Lightfoot schedules Tuesday briefings on her plan to end aldermanic prerogative
Still in the dark about Lori Lightfoot’s City Council leadership team, aldermen will learn Tuesday how Chicago’s mayor-elect plans to deliver on her signature campaign promise.
Lightfoot has scheduled a series of aldermanic briefings at her transition office to outline her plan to issue an executive order on May 20 — inauguration day — ending aldermanic prerogative, the unwritten rule that has given aldermen virtually iron-fisted control over zoning and permitting in their wards.
That tradition is at the heart of the attempted extortion charge against former Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th) and nearly every other aldermanic corruption case over the years.
But if Lightfoot pushes too hard, she could have a fight on her hands with the same aldermen whose support she needs to approve a budget that’s almost certain to include painful cuts and tax increases to satisfy a $277 million spike in pension payments and a budget shortfall more “dire” than she anticipated.
Aldermen are reluctant to relinquish any more control at a time when their powers have already been greatly diminished by trash pickup now done on a grid system, instead of ward-by-ward, and by an interactive 311 system that eliminates the middleman.
Senior aldermen are not the only ones urging Lightfoot to lower her sights.
Even Inspector General Joe Ferguson, a former colleague from their days together at the U.S. Attorney’s office, has argued that Lightfoot will have a tough time eliminating aldermanic prerogative because you “can’t legislate relationships” and she might have to settle for shining the light on it.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last week, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), an early supporter of Lightfoot, cautioned the mayor-elect that it would be a “mistake” to mess with aldermanic prerogative.
If she insists on forging ahead, there could be political consequences, Beale said.
“These commissioners have to be confirmed. And if I hear a commissioner saying they’re not gonna listen to the aldermen, then they’re not gonna get my vote for confirmation,” Beale said.
Beale said if he has a “bad business owner” in his Far South Side ward who’s selling “illegal substances, bad meat or cigarettes to minors,” he has an obligation to “get that business out of my ward.”
“If it takes holding up a permit to get that person out of my ward that’s creating havoc on my community, I don’t want somebody from downtown taking that right from me because the people in my community have elected me to represent the best interests of my community,” he said.
“You want to take that ability away from me to help protect my community? I don’t think so.”
Lightfoot could not be reached for comment. Her spokesperson Anel Ruiz had no immediate comment on the content of Tuesday’s briefings, scheduled for 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Tuesday at Lightfoot’s transition office, 325 N. LaSalle.
Facing pushback from some of the City Council’s most senior aldermen, Lightfoot tried last month to refine her plan to end aldermanic privilege.
For the first time, she sounded more flexible and less dogmatic.
“I’m having a lot of conversations with current aldermen and looking at ways in which we can address the challenge. … But, it’s a bigger issue than that because there’s lots of different things that aldermen are tasked with responsibility for that really ought to be something that’s done through the executive branch,” she told WLS-AM Radio.
“Aldermen absolutely have to have notice on things that are going on. They should weigh in, in a constructive way. But what I’m talking about is eliminating the unilateral veto right.”
Lightfoot said then she was “thinking very comprehensively about this issue” and plans to confront it on day one. But she didn’t say how.
“What I don’t want is, on citywide issues where there should be a citywide proposal, that we have 50 different fiefdoms carving up an issue,” she said.
“We obviously want to be respectful of aldermen. We want to make sure they are fully engaged and representing their communities. And what I’m proposing doesn’t preclude them from doing that. I want them to do that. But what I don’t want is to have a unilateral, unchecked veto right on everything that goes on in a ward. … It doesn’t work. And we know, given the sad history, it’s a breeding ground for corruption.”
Lightfoot also had a final word for those who believe she’ll have a tough time rounding up 26 votes in a Council that has taken a sharp turn to the left, with six socialist members.
“We’re not gonna agree on every issue. And I’m also not gonna be a mayor who thinks it’s a loss if I don’t have 100 percent support on every issue,” she said.
“We’re a democracy. People are gonna have different perspectives and viewpoints. I just want to make sure we’re actually getting things done for the residents of this city.”