An effort to make the Chicago City Council more independent is set for a key vote Thursday, even though it is not clear whether supporters of the push can overcome opposition from two leading organizations championing government reform.
Harris, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s floor leader and Rules Committee chair, endorsed Vallas after Lightfoot's defeat, while neither Waguespack nor Villegas has endorsed either candidate for mayor. Waguespack serves as Finance Committee chair and Villegas, who served as Lightfoot’s first floor leader before breaking with her, is chair of the Economic Development Committee.
After Lightfoot became the first mayor in 40 years to lose a bid for reelection, a nascent effort to revise the City Council’s rules and allow it to operate as an independent legislative body took shape – even as Lightfoot’s allies dismissed suggestions they were acting to preserve their coveted perks before either Vallas or Johnson could send them packing.
Seven of the City Council’s 19 committees met four times or fewer in 2022, according to City Council records. Of those committees, just two advanced significant pieces of legislation. Former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found that several of the most powerful members of the Chicago City Council used employees of the City Council committees they led to perform work in their wards, a potential violation of state law,The flexible budgets of City Council committees have long been a coveted perk for some of Chicago’s most powerful politicians, allowing them to hire political supporters without running afoul of rules that normally prohibit plum jobs from being awarded to...
“Rushing this parliamentary maneuver prior to the voters of Chicago expressing their choice of leadership for the next term is neither fair nor respectful of the Democratic process,” according to a letter sent by Dowell and Ald. Brian Hopkins to their colleagues. The groups also objected to the proposal to reduce the maximum size of most committees from 20 members to 13, which could allow legislation to be passed out of committee with as few as four votes.
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