Progress Illinois

Here's The Reader's Ben Joravsky on the underlying reasons for Mayor Daley's insistence that the Chicago Children's Museum move to Grant Park:

Compared to the waste and destruction promised by the Olympics, the Children’s Museum is chump change. After all, the museum only affects one little part of one park. And if it gets built after the inevitable court battle, it’s going to cost the public just $4 million or so a year in the form of a Park District subsidy. The Olympics, on the other hand, threatens to devour prime lakefront parkland from Irving Park Road on the north side to 63rd Street on the south and will undoubtedly cost the public hundreds of millions of dollars. Furthermore, the Children’s Museum will at least be open to Chicagoans. The only way average residents will get into any Olympic events is if they’re selling popcorn. The games’ real legacy will be the bill.

Let’s put aside for a moment the pros and cons of moving the museum to Grant Park. The fight waged in the City Council last Wednesday was really about Mayor Daley flexing his political muscle to assure the IOC [International Olympic Committee] that his word is law in Chicago. If there was ever any hope for a check to keep the mayor from exercising unlimited power it was the council, which by law has the final say on just about every major project he proposes. But that hope died during the June 11 debate, as alderman after alderman rose to affirm his subservience.

Read the whole thing here.

This afternoon, the Chicago City Council approved a controversial proposal to move the Chicago Children's Museum to Grant Park. While the vote was the culmination of a long confrontation between Mayor Daley (who adamantly supported the plan) and freshman Ald. Brendan Reilly (whose ward includes the proposed site of the new museum), the outcome was no surprise. That being said, this is the latest instance in which the core members of the council's Independent Caucus have defied the mayor.

This Tribune piece provides good background on the controversy. The Trib also has the breakdown of today's vote. Here are the 16 aldermen who did the right thing and opposed the ordinance:

Manny Flores (1st Ward)
Pat Dowell (3rd Ward)
Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward)
Leslie Hairston (5th Ward)
Sandi Jackson (7th Ward)
Sharon Denise Dixon (24th Ward)
Ed Smith (28th Ward)
Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward)
Rey Colon (35th Ward)
Tom Allen (38th Ward)
Brian Doherty (41st Ward)
Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward)
Vi Daley (43rd Ward)
Tom Tunney (44th Ward)
Eugene Schulter (47th Ward)
Joe Moore (49th (Ward)

Former Daley speechwriter Dan Conley has some odd advice for Sen. Barack Obama at Salon today: draw a distinction between the "personal destruction and political grandstanding" in Washington and the "post-partisanship" of Chicago politics, and situate yourself in the latter camp:

Various articles during this campaign -- including some in Salon -- have attempted to tie Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to that outdated vision of the Windy City. But over the past 25 years, Chicago politics has evolved. The city is still divided along racial lines, and other layers of government here -- from the Illinois Statehouse to the Cook County government -- feature as much grandstanding and as many ad hominem attacks as anywhere. But anyone who doubts that a toxic political environment can be overcome should look to Chicago. Consensus has become more conspicuous than conflict. Deal-making is more important than showboating. In short, the city's politics has become post-partisan. It's a concept that should be familiar to anyone who has followed Obama's presidential bid.

Beyond the obvious rejoinder that city politics don't translate onto the national stage in any way, to paint a picture of Mayor Daley's Chicago as an ideal political environment ignores some crucial facts about life at City Hall. This 2004 paper (pdf) by University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor Dick Simpson explores the "new machine" in great depth:

The new machine under Richard M. Daley continues some aspects of the older machine, but patronage precinct captains are supplemented by candidate-based, synthetic campaigns using large sums of money from the global economy to purchase professional political consultants, public opinion polls, paid television ads, and direct mail. On the governing side, the new machine is characterized by a rubber stamp city council and public policies that benefit the new global economy more than the older developer economy ... The rewards for minorities, specifically African Americans and Latinos, under the new Daley machine reveal the racial basis of the regime.

