Jobs or Votes?

The votes might be long gone, so the only question is how much more money can Shortshanks make for his Outfit buddies and Federal handlers?

• The City Council's failure to resolve the stalemate that has prevented Wal-Mart from building as many as five Chicago Supercenters has put Mayor Daley in a political box he has desperately tried to avoid.

  He can either grant administrative approval for a Chatham Wal-Mart and risk alienating union leaders who opposed his 2007 re-election and whose support he needs to win a seventh term and solve financial crises at City Hall and McCormick Place.

  Or he can allow the impasse to drag on and risk a $30 million lawsuit against the city and a continuing exodus of jobs, tax revenue and shopping choices to the suburbs.

Expect Daley to make the wrong decision, then claim he knew nothing about who was in charge, who made the decisions and where the money went. Then expect the media to give him a pass. Again.