Will new mayor affect Chicago conventions?

Chicago recently elected a new mayor for the first time in over two decades. Rahm Emanuel won out over a crowded field of contenders vying for the spot vacated by Richard M. Daley, who decided not to run for re-election after holding that post since 1989. Daley was the longest serving mayor in Chicago’s history, breaking the record held by his father, Richard J. Daley. Between the father and son, they held the position of Mayor of Chicago for 43 of the past 56 years.

Rahm Emanuel quit his position as White House Chief of Staff in the Obama administration to run for Mayor of Chicago; prior to that, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 5th District of Illinois, located in the city of Chicago. He also served as President Clinton’s Senior Advisor from 1993-1998.

While his election may not mean much to people outside of Illinois, those of us in the tradeshow business in Chicago are trying to figure out what this will mean for our industry and our way of life. The Mayor of the city of Chicago has always had a big influence on the tradeshow business, because you can’t separate politics from our industry, and the position of Mayor may be the most powerful figure in Illinois politics.

When I started in this business, politicians stayed out of our way because tradeshows made a lot of money for the city and state. It was a workable relationship, one we understood, we gave them whatever they wanted, and in return, they left us alone. A cynical person might view this as protection money, but we just figured it was a cost of doing business.

However, everything changed about 15-20 years ago. Politicians saw the gold mine in the tradeshow business, which characterized the 80s and 90s, and suddenly the old relationship wasn’t good enough for them any more. They wanted to muscle in and have a bigger piece of the pie, under the guise of micromanaging the industry in order to protect us from ourselves. Several of my previous columns have dealt with their “help,” so I’ll spare you a lengthy diatribe.

So it will be interesting to see how the new mayor deals with the tradeshow industry. He has a reputation as someone who is a motivated control freak, one who is impatient and somewhat abrasive to his opponents. Everyone in our business is trying to determine what direction he will take. Will it be one of more control or less control? Pro-labor or anti-labor? What will he privatize? What’s his vision to market the city to compete in a tough economy with other tradeshow cities?

He has a lot on his plate, like every big city Mayor does. There are problems created by the downturn of the economy, like declining revenues and greater needs of the people who elected him, brought on by the recession.

If he’s smart, he’ll keep his meddling to a minimum and let us do what we do best: the smooth installation and dismantling of tradeshows in this city. But nobody ever said Illinois politicians always did the smart thing. It might be too attractive of a prize for him to resist. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.