Big-Boxers: Hold the Shovels. Chicago’s Having an Election
The city aldermen who voted to sustain the veto of Chicago Mayor Dictator for Life Richard Daley of the proposed city ordinance that would have mandated minimum levels of pay and benefits at big-box stores are being targeted (link requires registration):
Voters across Chicago go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to give Mayor Richard Daley a record sixth term.
In a number of wards, voters also will make their picks in City Council races pitting veteran aldermen against challengers backed by labor unions.
….. For much of Daley’s 18 years as mayor, the City Council has almost always gone along with the mayor. But aldermen have shown increasing signs of independence in the last couple of years, particularly in the debate last year over a proposal that would have mandated a $10-an-hour minimum wage for retail workers at “big box” stores such as Wal-Mart.
Angered by Daley’s veto of the ordinance, labor unions are backing many challengers to mayoral council allies.
The Chicago Federation of Labor plans to employ about 500 volunteers in five wards for “knock and drag” efforts—knocking on the doors of registered voters and bringing them to the polls.
The Service Employees International Union said it will have 800 volunteers, and some will shovel the walks of senior citizens so they can get to the polls.
Daley’s September veto was barely sustained. One or two replacements could bring some existing big-box projects to a screeching halt, and would almost certainly end any thought of new ones.
It’s hard to imagine a city effectively conceding the entire big-box retail sector to its nearby suburbs, but if key alderman seats change hands, it could very well happen.
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UPDATE: If a Big Box law actually gets on the books in Chicago, the ripple effect will resound far beyond the Windy City. The Big Boxers will generally avoid cities with similarly Democrat- and union-dominated governments like the plague. This will lead to further declines in already-struggling urban areas — like most of Ohio’s. And to put an environmentalist’s angle to it, (though I don’t buy into it as a problem, nor does John Stossel) further encouragement of urban sprawl.
