Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Sept. 17, 2008

Illinois pols are getting ready for up to 8 years of non-stop battles, hassles, and side-cut deals over the 2016 Olympics that Chicago is hoping to host. And smart, scheming politicians are already lining up their interests to either tie them somehow to the Olympics or are seeking to trade their support (if and when necessary) for the benefit of their own local issues.

It seems that the city is considered a very strong “maybe” right now to land the Games; the feeling seems to be that if autocratic leader Mayor Daley could somehow be guaranteed to be in charge through 2016, the International Olympic Committee would not hesitate to award him the Games. And while nobody currently doubts Daley’s re-election chances in 2011 and 2015, the realistic fact is that the 2016 Daley would be 74 years old – the same age that his father finally shuffled off of the Fifth Floor on City Hall.

The Olympic bid is officially headed up by Pat Ryan, the founder and executive chairman of insurance giant Aon Corporation. (Also, after the imprisonment of George Ryan, the electoral flame-out of Jim Ryan, and the sex-swinging embarrassment of Jack Ryan, the longtime-Bush-supporting (but, technically, non-politician) Pat is the only IL GOP Ryan remaining standing among all of these unrelated men…) And Ryan is starting to find just how fine the line may be that he has to walk the Olympics between big-bucks businessmen and local pols who can start to smell the meat a-cookin’.

Last week, Ryan had an appearance in front of the fat cats of the Executives’ Club of Chicago, promoting the Olympic bid to the more than 1,000 connected and influential attendees. Slyly, and with a fine-line-walking demeanor himself, state Senator (and local activist Reverend) James Meeks also showed up at the meeting, seeking to parallel his ongoing school-funding crusade with the spend-all-we-need Olympics quest. (This, only another week after Meeks had led – then subtly ended – a crafty school walk-out that bused Chicago Public School students to well-budgeted suburban schools to demonstrate the financial differences between the systems; the CPS students behaved well, and the suburban systems welcomed and bonded with their visitors.)

Ryan agreed to answer Sen. Meeks written questions and meet with him to further discuss and address the school budgeting questions. He also said that the ongoing positive attitudes – and cash flow – surrounding the Olympics would end up benefiting all of the community’s needs. And here’s where the canny Meeks can claim completely post-modern awareness of his position and how to get the most useful attention to his cause: Rather than leading chanting, placard-bearing protesters, he showed up professionally and prepared. “We didn’t come here to be disruptive,” he said. “We want to make sure that the business community is paying as much attention to the crisis we have in education.” He did not seek to confront or pressure Ryan, but to spell out details of school financing that could be worked on and to seek Ryan’s potential assistance – and, of course, media attention for his cause.

Clearly aware of his eventual need of the big names behind the Games bid to help get the most out of his education-funding quest, he also was careful to balance the Mayor’s and Ryan’s goals with his own desires: “This is a city where we have broad shoulders – where we have Cubs and White Sox…we can have great Olympics and great schools. But we should have a commitment to do them both.” The men cordially agreed to meet in the future to further discuss the subject in detail.

Sen. Meeks is basically seeking a swap of the taxes that are used to fund local schools, meaning an increase in the state’s income tax (equally applied and then disbursed) and a lowering of property taxes (where the richer suburbs pull in significantly more income for schools than do poorer city neighborhoods or widely spread-out rural districts). The overall outlook for such a switch is still up in the air…but, if Meeks is able to keep on smartly and subtly bringing this subject up among big-wigs without putting undue, say-yes-or-no-right-now pressure on them, it seems fairly likely that he may be able to continue solidifying and growing the support for it.

…Plus, if Meeks’ obvious personal and political savvy is kept fresh and on the pulse of this and other potentially divisive local topics, it looks as if Representatives Jackson Jr. and Gutiérrez may well have some quality competition if – as expected – they seek to become the post-Daley Mayor of Chicago…

For more coverage of Illinois politics, look for my regular, weekly posts (usually on Wednesdays) here on The Stonecipher Report. (And, for a free subscription to my twice-weekly e-mail column on politics and pop-culture, "And, in the News…" send a note to: m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com)