Convicted Alderman A Mere Distant Cousin To Daley Family's Power

CHICAGO — Reports of the Daley family’s possible political demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The federal conviction of an admittedly slovenly, absent-minded Daley family politician, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, may be a first in Chicago, but it in no way signals the coming end to a political dynasty branded to be synonymous with the city itself.

Despite the federal jury's decision that Thompson — the grandson and nephew of Chicago’s longest-serving mayors — filed false income tax reports and lied to federal officials about bank loans, Chicago’s royal family still has plenty of power in all the right places.

The now-convicted former alderman Thompson campaigned with his mother’s surname, as a not-so-subtle reminder that his middle name connected him to the ultimate clout.

But here’s the reality, as a longtime Democratic Party operative told me: Thompson is just a Daley nephew.

“No one gave a rip about Patrick. And I don’t know anybody who thought that this guy [Thompson] was going to be the next Daley mayor," the operative told me. "This is no big deal for the Daleys."

Sure, state law requires Thompson to step aside as 11th Ward alderman.

And Mayor Lori Lightfoot has 60 days to appoint a replacement for the City Council seat that the Daleys have controlled through generations of City Hall and family scandals.

But whomever she picks certainly will face opposition from a Daley-backed candidate in the 2023 city elections.

And despite the "historic" federal conviction of a Daley, the family remains a political force backed by big money and generations of political relationships. Nobody expects them to give that up because a nephew didn't have the smarts to ask one of his rich uncles for a loan.

Political power in the 11th Ward — home to Sox Park, a growing hipster population and an influx of Chinese Americans — remains controlled by Democratic Party committeeman John Daley, a longtime Cook County commissioner, and son and brother of mayors named Daley.

One of John’s brothers — former U.S. Commerce secretary and White House chief of staff Bill Daley, who ran a failed mayoral bid with a lackluster campaign in 2019 — has made a fortune in the banking industry as a rainmaker and currently serves as vice chairman of public affairs for Wells Fargo.

The “smartest Daley brother” you’ve probably never met, Michael Daley, says he remains an “equity partner” in the family law firm formerly known as Daley and George that was rebranded as Georges and Synowiecki and is packed with Daley loyalists and City Hall insiders.

And former Mayor Richard M. Daley, the namesake son of Chicago’s first boss, remains a rainmaker for an international law firm and a founding partner of Conlon & Co., a boutique merchant bank that combines “unparalleled access to capital, market intelligence and deal making expertise.”

Convicted former alderman Thompson was never in the same league.

A Democratic Party insider put it this way: “The most incredible thing [Thompson] accomplished is getting convicted on some dumb s—.”

Mostly, Thompson’s troubles are minor and a completely unnecessary embarrassment for the Daley family, which has managed to maintain plenty of power while operating outside elected politics.

The felonious demise of a sloppy, scatterbrained nephew won’t change that.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

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