The Law Department is responsible for providing legal
counsel and representation for the Mayor, but also to
more than forty City Departments, Boards, Commissioners,
and the City Council – fifty Aldermen. Cats?
Th
That’s easy. This was like herding eels.
In his first days on the job, Mayor Emanuel told Steve
that he needed to attend to a little personnel issue. One of
the longest serving, most powerful Aldermen had somehow
managed to have a police bodyguard detail personally
assigned to him; the Mayor wanted it eliminated. So
Th
Steve eliminated it. Cold Turkey. Steve doesn’t remember
the exact conversation when the Mayor found out, so I’m
making this up, but it likely went something like “What
the expletive?!” “What the expletive were you thinking?
I didn’t mean just expletive cutting it off! I meant,
give him some expletive notice, let him expletive negotiate
a expletive transition. Expletive!!!”
But Steve did plenty of real work, important work, too.
In 1969, there were almost 40,000 public jobs in Chicago
and Cook County that were filled on the basis of
Democratic political patronage. Anyone who wanted a
j
job had to apply to an Alderman or Committeeman. Job
openings were not posted; they were kept secret, so that
the candymen knew how much candy they had to dole
out. It was simple – there was only one qualification for
these 40,000 jobs: if the Committeeman sponsored the
applicant, the applicant got the job. But in return the
new employee often had to pay part of his or her salary
CHAPTER TWO – COMMERCE
When Rahm Emanuel was elected Mayor of Chicago in
2011, he needed a lawyer.
The City’s Law Department employs approximately 270
lawyers and scores of support personnel, managed by the
Chicago Corporation Counsel. Mayor Emanuel needed to
fill that top slot. Among the people that he trusted to suggest
candidates was Steve Patton’s partner, Bill Singer. Singer
had been an independent Chicago Alderman in the early
70’s who had the temerity to mount an election challenge
to Mayor Richard J. Daley, the father of Mayor Richard M.
Daley, who was Emanuel’s immediate predecessor in office.
Singer approached Steve and asked whether Steve might be
interested in the job.
Steve was interested, simply because public service had always
interested him. He was fifty-eight. The window for
public service opportunities was closing. So he was interested.
But he was leery. He had some questions. Is Emanuel as
abrasive and as hard to work for as his reputation? Will the
role be meaningful? Will he actually listen to advice?
An interview was arranged. Mayor Emanuel, not surprisingly,
thought he was the interviewer. And some discomfort arose
when it developed that Steve was asking questions too. But
Steve’s questions were real, they were important. If he took
this job, he and Linda (luckily, the kids were grown) would
have to move from their home in Evanston (the suburb immediately
north of the City) to establish Chicago residency.
He would have to take a gigantic pay cut. He needed answers.
The answers were satisfactory. Steve took the job, which
he describes as “jumping off the high board in the very
deep end.” Steve recalls that he worked harder and longer
hours for the City than he had at Kirkland, and if you
know anything about big firms, that would be hard indeed.
back to the Committeeman and had to do election work for the candidates supported
by the Committeeman — in perpetuity. Commerce? The cost of patronage
to the City and its citizens was literally billions of dollars.
A series of lawsuits were filed which led to the entry of consent orders in 1972, collectively
known as the “Shakman Decree,” which outlawed this patronage. Yet when
Mayor Emanuel and Corporation Counsel Patton assumed their offices almost
forty years later, patronage remained a problem and the City’s efforts to achieve
substantial compliance with the Decree were at an impasse. Under Steve’s guidance,
they changed that, fixed it. With the implementation of strict hiring restrictions
and automatic involvement of an Inspector General in case of deviation, the City is
finally in full compliance with the Shakman Decree; patronage in Chicago is dead.
35 JOURNAL