For his first five or so years in the City Council, Fioretti, the Second Ward alderman, was a little wobbly on reform issues, talking the talk more than walking the walk. But in the last few months, he’s had me hoping for the second coming of Leon Despres, the legendary foil of the first Mayor Daley. Fioretti teamed up with Alderman Leslie Hairston (Fifth) to lead the unsuccessful charge against giving Mayor Rahm Emanuel extra power to hand out NATO summit contracts and create an infrastructure trust, which essentially privatizes the funding and selection of government projects. The alderman even took the stage with Jesse Jackson and Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis during last month’s massive teachers union rally—which must have really had Mayor Emanuel’s ears burning crimson. Where did the new Fioretti come from? After all those years of playing the game, he got screwed big time in the new ward map. Thanks to the mayor and City Council leaders, Fioretti’s new ward zigs and zags through several communities filled with people who probably don’t even know his name—and even leaves his home in another ward. To quote Janis Joplin, freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. Give ’em hell, Bob.