Mayor Richard Daley says he will not run for re-election in 2011.
"The truth is I have been thinking about this for the past several months," Daley said at a City Hall news conference. "In the end this is a personal decision, no more, no less."
Daley spoke for less than five minutes and took no questions.
Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, announced the mayor's retirement in the middle of a City Council Finance Committee debate that he was leading at the same time Daley was making his announcement.
"Wow, wow," Burke said. "So all you wanna-be mayors, I guess you better run out and get your petitions."
He then referred to Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, who has touted himself as a potential mayoral candidate.
Daley's public approval rating had dipped recently, with a Tribune poll earlier this summer showing that more than half of Chicago voters said they don't want to see him re-elected.
The poll found only 37 percent of city voters approve of the job Daley is doing as mayor, compared with 47 percent who disapprove. Moreover, a record-low 31 percent said they want to see Daley re-elected, compared with 53 percent who don't want him to win another term.
The mayor's administration has been buffeted by a spate of summer violence, a weak economy and a high-profile failure to land the 2016 Olympics. Dissatisfaction abounds, the survey found, over Daley's handling of the crime problem, his efforts to rein in government corruption and his backing of a controversial long-term parking meter system lease.
A few aldermen are shopping themselves around as potential candidates, and some politicians with broader political bases have been glad to see their names tossed into the ring –– but none had shown a willingness to challenge Daley.
Among aldermen discussed as potential mayoral candidates are Robert Fioretti, 2nd; Sandi Jackson, 7th; Thomas Allen, 38th; Scott Waguespack, 32nd; Brendan Reilly, 42nd; and Thomas Tunney, 44th.
Earlier this year, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel voiced his mayoral ambitions. But the former North Side congressman quickly added that he wouldn't take on Daley, for whom he served as a strategist and fundraiser in the mayor's first winning bid. Likewise, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he won't run for mayor unless the office is open.
Outgoing Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, by contrast, was considered a potential candidate whether or not Daley runs again. Former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman also has been mentioned, but he just lost a grueling Democratic U.S. Senate primary.
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
Sorry if dupe.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-chicago-mayor,0,3809662.story
As big as an anti-gunner that Daley is, I have a tough time believing he will be replaced by someone worse than him. Maybe things will get better in Chicago with the Daley era ending.