Once a week I contribute to a blog about Mayor Daley and for the past ten days I’ve been trying to get on the listserv for the Mayor’s public events. But it being the city of Chicago, multiple phones calls have gone unanswered and I never got further than the front desk staff. Well today I finally got a call back from a “Deborah” at the press office who refused to give me her last name.

“We need to know what newspaper you’re from,” she said. “For security reasons,” she added, apparently unfamiliar with what the “public” in “public schedule” means.
“The Windy Citizen,” I said.
“So that’s a newspaper?” she asked.
“Well, we’re not a newspaper. We’re a website,” I said.
“Like a subscription?” she asked.
“No like the internet. You know, online,” I said.

She then told me that in order to get on the list, I need to be credentialed, which involves having the police check you out. It’s a wonderful democracy we live in when the police need to investigate you before you can be counted a member of a free press.

Anyways, if you want to assure Deborah that I’m a legit journalist and pose no  threat to the mayor (other than the occasional cartoon mocking our Dear Leader) give the mayor’s press office a call at 312-744-3334.

UPDATE: An hour after posting this, the mayor’s press office added me to the highly secretive list. Victory!