Why Daley whining? Feds are his friends

Recently Chicago's Mayor Daley had this to say about federal prosecutors: "How can (drug kingpins) accumulate money every week, every month, have three or four homes, drive the best cars, have the best nail shops, and a lot of other things, the best girls, all the jewelry and nobody says anything? But if someone takes $100, it could be a Chicago policeman or anybody else, the feds are right there knocking on your door."

If Daley really wanted to stop machine guns, drugs and career criminals flowing into Chicago, he would ask his Democrat friends who totally run the federal government to build a fence along our Mexican border and expand the border patrol to back it up. But of course he really is more interested in cheap labor for campaign contributors and more people who can be easily coerced or manipulated into voting for him and his political cronies. >

And if he really wanted to help our overworked federal prosecutors, he could end the "pay to play" culture of Illinois that drove reformers like Republican Peter Fitzgerald and Democrat Glenn Poshard from office. He could start by putting sanitation, education, transportation and other services not essential to immediate public safety into private companies. That way half the city wouldn't have to find a political sponsor to get a job. But even as the city and state strangle on bloated, corrupt government, Daley is more worried about keeping his pals from jail than being a true public servant.

Grant Noble

Lake Forest