Conley obscures huge chunks of crucial history to fit his argument that Chicago represents a "model for change." For instance, he asserts that "a general sense of civility prevails" in City Council meetings. Someone obviously missed Ald. Joe Moore's treatment at the hands of the mayor just last week.

The political environment could be much worse in Chicago. The news from Springfield reminds us of that everyday. But a model for national governance? I'm not so sure that flies.

On WIND's John & Cisco In The Morning yesterday, Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) called in to discuss Wednesday's City Council hearing, during which Mayor Daley steamrolled Moore's attempts to ensure that a hearing was held on an ordinance repealing the city's ban on foie gras. As we noted, Moore subsequently put out a statement likening the mayor's behavior to the strongarm tactics of his father.

Let's just say Moore cranked it up a notch during his radio appearance:

JOHN HOWELL (co-host): The mayor's probably a bit frustrated about the Children's Museum and he wanted to send a signal out.

MOORE: I think that's entirely the case. And the signal was, you know, to the City Council: "It's my way or the highway." And I don't think that's healthy.

You know, we send our young men and women to fight for Democracy in Iraq. I think yesterday you saw less democracy in the Chicago City Council than you now see in the Iraqi parliament.

Moore also criticized Daley's questionable time management during City Council hearings, which disproprotionately favors honorary measures over actual debate:

MOORE: I'll tell you this: for the first two-and-a-half hours of the City Council meeting yesterday we spent our time on honorary resolutions.

HOWELL: Yeah, there you go.

MOORE: And far, far more time than was ever spent on any other measure in the City Council, including the foie gras issue -- this time and the time it was passed two years ago. So I find it a bit ironic that the mayor decries the waste of time that the City Council spent on an issue he disagrees with. And yet time and time again, we spend hours -- every City Council meeting -- honoring this person or that person. Now, I think some folks are deserving of the honor, but there are other ways of doing it that don't take up the people's business.

You can listen to the segment here.

The Sun-Times' Fran Spielman called Mayor Daley's handling of the Chicago City Council's foie gras vote a "legislative end-run that set a new standard for violating protocol and rolling over the opposition." Via Division Street comes Ald. Joe Moore's (49th Ward) response, in which he blasts the Daley administration, not on its opposition to the foie gras ban (which Moore sponsored) but on its strong-arm maneuvering during Wednesday's council meeting:

How should the legislative process work? Laws to be passed (or repealed) move through committee hearings first before progressing to the Council floor for a vote. The committee hearings are where the voices of average citizens can be heard. Anyone can testify on any piece of legislation.

The committee hearings also provide aldermen with a opportunity to learn more about proposed legislation, to debate among themselves, and to amend the legislation as result of the public input and debate. Then at the Council meeting itself, there is another chance for debate before the matter is brought to a vote.

The initial foie gras ban was passed only after a great deal of public input and discussion among the aldermen. But not so in this case. Instead, 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney last year introduced an ordinance repealing the foie gras ban. He did so at the behest of the Illinois Restaurant Association, an organization he once chaired. The measure was sent to the City Council Rules Committee, where it sat for over a year.

Alderman Tunney never asked for a hearing on his repeal ordinance, even though the committee chair indicated he was willing to hold such a hearing, and none was ever held. Then yesterday in a surprise maneuver, Alderman Tunney invoked a seldom used state law that permits an Alderman to move to “discharge” a matter from committee without a public hearing.

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It's been a whirlwind year for Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th Ward), who defeated Darcell Beavers in a closely-watched election last April. Speaking to WBEZ correspondent Gabriel Spitzer on Eight Forty-Eight this morning, Jackson called her first-year in office "fast-paced, incredibly exhilarating but humbling at the same time, and a bit overwhelming."

