William Daley

White House Chief of Staff (since January 2011)

(Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Why He Matters

Daley is the son of legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (D) and brother of the more recent Mayor Richard M. Daley (D).

"Bill" Daley made a name for himself in his own right. He moved beyond his family's base of power in Chicago to become a political heavyweight with a keen eye for strategy. He's worked on or with the presidential campaigns of Democrats Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barack Obama.

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He was the architect of Bill Clinton's North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and became Clinton's Commerce secretary from 1997 until 2000. He left the administration to become chairman of Vice President Al Gore's unsuccessful 2000 bid for the presidency.

Since then, Daley has been a success on Wall Street. In 2001, he jumped into the private equity firm Evercore Partners, run by another Clinton administration alumnus, Roger Altman. After lobbying on behalf of the telecommunications giant SBC Communications, he won a job at JPMorgan Chase, which brought him back to Chicago in 2004. He was chairman of the Midwest region and in charge of corporate responsibility, including government relations.

In January 2011, Obama chose Daley to be his White House chief of staff. Obama's previous chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, supported the Daley pick, as did interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, who was said not to want the job long term.

Coincidentally, the chief of staff spot was left vacant when Rahm Emanuel left to mount a campaign to succeed Daley's brother, Richard, as Chicago mayor.

Ironically, it was Daley's private sector experience more than his public-sector credentials that caught the eye of the Obama White House. Insiders say the adminstration hopes Daley can help repair Obama's relationship with the business community and act as a liaison to Wall Street.

His deputy chiefs of staff were expected to be Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the Office of Health Reform, and Alyssa Mastromonaco, White House director of scheduling and advance.

In His Own Words

"The Democratic Party -- my lifelong political home -- has a critical decision to make," Daley wrote in 2009, one year before the devastating, for Democrats, 2010 midterms. "Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come."

More on: William Daley

At a Glance
Path To Power
The Issues
The Network
Campaign Contributions
Additional Resources

Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: Senior executive of the Midwest region and member of the executive board, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (May 2004 to January 2011); President, SBC Communications, Inc. (December 2001 to May 2004); Vice chairman, Evercore Capital Partners LP (January 2001 to November 2001); Chairman, Gore for President (June 2000 to December 2000); U.S. Secretary of Commerce (January 1997 to June 2000)
Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
Alma Mater: Loyola University in Chicago, B.A.; John Marshall Law School, LL.B.

Spouse: Loretta
Religion: Roman Catholic

Path To Power

Daley is the youngest of the seven children of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (D). Bill Daley was still in elementary school when his father became the most powerful man in Chicago, a position the elder Daley would retain for more than two decades.

Daley stayed in Chicago for college and law school, earning a bachelor's degree from Loyola University and a bachelor's of law from Chicago's John Marshall law school.

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Daley graduated from law school in 1975, and began working in his family's law firm, Daley, Riley and Daley, where his brother Richard M. was also a partner.

Entering Politics

In 1976, Daley became his father's liaison to Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. He was bitten by the polical bug and "lost the reticence that had characterized him since boyhood," according to a friend.

Daley and his wife visited Washington during the Carter administration. Daley even used Vice President Walter Mondale's office to work while he was there. In 1979, Mondale introduced Daley to the young governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton.

Richard Daley Campaign Manager

In 1980, Bill Daley ran his brother Richard's campaign to become Cook County state's attorney. He later ran his brother's first, unsuccessful 1983 campaign for Chicago mayor.

Mondale Campaign

In 1984, Daley was recruited to work on Mondale's ill-fated run for the presidency.

"In these campaigns, people get all excited and bummed out over everything," Mondale recalled. "Bill Daley was our steadier. He just seemed to be able to keep it under control at all times."

After Mondale's defeat, Daley reached out to the major Chicago law firm Mayer Brown. He was hired to help the firm develop it's lobbying practice. Chicago alderman Edward Burke said the job allowed Daley "to leverage the relationships that he had developed."

Of particular importance was his firendship with the powerful Chicago representative Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), then chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Joe Biden Adviser

In 1987, a young senator named Joe Biden reached out to Daley in the hopes of launching a run for the presidency.

Soon, reports leaked that Biden had plagiarized from a British politician parts of his speeches about his tough childhood. Daley advised Biden to forgo a presidential run and focus on his job as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, specifically on quashing the nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Biden became celebrated once again for derailing Bork's nomination. Daley won a reputation as an excellent crisis manager. And Bork's named became a verb meaning "to defeat a judicial nomination."

Amalgamated Bank of Chicago

Daley left the law in 1989 to become the first vice chairman of the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago. In 1990, he was promoted to president and then chief operating officer.

Daley remained at the bank until 1993, when he went back to Mayer Brown.

