Machine-style tactic backfires on Phelan

When Richard J. Phelan took his seat as president of the CookCounty Board, you had to wonder whether he thought he had ascended tothe throne of Zeus.

What was bothersome about Phelan's first performance in thechair is not that he wanted to handpick his own person to replaceJohn H. Stroger Jr. as Finance Committee chairman, the board's secondmost powerful post. After all, putting your own people in key spotsis part of what politics and government is about.

No, what was troubling - and almost comic - was how Phelan: Tried with the self-righteous rhetoric of reform to turn a politicalissue - who will share power? - into a moral issue.

Just assumed that his …