Edward Vrdolyak was a powerful Long time Chicago Alderman and noted Chicago Lawyer. Edward Vrdolyak was also head of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Edward Vrdolyak led the Chicago city council in opposing Mayor Harold Washington from 1983-1987. This deadlock was characterised as " The Council Wars". In one famous comment on the wars, Washington declared that he held a majority, despite the fact that his faction numbered only 21 as opposed to Vrdolyak's 29 members.

Edward Vrdolyak years before had earned the nickname "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak because of his ability to get his programs pushed through the city council.

Harold Washington's second term went smoother and saw Vrdolyak's political clout decrease after the alderman left the Chicago Democratic party.

On November 25, 1987, Harold Washington suddenly died of a heart attack in his office. David Orr served as mayor for 8 days until the city council choose Eugene Sawyer to serve as Mayor.

In 1989, Edward Vrdolyak ran for mayor of Chicago as a Republican losing to Richard M. Daley. In the years after his election defeat Edward Vrdolyak has returned to his dubious law practice representing clients with ties to the mob and making millions through consulting services for suburban city governments.

Vrdolyak has alledgedly been milking the two near western suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn of millions through legal consulting fees. Some allege that Vrdolyak is the "boss" of the Cicero Republican Party Machine, which has remnants from the machine Al Capone set up in Cicero when he moved his operations from Chicago due to a newly hostile Chicago City Hall in the mid 1920's. Vrdolyak also has considerable clout in neighboring Berwyn.

Longtime Chicago journalist, Carol Marin, has been keeping tabs on Vrdolyak, who, many claim, has loose ties to the mob. When handpicked Cicero mayor, Betty Loren-Maltese went to jail in 2002 for looting the town's coffers, Vrdolyak, once again, handpicked her successor Ramiro Gonzalez to take her place. Gonzalez was not much of an improvement, staffing City Hall with friends and family. In the February of 2005, a former garbage worker and long-time player in the Cicero politcal machine, Larry Dominick, staged an implauisble defeat of Mayor Gonzalez in the primary and went on to win the general election in April of the same year. Larry Dominick vows to kick Vrdolyak out of Cicero. Whether that will happen is cause for debate.

In neighboring Berwyn, the situation is a bit more tenable due to an FBI sting netting the assitant mayor in 2004 for bribery. Due to that incident, in addition to growing distrust for a similarly corrupt politcial machine (albeit a Democratic one) that has been in power for four decades, Berwyn voters handed the Democratic Party a devastating loss in the election of April of 2005. In total, the newly formed Independent Voters of Berwyn Party, formed by longtime Democrat and 8-year Berwyn Alderman Michael O'Connor, won 9 of 11 City Hall posts: 6 of the 8 aldermanic races, the postions of city clerk and city treasurer along with O'Connor himself being elected mayor.

Increasing voter distrust of local government, due in part to the fact that the FBI has made their presence known in the two towns in the past decade, puts an ever brighter media light on local affairs. Vrdolyak pursuing business in the two towns now will come with an increased liability.

External links

• Vrdolyak's Career Timeline
• A Carol Marin Column for the Chicago Sun-Times
• Carol Marin's Columns for the Sun Times
• Article on Berwyn City Hall scandal and ties to Vrdolyak