If Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) is determined to shine the light on city hiring practices and put the heat on notoriously exclusionary building trades, she'll have to round up two more supporters.
And that will likely prove difficult, since Mayor Daley is dead set against the idea.
"Trade unions have an influence. Everybody knows that. They do have an influence. This is nothing new. . . . There's nothing wrong with that," Daley said.
One day after 24 aldermen demanded City Council hearings in response to the hiring scandal that has cost four city inspectors their jobs -- 26 votes are necessary to have them -- Daley made it clear that he wants the embarrassment to begin and end with Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek.
Kaderbek is in the mayor's doghouse for allowing a pair of Carpenters Union honchos to get their apparently unqualified kids -- ages 19 and 23 -- into building inspector jobs without verifying their resumes.
"It was a bad decision by my commissioner. That's all it was," the mayor said.
The last thing Daley wants is for the scandal to trigger a broader discussion about city hiring that aldermen have long complained is heavily tilted toward clout-heavy union leaders and the Daley-controlled Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO).
That's apparently why, when asked about the shortage of blacks and Hispanics in union apprentice programs, Daley turned the tables on the news media.
"We're fighting that. I mean, I don't see too many people [of color] in your business, either," he said.
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