Da Boss, Part Deux

The apple may not fall far from the tree, but it certainly can learn a few new tricks.

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting piece about how Mayor Daley structured his political organization. The story is the latest installment in the ongoing coverage of the federal patronage trial that has enveloped the Daley Administration.

Daley has echewed the more traditional practice of utilizing existing ward-based political organizations -- a strategy embraced by his father -- in favor of tapping city workers who in turn recruit and organize in each ward. From the article:

Even as aldermen and committeemen remain the public faces of political power in Chicago, the true clout belonged to obscure city officials who could marshal their workers to campaign for Daley, judging by a hiring list allegedly kept in the mayor's office.

This manner of organization obviously maximizes the Mayor's power by allowing him to bypass -- and therefore avoid genuflecting to -- existing political interests that may conflict with his own agenda. The dispensing of city jobs and promotions -- traditionally a golden prerogative of alderman and other well-known and high-ranking officials -- instead fell under the aegis of the relatively unknown city employees actively involved in organizing the mayors re-election campaigns.