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The worthiness of the ban isn’t the point–as Mayor Daley has decreed, we’re done debating that one for now. But no one’s talked much about the fact that it was overturned at the bidding of a nonprofit city contractor that happens to make a lot of donations to a lot of elected officials–and will undoubtedly be weighing in on other issues before the council.
While the mayor mocked the ban for the cameras, the effort to get the council to repeal it was led by 44th Ward alderman Tom Tunney and the Illinois Restaurant Association, an trade and advocacy organization. Tunney, a restaurateur, was formerly the restaurant association’s chairman; Sheila O’Grady, once Mayor Daley’s chief of staff, is currently its president.
The deal with the city accounts for the majority of the association’s annual revenues, according to federal tax documents. In 2006, the most recent year available, the association reported about $5.8 million in revenues, and about $3.8 million of it came from the Taste contract and other summer event fees. The association raised about $565,000 through member dues.
