Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of Ron Huberman’s office at 11 AM on April 19.
Each oversees a community organization that receives funding from local governmental agencies controlled by the mayor. Finney heads the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation, an offshoot of the Woodlawn Organization, which is officially run by his wife, Georgette Greenlee-Finney. The community development corporation has millions of dollars in contracts with the CHA.
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The other guy, Goldner, is one of Mayor Daley’s favorite political operatives. In 1999 he ran the campaign that got former Daley aide John Pope elected Tenth Ward alderman over several independent-minded candidates. In 2002 he managed Rahm Emanuel’s first primary campaign for Congress. That fall he ran Rod Blagojevich’s first general election campaign for governor. And then he went on to manage Daley’s 2003 mayoral run.
So what diabolical scheme were the fellows cooking up in Huberman’s office that day? I thought I’d try to find out.
“There would have been a number of things that came up in their conversation,” Bond said.
Rangel didn’t return my call. Finney did, and he said the same thing Goldner had, that the meeting was all about devising ways to get more money for CPS. He insisted that Goldner wasn’t there to help advance Daley’s political agenda. “We discussed how to build our effort to reduce the [CPS] budget.”
I tried to get a word in edgewise: “But Dr. Finney, what about Mayor Daley? Have you ever criticized him?” He didn’t answer—he just kept up his filibuster. Finally, when he stopped to take a breath, I asked why he’d participated in the June 28 press conference with Huberman if he loved the union so much.