Elected in part because of her professed independence from the current administration, Jackson has become a regular participant in Independent Caucus meetings. The group's collective success has been limited -- Dick Simpson recently reported that all but 13 roll calls this session have been unanimous -- but Jackson says that's to be expected when you're dealing with new legislators. "I think that there is an educational process that has to take place. You've got a new group of aldermen who are very new to politics .... so there's certainly a learning curve that people have to go through."

While her name is being tossed around as a possible congressional replacement should Rep. Bobby Rush step down because of medical reasons, Jackson is intent on city business, including the development of 650 acres of lake front property located at 79th and South Shore Drive. "I want to create an environment," she says, "where our young people will have jobs right here in the community."

You can listen to the interview in its entirety here.

In Adam's recent piece on the emergence of the Chicago City Council's so-called Independent Caucus, he quoted former alderman and political science professor Dick Simpson stressing the "question of how large and effective they are in pressing their programs."

Today, Simpson devoted his Sun-Times column to the Independent Caucus and the need for "aldermen to represent us in key concerns of our day-to-day life, our neighborhoods and our future":

The closest vote in the Council thus far has been on the increase in the property tax, which the Council approved in November by a narrow 29-21 vote. A number of Daley loyalists joined the independent aldermen in opposing the tax increase. [22nd Ward Alderman Ricardo] Munoz argued that higher taxes were due to a city administration "that got caught with its hand in the cookie jar." According to [49th Ward Alderman] Moore, "Nothing has made the public more cynical than the endless string of broken promises to end business as usual in city government." One of the clearest dividing lines in the new council is opposition to spiraling taxes to pay for patronage and corruption. [...]

Chicagoans may support Daley in elections and public opinion polls. They may believe they have "a city that works." But what about supporting aldermen who genuinely represent their communities? Aldermen provide a check and balance on an administration that has been shown in court to promote patronage and corruption.

It is fine to "make no little plans." It is good to become a global city and host to the Olympics. But we need vocal aldermen to represent us in key concerns of our day-to-day life, our neighborhoods and our future. I, for one, say three cheers for the Independent Caucus.

While Hillary Clinton has been warning leaders in Tehran that the United States could "totally obliterate" Iran if Israel was subjected to a nuclear attack, activists in Chicago have been organizing to avoid a military conflict with Iraq's neighbor. This week, their efforts could pay off, as Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) has introduced a resolution in the Chicago City Council "urging the Illinois Congressional delegation to clearly express the will of the people of Chicago in opposing any U.S. attack on Iran."

A hearing on the resolution, with expert testimony from former chief weapons inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq Scott Ritter, Institute for Policy Studies fellow Farrah Hassen, and acclaimed author and reporter Stephen Kinzer, is slated for 11:30 AM today. The full council will vote on the resolution at its meeting tomorrow.

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Is it a good first step or an insufficient approach? Opinion is divided about an ordinance that would stem the use of plastic bags in Chicago, which unanimously passed a City Council committee Wednesday.

The current measure mandates that stores deriving 25 percent of their gross sales from food and pharmaceuticals install plastic bag recycling bins in a “visible, easily accessible” location and collect and recycle those bags “free of foreign material.”

This measure is much softer than the one originally proposed by Aldermen Ed Burke (14th Ward) and Marge Laurino (39th Ward), which sought an outright ban similar to San Francisco's plastic bag law. Protests from concerned retailers forced the council members to water-down the ordinance. Still, Burke is calling the approved version "a good beginning."

Speaking to Chicago Public Radio this morning, Mike Nowak of the Chicago Recycling Coalition says he would have liked to see the ordinance include additional businesses:

I would like to see it expand even more. I feel as though we can teach people to go into the Home Depot, we can teach people to go into a Staples, and take their plastic bags with them, and they will learn.

The proposal is expected to go before the full council next week.

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Last Friday, our own Adam Doster reported on the emergence over the past year of the so-called Independent Caucus in the Chicago City Council. Today, Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight talked to two members of the caucus -- Aldermen Joe Moore (49th Ward) and Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) -- about their progress during year one and their priorities going forward.

Give it a listen here.