Results tagged “chicagolandchamber”

While Rod Blagojevich was dodging questions about a potential tax bill for flights from Springfield to Chicago, Mayor Daley was busy traveling the world on Chicago's behalf. In 2007, Daley made five overseas trips, including Brazil, Italy and France. But the IRS won't be looking at the Mayor's travel bills anytime soon because the trips weren't paid for with taxpayer money. Instead, they were financed privately, often by corporate interests. Both the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the law firm of Baker & McKenzie have picked up the tab for Daley's jaunts.

Yesterday we talked about the fighting that has been going on between the labor movement in Chicago and the aldermen that are facing runoffs this year. On the heels of the very public sniping that is taking place between unions and aldermen whose power is being challenged comes some not-so-surprising disclosures of the First C.D. Victory PAC, a political action committee founded to finance pro-business candidates (and, generally, allies of Daley). The Chicago Tribune is...

You remember back in November, when the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce announced that it was going to develop some clout of its own. Claiming that they wanted to make sure they could protect their interests and take out aldermen that threatened those interests, they had announced that they were going to build their own political machine, including having employees of their members canvass neighborhoods. Now it seems that the ghost of corruption past has found...

The Chicago Tribune is reporting today on plans by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce to transform itself into a piece of the machine. Citing recent developments in the city council, such as the passage of the Big Box Ordinance, the Chamber wants to make sure that its interests aren't threatented. By taking down Aldermen that work against their interests. The most shocking part of the plan isn't that business feels it needs to protect its...

Look. Chicagoist is just as tired as you all of the Smoke-Or-Not-To-Smoke discussion and we know there is only so much left to be said on the topic to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and basically all public indoor areas of Chicago by April 1. However, as the vote approaches -- Wednesday, to be exact -- it's worth taking up space here. Look for the kids over at the Illinois Restaurant Association to ... well,...

There was a time when Chicagoist was a prisoner to the P Funk. But after ten years of sucking away on those things we had to call it a day. We loved smoking, and we miss it, but quitting was a choice we had to make for ourselves.

"Dead on arrival." -- County Commissioner Larry Suffredin commenting on budget And perhaps for the second time in ten years, Cook County Board President John ("I have a hospital named after me") Stroger may not have the votes to pass his proposed county budget (download exciting copies here). The sticking point for the $3.05 billion budget is over $78 million in new taxes, primarily a two percent increase in restaurant and hotel sales tax, putting...