And the political system is changing rapidly in this country, and we better realize that. The elephants or donkeys are not what younger people look to. They look at individual candidates' philosophy, and I think it's a different time and a different generation.

In the summer of 2007 in reaction to ongoing indictments and convictions of aldermen Daley and Huels Richard M. Daleypherded a package of ethics reforms through City Council. " While other midwest Rust Belt cities such as Detroit and Cleveland shrank Chicago avoided this and managed to grow.

His budgets ran up the largest deficits in Chicago history. Mayor Daley expanded benefits to same-sex domestic partners of City employees and advocated for gun control. Mayor Daley was criticised when family personal friends and political allies seemed to disproportionately benefit from city contracting.