Conviction saddens City Council colleagues

Patrick Daley Thompson’s City Council colleagues were saddened by his conviction on Monday — and not simply because it is another sorry chapter in the City Council’s sordid history of corruption.

His seatmates truly like and admire Thompson, in part because he is an unassuming, “100% South-Side,” man of his word without the arrogance they might have expected from a scion of Chicago’s most famous — and once, all-powerful — political family.

“I love his sense of humor, his compassion, his confidentiality, his integrity. We work with a lot of people who don’t have those qualities. And he does. He’s a great guy. He’s always followed through with everything he’s ever said to me. His word is his bond. To me, that means a lot,” said Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th).

“The City Council doesn’t have a lot of people that keep their word and work with integrity and dignity. I think the world of him. I really do . . . He’s one of the most humble people I have ever met in my life. He will admit if he’s wrong on something. ... He’s always done what he says he’s gonna do. He’s a man of his word.”

Monday afternoon, a federal jury found Thompson guilty of lying to regulators and filing false income tax returns. Thompson now must resign from the Council, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot must name a replacement within 60 days. The Council then has 30 days to act on her choice.

Two years ago, Thompson was among a handful of Council members whose pointed arguments forced Lightfoot to rewrite her plan to create additional regulatory hurdles for industrial polluters who want to operate near homes, schools and parks.

He said he supported protecting air quality, but parts of the proposed ordinance “will hurt the quality of life in the city by moving jobs outside the city, by limiting our abilities in the city.”

Those air quality negotiations still produced “some of the strictest rules and regulations around development and air quality that anyone has ever seen,” Sadlowski Garza said. “It was a pleasure working with him on that. He’s smart.”

Sadlowski Garza, like Thompson’s attorneys, believes the nephew and grandson of Chicago’s two most long-serving mayors was targeted because of his famous last name.

“He’s a Daley. I forget s--t all the time. I really do,” Sadlowski Garza said.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) described Thompson as “100% South Side through and through” — a man who “eats, breathes and lives” for the Bridgeport neighborhood he calls home.

When Thompson made his first move in politics — for a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District — he humbly sought the support of Lopez, a newly-elected ward committeeperson.

“There was no amount of arrogance to him. ... Clearly coming from that family, he could have had a huge chip on his shoulder, but he didn’t. He was approachable. He’s always been that way with me in all of our dealings. Very straightforward. Very easy to get along with,” Lopez said.

“And even now, in this Council where everyone seems to be more and more divided, he’s always been trying to find ways to get back to being a consensus maker.”

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) got to know Thompson well while serving as chief of staff to the convicted alderperson’s uncle: Cook County Commissioner John Daley, chairman of the County Board’s Finance Committee. Hopkins said Thompson always seemed destined for politics.

“If you talk to the people in the 11th Ward — in Bridgeport and Canaryville in particular — you’ll find people that have known him most of his life who would say the same thing. That early on, he seemed to be the one in the family who was just more inclined, based on his personality, to wind up in elected office,” Hopkins said.

In his campaign for the Water Reclamation District — and later as alderperson — Thompson impressed colleagues by diving into the details. Never mind that political observers assumed before his conviction he would someday try to claim the mayor’s office, where his uncle and grandfather served for 43 years.

“He didn’t show any type of arrogance,” Hopkins said. “It wasn’t like, ‘I’m a Daley so I’m gonna just do this to check the box in the minor leagues before I ascend to the throne.”