Clinton Administration

Daley played an active role in Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and expected to be named Transportation secretary in the administration, but was passed over.

In 1993, Clinton named Daley chairman of his task force on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Daley was credited with being the architect of much of the deal, which removed most of the barriers to trade among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The treaty was enacted on January 1, 1994.

In 1997, Clinton asked Daley to be Commerce secretary during the second term of his administration.

Daley accepted and moved to Washington, D.C. He was 49 years old and it was the first time he'd ever lived outside of Chicago.

In 2000, Daley left the Clinton administration to become the chairman of Al Gore's 2000 campaign.

After the November 2000 election, Daley became one of the key players in pushing for a recount of the votes in Florida. The recount was eventually halted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Evercore Capital Partners

After Gore's loss, Daley returned to the private sector. He became the vice chairman of Evercore Partners, an investment firm founded by fellow Clinton administration alumnus Roger Altman, who was considered to head the Obama National Economic Council after Lawrence Summers left.

After less than a year at Evercore, Daley began lobbying for the telecom giant SBC Communications. He was president of the company until 2004, which owned regional Internet services around the world.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In 2004, Daley was offered a chance to return to Chicago with the huge investment bank, JPMorgan Chase. He became the top executive in charge of the Midwest region.

In 2007, Daley added the responsibility of heading the company's office of corporate responsibility. In addition to managing the Midwest, he oversaw the firm's global efforts in public policy, government affairs and charitable giving.

The Issues

In his career in business and politics, Daley has developed a reputation as a keen strategist and savvy political heavyweight.

The Obama administration recruited Daley hoping his connections with Wall Street would help them smooth relations with the business community, which had significantly soured on Obama after the passage of financial-regulation reform.

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"Keep the Big Tent Big:" A Centrist Democrat

In 2009, Daley wrote a prescient op-ed in the Washington Post, imploring Democrats to hew to a centrist course, and not kowtow to progressives on the far left.

"The Democratic Party -- my lifelong political home -- has a critical decision to make," he wrote. "Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come." Less than a year later, House Democrats would suffer their worst rout at the polls in decades in the 2010 midterms.

Daley said that in the 2006 and 2008 elections, Democrats captured the votes of independents and moderate Republicans. "These independents and Republicans supported Democrats based on a message indicating that the party would be a true Big Tent -- that we would welcome a diversity of views even on tough issues such as abortion, gun rights and the role of government in the economy," he wrote.

"Centrist Democrats are being vilified by left-wing bloggers, pundits and partisan news outlets for not being sufficiently liberal, 'true' Democrats," he wrote. "Republicans are pounding them for their association with a party that seems to be advancing an agenda far to the left of most voters."

Daley sits on the board of Third Way, a think tank that promotes moderate ideas.

Health-Care Centrist

Daley is also a centrist when it comes to health-care reform. He said the administration pushed too hard to the left on many of it's early endeavors, including the landmark health-care package it enacted in 2010.

""They miscalculated on health care," Daley told The New York Times in 2010. "The election of '08 sent a message that after 30 years of center-right governing, we had moved to center left - not left."

Pro-Business

Daley has long favored reducing government oversight of American businesses, even when the Obama administration has not. Daley notably opposed the creation of the Consumer FInancial Protection Bureau, one of the signature programs of Obama's July 2010 financial- regulation overhaul.

The Wall Street Journal reported, "When White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel called a top J.P. Morgan executive to ask for the bank's support in creating a new consumer-protection agency, the executive--former Commerce Secretary William Daley--said no, according to people familiar with the conversation. His boss [JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon] believed that sufficient consumer safeguards were already on the books."

But in a March 2011 op-ed, Daley defended Obama as a pro-business president. "President Barack Obama has always believed that America succeeds when business suceeds," Daley wrote. "He has a deep, abiding commitment to doing what is necessary to strengthen our economy and make America more competitive."

International Commerce

Daley has extensive experience not only in business, but in international business relations. He was the architect of the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and Commerce secretary during the second half of the Bill Clinton administration.

He has also directed the U.S.-China Business Council, and in 2000 pushed for permanent normal trade relations with China as part of the Gore presidential campaign.

The Network

Daley is one of the most well-connected men in Chicago, Obama's adopted hometown. In addition to being the son of legendary Mayor Richard J. Daley (D), he is the brother of recent Mayor Richard M. Daley. He also has extensive business connections in the city.

But Daley's connections extend to Washington, too. He has been a part, either in an official or advisory capacity, of the presidential campaigns of Democratic standard-bearers Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barack Obama.

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Campaign Contributions

Daley has made major financial donations to Democatic candidates including Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and many others, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

[Photos: Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post, Pete Souza / White House]

Additional Resources