A GUIDE TO THE CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL

A GUIDE TO THE CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THE CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL
ITS OCCASIONAL POWER STRUGGLE WITH MAYORS MAY BE BACK ON AS NEW MEMBERS CHALLENGE DALEY
By Dan Mihalopoulos and Robert Becker, who are Tribune staff reporters. They covered this year's city elections
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published May 20, 2007

Mayor Richard Daley long ago tamed Chicago's City Council -- which once garnered comparisons to a pack of cunning wolves -- into behaving more like a flock of sheep.

But the herd mentality that has prevailed for more than a decade recently has shown signs of weakening, and many of the nine new aldermen who will be sworn in on Monday are promising that they will not be so easy to boss around.

Encouraged by the defeat of several Daley allies in this year's election, organized labor and community groups are urging the new aldermen to aggressively second-guess the mayor on a range of issues, from affordable housing and retail wages to police abuse and public transit.

Given that assertive aldermen have been as rare as blue-bag recyclers in Daley's Chicago, almost any challenge to the fifth floor of City Hall would mark a difference in the tenor of the city's political life.

Because Chicago is both the economic engine and cultural beacon for the region, the effects of the relationship between Daley and the council go far beyond the city limits.

In theory, Chicago is governed under a "weak mayor, strong council" system. That hasn't been the case for much of Daley's 18 years in power, with critics contending the council has all-too-humbly served as a rubber stamp for the popular mayor.

Before voting on most significant legislation, aldermen generally turn for instruction to Daley's lobbyists, who hover around every meeting of the council and its committees.

But Sandi Jackson, the new 7th Ward alderman and wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), predicts that this year's election will herald a glasnost movement of sorts in the council.

"We are going to see aldermen who feel more emboldened," said Jackson, who easily defeated an alderman backed by the mayor. "They have been told loud and clear that their constituents want to see change."

Amid the historical images of raucous council meetings and deals brokered in smoke-filled rooms, the alderman's job is rarely glamorous and often mundane.

Many people in the city's neighborhoods follow the tradition of calling their aldermen when they need garbage carts, when water mains break or when sidewalks crumble. Yet the council can play a big role in citywide issues that also dramatically affect suburbanites who work and play in Chicago.

The council has given its blessing to the enormously expensive work at the city's airports, Millennium Park and Soldier Field. And 45 of 50 aldermen recently signed off on a funding plan for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which Daley is attempting to lure to Chicago.

But a budding independence in the council in the last couple of years also has affected local life. An alderman's proposal to restrict smoking in public places sat in a council committee for years because Daley opposed it. The council finally passed such an ordinance in 2005, when aldermen at last began to show signs that they might have their own minds.

Last year, Daley for the first time had to use his mayoral veto power to defeat the "big-box" ordinance that would have granted a higher minimum wage and benefits to employees of large retail operations.

Daley even had to press three momentarily erstwhile allies to switch sides so he could scrounge up enough votes to uphold his veto.

The experience prompted Daley's friends in the big-business community to worry that they no longer enjoyed "one-stop shopping" at City Hall.

Long history of power

Since its origin 170 years ago as a 10-member "Common Council," the city's elected legislative body often has played a central role in the city's development, even when some aldermen behaved more like members of a street gang or comedy act.

After the Great Fire of 1871, City Hall spawned the first political machines and a 60-year period known as the rule of the "Grey Wolves." Muckraking reporter Lincoln Steffens came up with the term, inspired by "the color of their hair and the rapacious cunning and greed of their natures."

At one time the council mushroomed to 70 aldermen representing 35 wards. The present structure of 50 wards, each represented by one alderman, has prevailed since 1923, even as larger cities manage to survive and thrive with fewer legislators.

he election of Anton Cermak as mayor ended the Grey Wolves era and signaled a key shift in the council's status. Cermak united the city's ethnic groups, creating a potent political machine. The practice continued under successors Ed Kelly and Richard J. Daley.

"When Richard J. first took power, there were 14 [aldermen] in opposition, and that number dwindled," said Dick Simpson, a former alderman who has written a council history.

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The consolidation of power into the mayor's hands minimized political turbulence. Loyal aldermen, who often doubled as Democratic ward committeemen, were allowed to dole out jobs to campaign workers.

This system collapsed with the election of Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor, in 1983. Washington's agenda was thwarted by the "Vrdolyak 29," the white-ethnic bloc led by 10th Ward Ald. Edward Vrdolyak and his right-hand man, Ald. Edward Burke (14th).

Washington's threat to strip aldermen of their committee assignments commenced a political battle over everything from budgets and federal grants to the size of council committees. The fighting lasted until Washington died of a heart attack in November 1987.

More histrionics followed Washington's death, with Eugene Sawyer elected by the council after a marathon, overnight meeting. The defining image of that memorable night was the photograph of Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) standing on his desk in the council chambers.

Like father, like son

Two years later, Richard M. Daley came into office and soon re-established the control of the 11th Ward political elite over the council. Gradually, Daley co-opted or defeated almost everyone who showed an independent streak.

Thanks to the city's economic revival, Daley has been able to give each alderman a kitty of more than $1 million for projects in their ward.

Stripped of patronage power, the aldermen relied on Daley for campaign workers at election time. The mayor's organization propped up allies who faced challengers and turned his political street armies against council members who did not help cement Daley's power.

But for aldermen worried about their re-election hopes, the new boogeymen are not the mayor's patronage armies, which have been stymied by a federal corruption probe into city hiring.

Now, when they think about seeking another four years, council members wonder whether labor unions will try to unseat them.

Unions feuding with Daley fueled council challengers' campaigns this year, putting millions of dollars into campaigns. Many of the new aldermen owe their political existence in great part to organized labor groups that say they want to hear more debate at City Hall.

Because Daley continues to hold sway over the vast majority of aldermen, it remains to be seen whether the agenda of the labor-aligned newcomers will lead to anything more than increased chatter in council chambers.

Monday's meeting is a largely ceremonial event to inaugurate the new council. Only after the real meetings of the new four-year term begin, with Wednesday's session, will we find out if the council's Pax Richie era is truly headed toward its end.