Daley Vetoes the Hell Out of That One Ordinance

By Alicia Dorr in News on Sep 11, 2006 8:18PM

Mayor Daley put up a proverbial middle finger in the face of all the lah-dee-dahing about him losing his grip on City Council today and vetoed the Big Box ordinance. The controversial ordinance, which aldermen approved at the end of July would raise the minimum wage mammoth retailers like Target and Wal-Mart would have to pay employees in the city.

The mayor argued that the ordinance would hurt economically starved neighborhoods because these retailers would reneg on plans to build more stores. The other side, led by Alderman Joe Moore, said that was pretty much bullshit, and that the stores should pay employees a living wage.

The ordinance passed in City Council 35-14 the first time around, but a few aldermen must have had a change of heart. Daley was forced to use his first mayoral veto ever to shoot down the legislation, which indicates that he believes has the necessary support in the council to hold up his veto. The aldermen will now have to revisit the issue at the meeting on Wednesday, which will most likely be even more drawn out than usual from all the pontificating that will surely occur.