Attorney Michael Shakman filed the landmark lawsuit that was supposed to ban political hiring.
On Tuesday, Shakman was unimpressed by the mayor’s apology. He was more concerned about the city’s tepid response to the specific allegations — about personnel problems uncorrected and violators who remain unpunished — in the monitor’s latest report.
“The most valuable thing the mayor could do would be to direct his considerable influence and prestige toward dealing with those problems. Until he does, we’re gonna have a continued culture of reluctant foot-dragging instead of real reform,” Shakman said.
Para ver el hat trick de Chaco Giménez (un gol mejor que otro) clickear la imagen. Para recordar algún lamento del América que lo dejó ir click aquí. Y para ver sus clases de pegada, aquí. It's impossible to say how much the freebies are worth. On the yearly "statements of financial interest" Daley files with the Chicago Board of Ethics, he only has to check off that they're worth at least a total of more than $500. That figure triggers another requirement: Daley is supposed to disclose every gift he gets from anyone other than his wife and family.
Instead of providing the Board of Ethics with a list of gifts, though, Daley tells the board a "mayoral gift log is maintained in the mayor's office and is available for public inspection.''
But those logs are far from complete, a Chicago Sun-Times review has found, failing to disclose all of the gifts Daley gets.
They don't, for instance, include any of the trips Daley has gotten from various organizations. Or any of the free meals he has eaten. Nor do the gift logs even list the birthday and Christmas presents he has gotten from his staff since 2005.
"The staff? We almost view that as a family gift to him," Daley press secretary Jacquelyn Heard said.
"He has to record everything that's considered a gift," Heard said. "What you consider a gift and what we consider a gift are two different things."
And Daley doesn't consider free trips to be gifts, according to Heard.
"When the mayor is traveling abroad promoting the city, we don't consider that a gift because he is working as mayor and chief promoter of the city of Chicago," she said. "He's not going there for fun in the sun."
Chicago's ethics ordinance prohibits the mayor and other city officials and their immediate family members from taking any gift worth more than $50 from anyone doing business with City Hall.
"A lot of these gifts are inconsequential," Heard said. "Whether they're on or off [the list], what difference does it make? I don't think there's a lot of gifts left off the list. There's no concerted effort. There's not a 'don't-log' list."
