Trib & Daley Have It Out

By Margaret Lyons in News on Aug 5, 2004 2:36PM

There's just something so exciting about the mayor hating the newspaper. That's like, ripped from a comic book or something. Today, the Trib is in full force, laying a bitchslap down oh-so-hard on Mayor Daley.

In an editorial entitled "Here's your editorial, Mayor" (burn!), the Trib responds to allegations from Daley that they have been soft on coverage of the Wrigley structural problems. According to May-Day, the paper has been "'kind of quiet'" on the falling concrete because the Tribune and the Cubs are both owned by the Tribune Company (as is WGN).

"'They have all the ink you want in the world, and they can write any editorial they want, but they will not look at themselves. This is an example,'" Daley said, referring to lax coverage of the lack of building permits at Wrigley. The Tribune claims in the editorial that it has covered the story as it would any other. "No, this isn't about what the Tribune hasn't been reporting. This is about what the Tribune has been reporting." Biatch.

The Trib says that Daley is avoiding questions about "irregularities in a huge city garbage-cart contract," and that his accusations are an attempt to divert attention from the real story.

The mayor has a complacent and compliant City Council. The mayor has a complacent and compliant Democratic Party. No one in town has the temerity to question in public how he runs the city.

Except some members of the press, including this newspaper. And that seems to drive him to distraction.

C'mon, boys, take this outside. Let us turn to the Sun-Times for some straight and narrow reportage:

On Tuesday, Daley returned to Chicago from the Democratic convention in Boston and a side-trip to Poland and had a good laugh at the Tribune Co.'s expense. When a reporter noted that the Cubs had done major structural repairs without permits, Daley feigned shock and gasped for air for maximum effect. "My God. There must be an investigative reporter for the Tribune here. Where are they? We need a special prosecutor. We need a thorough investigation by the federal, state and local governments and United Nations," the mayor said.

This just keeps getting better and better.