Dunne had served as Democratic committeeman of the 42nd Ward for 43 years and as County Board president for 22. As his biggest supporters recalled, he was beloved for his decades of doling out advice, favors, endorsements, and jobs.
“No one ever gave me a list and said these jobs are yours,” said 29th Ward alderman Isaac Carothers, sounding hurt. Carothers, whose father was an alderman and committeeman and whose grandfather was a committeeman, recently showed up as a sponsor of 98 patronage jobs on the clout list introduced in the corruption trial of four Daley aides. He did have a few good memories of Dunne: “In the old 28th Ward, when my father was committeeman, I remember when he said he had to go see George Dunne.”
One of Shirley Coleman’s sisters works as a receptionist in the 16th Ward alderman’s office. “I come from a family of 12,” Coleman told me, “so to only have one working for me says something.”
