Separation of powers? Mayor appointed 40% of City Council
By Dermot Connolly
Forty
percent of Chicago Aldermen currently serving on the City Council originally
were appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, which some observers believe gives
the Mayor too much influence on decisions made by the council.
Although many of the appointed Aldermen have gone on to win subsequent elections, observers such as Dick Simpson, a former Alderman and currently professor and head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), said they still are not independent of his influence.
"When the Mayor makes an appointment, that Alderman is beholden to him in future elections,” said Simpson. “That is one of the reasons we have a rubber-stamp City Council."
The 20 current Aldermen who began their careers on the Council as Daley appointees, chosen to complete the terms of other Aldermen, include Madeline Haithcock (2nd, currently in a runoff with Bob Fioretti), Fredrenna M. Lyle (6th), James A. Balcer (11th), Frank J. Olivo (13th), Latasha R. Thomas (17th), Virginia A. Rugai (19th), Arenda Troutman (20th; Troutman lost to Willie B. Cochran in the Feb. 27 election), Ricardo Munoz (22nd), Danny Solis (25th), Billy Ocasio (26th), Ted Matlak (32nd, in a runoff with Scott Waguespack), Carrie M. Austin (34th), Emma M. Mitts (37th), Thomas R. Allen (38th), Margaret Laurino (39th), Thomas M. Tunney (44th), and Mary Ann Smith (48th).
The three newest appointees, whom Daley installed in office in December, include Michelle A. Harris (8th), the ward superintendent chosen to replace Todd Stroger, the new Cook County Board president who began his own career on the Council as a Daley appointee chosen to replace the late Lorraine Dixon, who was Harris’s aunt. The others are Darcel A. Beavers (7th), who replaced her father, William Beavers, upon his election to the Cook County Board and who lost to Sandi Jackson Feb. 27, and Lona M. Lane (18th), who replaced Thomas Murphy when he stepped down to become a Cook County Circuit Court Judge. Lane is in a runoff this month with Paul Stewart.
With the exception of Haithcock, Troutman, Beavers, and Lane, all the Daley appointees won easily on Feb. 27.
Ordinarily, when an Alderman gives up his or her seat before the term is completed, he or she recommends someone to Daley to fill the seat and the Mayor usually accommodates that request. Daley has the authority to appoint whomever he wishes, however.
The appointed Alderman then has the advantage of being the incumbent when the next election rolls around, and very few incumbents are voted out of office.
"The law was changed back
before Daley became Mayor,"
noted Simpson, explaining that, at one time, if someone left office for whatever reason more than a year before the next election, a special election was held in that ward to choose a successor. Now, appointees can serve much longer before facing an election.
For instance, Stroger was appointed in September 2001 after Dixon died, but he did not have to face an election until February 2003.
The high number of Daley appointees on the Council is "partly because Daley has been in office for so long and has had so many opportunities to make appointments," Simpson said.
Simpson is involved with the Great Cities Institute (GCI) at UIC, which, among other things, conducts studies on local politics and tracks Aldermen’s voting records.
The GCI examined the 2006 voting records of all 50 Aldermen, which showed many appointed Aldermen agreed with Daley most of the time. In 2006, for example, Stroger voted with Daley 96% of the time, Laurino 96%, Tunney 90%, and Balcer, the Mayor's floor leader representing Daley's home turf of Bridgeport, 100%.
Contrast that with Aldermen not originally beholden to Daley for their jobs such as Dorothy Tillman (2nd), who voted with the Mayor only 54% of the time, and Brian Doherty (41st), the only Republican on the Council, who agreed with Daley 81% of the time.
Cases like Troutman, a Daley appointee who voted with him only 58% of the time in 2006, do exist. Her independence did not thrill good-government advocates, however, as she has been indicted on corruption charges for allegedly accepting bribes from someone posing as a developer.
To people frustrated by the lack of separation of powers in City government and complaining that nothing can be done about it, Simpson said that is not the case. "These things are governed by state law, and the law can be changed." He suggested that anyone appointed to replace an Alderman with more than six months left of his or her term could be required to face the voters in a special election.
In the meantime, the Mayoral appointment fest goes on. Daley appointed the City’s only two other constitutionally elected executive officers, City Clerk Miguel Del Valle and City Treasurer Stephanie Neely, last year. Both won their seats outright on Feb. 27.
More information about the GCI studies may be obtained at the website www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci/programs/chicagopolitics.htm.
