Cow-ture and Other Tales

Chicago's been in the national news a bit lately, usually in the silly column of the paper. Here's one embarassment removed---the mayor's veto of the big-box ordinance targeting Wal-Mart will be sustained. Sun Times today. Mayor Daley had this to say yesterday, Tribune:

"I understand and share a desire to ensure that everyone who works in the city of Chicago earns a decent wage," Daley said in a letter addressed to the council that was filed with the City Clerk's office. "But I do not believe that this ordinance, well intentioned as it may be, would achieve that end.

"Rather, I believe it would drive jobs and businesses from our city, penalizing neighborhoods that need additional economic activity the most," Daley said. "In light of this, I believe it is my duty to veto this ordinance."

It was the first time in Daley's 17 years as mayor he exercised his veto power. By law, the mayor had until Wednesday's council meeting to issue his veto.

Here's some background on who was pushing this and why. Steven Malanga,WSJ:

When Chicago's city council this summer required big-box stores to pay new employees at least $10 an hour, supporters of the legislation held an impromptu celebration in the council galleries. The hoopla was reminiscent of another scene five years earlier in New York, when opponents of Rudy Giuliani's effort to privatize failing public schools embraced in the streets after parents rejected the idea.

What linked these celebrations was the left-wing Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), which led the campaign for the legislation and against privatization. And in each case its efforts represented Pyrrhic victories for the poor. Anti-big-box legislation does little more than limit shopping choices and raise prices for inner-city residents, while parents who celebrated Acorn's defeat of Mr. Giuliani were left with their same old failing public schools...

The movement is not always what it appears to be. Though Acorn touts living-wage laws as a way to lift the working poor into the middle class, the vast body of academic work on wage laws shows that they end up hurting the poor by forcing businesses to eliminate some low-wage jobs. Acorn's own leadership understands this principle perfectly. When California regulators sued Acorn for not paying its own workers the minimum wage, Acorn argued that this would endanger its mission -- because it would have to hire fewer workers...

And it's the unions pushing this as part of a national agenda, who threatened Chicago aldermen with opposition at the polls (an unusual experience, to be sure, for many). According to the Center for Union Facts, 54% of Americans think unions have too much influence on our political leaders and public policy.

Meanwhile, some aldermen are reconsidering another ridiculous ordinance, that banning foie gras. Tribune:

Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) and Burton Natarus (42nd) originally voted in favor of the measure when it was approved by the City Council in April. But both since have had second thoughts.

Stone contended that Chicago has become a national laughingstock since outlawing the delicacy, which is made from the livers of geese and ducks.

But they may have trouble convincing their colleagues, who may have had a hidden agenda in banning the appetizer---they're steak lovers.

Cow-ture in Chicago.

UPDATE: Sun Times on corrupt, fat cat union leaders. In Metro briefs:

Three of the five highest-paid Teamsters in the country are based in Chicago, according to a report released Monday. The top salary went to John Coli, who runs a consortium of more than 20 Chicago-area Teamsters locals. He received $362,100 in total compensation in 2005, according to the report by Teamsters for a Democratic Union. "Chicago is the capital of this," said TDU's Ken Paff, referring to six-figure salaries for union leaders. "We really feel the union needs to be about the members and not about top officials getting rich." The national Teamsters boss, James P. Hoffa, was paid just shy of $300,000. Meanwhile, Lou Mazzei, leader of Chicago's Local 786, resigned in recent days as his executive board threatened to bring him up on internal charges, sources said Monday. One official said Mazzei and the board were in a dispute over terms of a labor contract.

TDU website here.