Sounding more like a mayoral candidate than a government clerk in charge of marriage licenses and elections, Cook County Clerk David Orr stood Tuesday before a liberal coalition of clergy and aldermen to ridicule Mayor Richard Daley’s plan to fund public schools with proceeds from legalized gambling.
Schools may have been the formal issue, but also in the air was political ambition, coalition building and jockeying for position.
The morning press conference spawned an emergency call by the mayor to his own top aides and business leaders for afternoon meetings on the school crisis. Included in the meeting with Daley was Martin Koldyke, chairman of the School Finance Authority that oversees the school budget, and several bankers and other business CEOs.
The city schools, which teach 410,000 children during the school year, are $415 million in debt, and the teachers are negotiating a new contract. Schools cannot open without a balanced budget, and it appears likely that school doors will be closed on Sept. 8. Gov. Jim Edgar is running for re-election on a no-tax increase pledge, and Daley is loath to raise city property taxes for the schools.
Orr criticized the mayor for brokering school labor contracts that the school system could not afford, helping plunge the schools into financial crisis, and for using the current chaos as a political wedge to help ease his riverboat plan through the Illinois General Assembly.
“The voters of Chicago understand the dangers of casinos,” Orr said. “They are on record against casinos. . . . In the long run, the question is more fundamental: What shall we tell our children? Supporting their education with gambling revenue teaches them a troubling lesson: Play the slot machines instead of working hard to get ahead.”
The event at City Hall bore a remarkable resemblance to the coalition that backed the late Mayor Harold Washington, right down to the pointed assertions that those gathered were not interested in politics, just good government.
Those on Orr’s flanks included former 43rd Ward alderman Martin Oberman, a former Daley supporter who criticized the mayor; Sam Ackerman, a fixture in liberal politics from the Hyde Park neighborhood; and Ald. Joseph Moore (49th), whom Orr hand-picked to succeed him as alderman from that ward.
Orr and others argued that city voters should be given the chance to reject Daley’s riverboat gambling plan in a ballot referendum on the March 1994 ballot before the legislature takes any action. But he and the Religious Task Force to Oppose Casino Gambling offered few answers for plugging the school budget hole in time.
Orr avoided suggesting givebacks by the Chicago Teachers Union or property tax increases. He said he supports a graduated income tax increase for Chicago’s schools and faulted Edgar for failing to support public education in the city with more state funds.
When asked if he would use the referendum drive to help build a network to test a possible mayoral challenge to Daley, the county clerk said politics was the furthest thing from his mind.
“Oh, come on guys, give me a break,” Orr said. “I haven’t publicly considered that. I just think that funding schools with casino profits is wrong and the voters have a right to approve it before the politicians push it through.”
Noelle Gaffney, the mayor’s assistant press secretary, said Daley does not believe that gambling revenue is a long-term solution, but it does offer a potential revenue stream to sell bonds and open the schools this year.
Daley, who has tried and failed to bring high profile revenue sources to Chicago, is counting on a special legislative session to grant him riverboats and millions of dollars in tax revenue.
A spokesman for Edgar said Tuesday that the governor is likely to meet with the four leaders of the legislature this week to discuss the city schools.
