How did Daley pull it off?

How did the mayor win the battle of Springfield, emerging withmore money than he had originally asked for, plus control ofMcCormick Place and Navy Pier?

The participants are not talking, but I'm fascinated by theexercise of political skills (all right, I'll say it: Irish politicalskills) that went into the Springfield victory.

I don't expect to learn anytime in the near future who calledwhom and when, but it's worth noting for the record that no oneanticipated anything quite so spectacular. Moreover, I don't thinkit's received enough notice.

The basic outline of the story seems reasonably clear: For yearsthe governor wanted a tax increase to salvage higher education in thestate. He could not provide votes for such a measure from his ownparty. The speaker of the House wanted to shore up his position withthe new city administration. The mayor wanted to make sure Chicagowas treated fairly in exchange for the votes of Chicago legislators.But still . . . .

Has Chicago ever before been treated so fairly in the last fewmoments of a legislative session? How was the Navy Pier deal workedout? How did the mayor get control of McCormick Place? Why was thegovernor willing to pay such a price for Chicago support, especiallywhen Chicago desperately needed the money to pay for its schools andto bail itself out of the financial mess that the last couple ofadministrations had created?

Maybe in time we will learn the answers to those questions. Atpresent, however, it is worth emphasizing that a "deal" was struckand that "deals" are the only way anything is accomplished indemocratic political systems. The wise political leader in a freesociety builds coalitions in favor of compromise solutions. Thereare no total victories - though in the absence of "deals"("compromises") there can be total defeats.

For a decade Chicago seems to have forgotten the importance ofskills in making the political and governmental enterprise work.Somehow it seemed to be enough that racial symbols were properlymanipulated, that the approved "reforms" were enacted, and the properstands on "issues" were articulated the way they would be in HydePark or Lincoln Park. None of these behaviors necessarily precludeeffective government but, as it turns out, they do not produce iteither.

A deal could have been cut years ago if the leadership inChicago had the skill and inclination to work out such a compromise.Granted, Mayor Daley had the good fortune to come upon the scene atprecisely the time when all sides saw the deal was essential;nevertheless, his predecessors might have worked out a compromisethat would have benefitted Chicago, if they had been interested insuch a process.

Let it be written on the skies, "Government is skillfulcompromise!"

Let Chicago never again forget it.

Andrew Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, author andsociologist.