Daley's successor and the suburbs

That Mayor Richard M. Daley loves the city of Chicago was never a matter of doubt. Nor was it ever considered that he would place the interests of the region ahead of those of the city. He would not. He has not had to.

He has recognized, though, that the interests of the city were not isolated from those of the suburbs. And in that recognition, he has demonstrated a quality for which the suburbs ought dearly to hope in his successor.

Engagement.

Richard M. Daley may not have carried his father's nickname of "The Boss," but in his 21-year rule over the city, there has never been any question about who was in charge. The notorious Chicago Machine has not always been as overt as it once was, but it remains the operating mechanism of city politics, and Daley still has held it together. Were things as simple as that, Chicago politics would be for us in the suburbs little more than a gin-soaked parlor game watched with interest from afar. But there is more to running a big city, Daley has shown, than merely running a city, and so Daley has engaged his neighbors. Like no Chicago mayor before him, he showed that cooperation could be more productive than confrontation on issues ranging from education funding to crime fighting.

"I think one of the smartest things Mayor Daley has done is to build city-suburban relationships," Schaumburg Village President Al Larson told the Daily Herald back in 1997 after the Chicago mayor actively participated in a Northwest Municipal Conference planning meeting at Arlington Park. "It just makes common sense in having a united front in dealing with issues in Springfield and Washington."

Over time, the city and various suburbs would work together on major agreements with telecommunications companies and electric utilities. They would help each other out in times of natural disaster. They would argue together for the importance of local autonomy.

Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke is among those who praise Daley for founding the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus in 1997. "In the Mayors Caucus, I liked to say that we checked all that partisan politics stuff at the door," Schielke told the Daily Herald's Ted Cox Tuesday.

It's an odd statement to hear about a politician known for his tightfisted leadership of one of the most partisan political organizations in the country. But perhaps a fitting one. Even if it has not eradicated core problems like crime, neighborhood decay and anemic schools, Chicago has prospered under Richard M. Daley, and the city's tenuous stability has benefited the suburbs as well. But what we are thankful for from Daley, and what we earnestly hope for in the mayor to come, is the recognition of our common ground and the willingness to work with us to protect and enhance it.