The Mayor Wants a Present

From the Tribune:

• A memorandum sent out last month on city stationery asks department heads and senior staffers to give a "$35 voluntary donation (no checks please)" toward a gift for the mayor and his wife, Maggie.
• When the Tribune asked what the present would be, mayoral spokeswoman Jodi Kawada revealed Wednesday that a $2,300 charitable donation will be made in the Daleys' names. The money will go to After School Matters, a program overseen by Maggie Daley that offers activities for city teenagers.

John Kass of the Tribune speculates that the money for the gift was hastily re-directed when the story hit:

• Once they called City Hall, I figure there was much desperate damage control and scrambling. It turns out Daley's people won't buy him a toy but will donate the cash to charity in Daley's name instead.
  
  How wimpy has City Hall become? If it weren't for Lighty and Cohen, Daley surely would receive a special toy, like he did last year and the year before. Now he'll be in a foul mood and toyless.

Kass doesn't speculate on it, but we will - if the donation of $2,300 in cash is made in the Daley's name, do they take the tax write off on it?

And what's with the "cash - no checks" thing? Does anyone else get the idea that someone somewhere is skimming something off the top? $2,300 divided by the $35 suggested donation works out to about 65.71 people. Surely there are more than 65.71 people who owe their jobs to the 5th floor?