When school groups visit City Council meetings, they frequently hear two things. First, the group’s local alderman introduces them, and the council gives them a perfunctory round of applause. Then, after some indiscreet alderman has said something nasty about another alderman or the mayor, a third alderman will jump up and say the council is setting a bad example for the school group.
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Gidwitz is hated with the kind of fervor our ancestors reserved for accused witches. But he’s solidly backed by Mayor Daley, so this school group didn’t get any applause. Instead, they made their own sound effects by heckling all pro-Gidwitz speeches. And since Gidwitz won 34-14, that covered a good deal of the two-hour debate.
Burke made his own crack at the school group after finding a way, unlikely as it may sound, to compare Gidwitz to a quote by the Greek historian Thucydides. “I hope some of the professors here would appreciate that reference,” Burke smirked. The ungrateful professors groaned loudly.
“City of brotherly love,” Daley mumbled sarcastically.
Daley, who seems to have a hard time fitting City Council meetings into his schedule, stayed a mere half hour. This resulted in some musical chairs at the mayoral podium, as aldermen took turns presiding for him. At one point, Burke made a motion so Alderman Berny Stone could replace Dixon, who is president pro tem.
