Morris the Cat

20th Ward Alderman Clifford Kelley was a reliable Machine vote in the City Council (he later served jail time for corruption), but he sometimes “stepped out of line” to display an eccentric sense of humor, irritating some of his colleagues.

Aldermen often introduced memorial resolutions, which were essentially well-publicized obituaries, recalling the lives of people both important and not so important.

Kelley offered one memorializing Morris the Cat, a recently deceased feline that had appeared on television commercials touting a well-known cat food. Rather than waive reading of the resolution, which was commonly done, he asked the City Clerk to recite it in its entirety.

It began, “Whereas, Morris the Cat was an inspiration to cats everywhere…”

Council members dutifully approved it despite the feeling of many that he was mocking the use of resolutions by his fellow Aldermen.            

 Excerpted from “Chicago Political Stories” at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/994143