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| DALEY: Doesn't want picture to be a big deal |
But
it seems they do – both men are lacking in images of themselves on display at
the official government buildings where they both were once bosses.
IT
HAS LONG been noted that the Hall of Governors at the Statehouse in Springfield
is missing an official portrait of Blagojevich – who was governor of Illinois
for six years.
But
the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday reported how there is no official photograph on
display of the younger Daley as part of a presentation at City Hall of all the
men who have been mayors of Chicago.
David
Orr, the county clerk and former alderman, gets his photograph up there to
acknowledge his six-day stint as mayor in between the death of Harold
Washington and the coming of Eugene Sawyer. But Daley, the man who is now the
longest-serving mayor ever (22 years) is not to be seen.
As
reported by the newspaper, the city has a photograph on hand that could be put
in a picture frame and hung on the wall. It also seems the attitude of the
Daley family is they want city officials to just go ahead and hang the damn
picture already.
BUT
CURRENT MAYOR Rahm Emanuel wants to make a big production out of the event.
Have a ceremony, with the mayor present and probably his family too.
The
Daleys at City Hall again likely would become a big event. One that would
distract, for a time being, from the problems of city government of the day.
You
want to talk about the Chicago Public Schools or pensions for city workers?
Look at the pretty picture of Richard M. instead! Maybe we’ll be told that we’re
somehow honoring the history of our fair city.
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| BLAGOJEVICH: Does anybody care his portrait lacking |
I
can’t help but think that Daley has the right idea in thinking it’s just a
photograph – and probably not one that he specifically posed for to be used on
this wall. It probably would be one of the official headshots that he used back
when HE was the man working in his father’s old office on the Fifth Floor of
City Hall.
IT’S
NOT LIKE the official gubernatorial portraits that hang in the Hall of Governors, and where there is a specific reason why Blagojevich’s six-year term
as governor is not acknowledged.
Governors,
after they leave office, are supposed to do the fund-raising to pay for the
thousands of dollars it can cost for a formal portrait oil painting.
Blagojevich blew what money he had on his legal efforts to keep from being
convicted and sent to prison.
I
expect as he copes with life in prison (he has seven more years to go on his
sentence), the last thing he cares about is whether or not his portrait ever
hangs in a government building in Springfield – a city he went out of his way
to avoid when he was governor.
I
also doubt that anybody with any desire to maintain an image of respectability
for themselves is going to feel compelled to take up the cause of a portrait
for Blagojevich.
THEY’LL
PROBABLY DISMISS any arguments about the need for historical accuracy by
including Blagojevich as being high-minded hooey!
We’ll
probably have to wait until the day comes when Pat Quinn finally presents his
official portrait to the state to have an addition to the Hall of Governors.
And even that action may not occur any time in the near future.
And
as time continues to pass, it is likely that people will care less and less
that there are “gaps” in these official displays of the people who have been
the chief executives of our government.
Could
we wind up forgetting outright our city’s longest-serving mayor and the one
governor we ever thought so little of that we removed him from office through
impeachment? If the Cubs could win last year’s World Series, anything’s
possible!
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