The nerve of Mayor Daley's flak, Jackie Heard -- everyone else is responsible except her

Mayor Daley's hard-to-contact press secretary Jackie Heard loves to play the powerbroker, ignoring community newspapers and writers, while defending Mayor Daley's litany of unending scandals. Although the proverbial "buck" is supposed to stop at Mayor Daley's desk, only 35 cents actually makes it there and the rest is blamed on everyone else.

And like her boss, Jackie Heard, the mediocre press secretary who is good at obfuscating and twisting, turning and wriggling out of everything, can't seem to dodge the criticism -- legitimate -- that she and her husband have a property that is reported to be a drug haven and street gang hangout.

Now, there are many homes in Chicago that are infested with street gangs and drug dealers, but when the mayor's own press secretary turns out to be the owner of one such property, you have to wonder about how effective she is standing up for the fight against street gangs and drugs.

Heard whined at a recent press conference -- where the community press is often excluded -- that she was being unfairly targeted, denouncing the Chicago Sun-Times story about her ownership of the controversial property. Read the Sun-Times story?

Heard is pathetic and typical of an administration that blames everything on everyone else and takes absolutely no responsibility. St. Jacqueline is above the ethics and morality that everyone else must adhere to, apparently, and she thinks that she's doing everything she can to rid the property of the alleged drug dealers and street gangs. Well, the fact is Jacqueline Heard is no different than anyone else and she should be held accountable for her actions, slow actions, in actions and arrogance.

The Sun-Times stood by the story, which was great. And monitoring what Heard does is something everyone in Chicago shoudl do. Because if the Mayor's own press secretary can't seem to do enough to crack down on drug dealers and street gang members, how can we expect the city to do it?

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com