Political protection

11th Ward Alderman Patrick Huels approached 48th Ward Alderman Marion Volini during a City Council meeting in the 80s. 

“A friend of mine is opening a club in your ward,” he said. “He needs a bartender. Maybe you know someone.” 

Marion smiled but was non-committal. She knew that Huels’ friend was looking for political protection. If he hired someone she had recommended, he would feel that she was less likely to hassle him about problems reported by neighbors. And if she sided with neighbors who wanted to close the place down, the bartender would plead with her to stop. He wouldn’t want to lose his job. 

So, she did nothing. 

Huels talked to her again at the next Council meeting. “My friend said you never called him,” the Alderman angrily related. 

Marion just smiled and laughed it off. He didn’t ask her again. 

Get more inside stories in “An Inside Job: A Frank Recollection of 48th Ward Happenings” at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/992452