Good times, good times: There's nothing like a Chicago 'coincidence'

Thank goodness our leaders in Washington don't come from the cesspool of corruption that is Chicago.

Daley charity got $6.5M city contract just 4 days before Mayor Daley left office

[Chicago's latest] particularly wonderful coincidence ... involves After School Matters, a charity that provides programs for teenagers; Chicago mayors current and past, and a $6.5-million city grant

...The agency [After School Matters] — chaired by Maggie Daley, wife of former Mayor Richard M. Daley — for years has been known informally as the unofficial City Hall charity.

...The city's vendor, contract and payment information site indicates the group was awarded a new, $6.5-million city grant on May 12 -- four days before Mr. Orozco's former boss Mr. Daley left office.

The contract actually was signed on May 2 by then-Budget Director Eugene Munin in what must have been among his last official acts.

A wonderful coincidence, no? After School Matters gets a grant agreement worth up to $6,480,000 "to support ongoing summer jobs and after-school programs for youth" just four days before Rahm Emanuel is sworn into office, vowing to search high and low for potential cuts to balance a budget that's $635 million in the red.

Well, it's good to know that Chicago can afford a meaty, useful program like... whatever it is the ex-Mayor's wife runs.