The private Daley

Had Al Gore won last year's presidential election, campaign manager Bill Daley would have had his choice of big Washington jobs. Instead, he's settling for a big payday in New York, as the new vice chairman of Evercore Partners, the investment banking boutique founded by former deputy Treasury secretary Roger Altman. "I knew that the next stage should be in the private sector," says the 52-year-old son of legendary Chicago mayor Richard Daley. "Evercore had a good business game plan. It was just the right size, and I could be involved in a lot of different pieces." Daley, a former Clinton administration Commerce secretary, will be remembered by many for his highly partisan fight to win a Florida recount for Gore. But Evercore president Austin Beutner dismisses any postelection criticism of his vice chairman as idle chader. "He fought hard, and he fought fair," says Beutner. "And I challenge you to ask anyone in government, any Republicans in Congress, any CEOs he worked with at Commerce about his integrity." For his part, Daley says he's moved beyond mudslinging politics. "I don't miss a lot about it," he says. "That was then. You move on." Daley's résumé also includes a 1990-'93 stint as president and COO of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago. Beutner says that Evercore's new deal maker will start by looking at potential venture capital investments in Asian wireless technology. "He's not interested in being a figurehead, and we're not looking for that," says Beutner. "He wants to be a hands-on guy."