Jan. 13--We'll believe it when we see it.
Chicago aldermen are one roll call away from opening themselves to the same level of scrutiny that the rest of city government has withstood since 1989.
An ordinance that would place oversight of the City Council under the same office that oversees City Hall is teed up for a floor vote. It would transfer the responsibilities of the now-vacant legislative watchdog to the office headed by city Inspector General Joe Ferguson.
It's a step aldermen tried to avoid five years ago by creating a separate-but-weaker inspector general for themselves.
The result was a disastrous failure that some of them want to blame on personalities. The truth is that there are insurmountable roadblocks built into the current job description. An alternative ordinance that would allow aldermen to keep their pretend watchdog would preserve many of those roadblocks. It would be another failure, another stall.
The real fix -- the one advanced Monday by the Workforce Development Committee -- is opposed by two of the council's most powerful figures, Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, and Ald. Ed Burke, 14th. Both have been stung by Ferguson's office.
Burke refused to let Ferguson audit the $100 million-a-year disability program administered by the council's Finance Committee, which Burke chairs. Burke said Ferguson's office doesn't have jurisdiction over a fund managed by the legislative branch. The legislative IG, meanwhile, lacks the authority to initiate such a review. That's one of the roadblocks we mentioned above.
Austin's son resigned his $72,000-a-year job with the Department of Streets and Sanitation after Ferguson found that he'd crashed a city vehicle and tried to cover it up. That investigation was launched after the IG received an anonymous complaint. The legislative watchdog isn't allowed to act without a signed, sworn statement -- another roadblock.
Those two examples are a strong argument in favor of putting Ferguson's office in charge of overseeing the City Council. How could anyone vote against the ordinance with a straight face?
We're hearing the same old rumblings about political witch hunts and the sacred divide between the executive and legislative branches. So let's dispatch those concerns, for the umpteenth time.
The separation of powers argument is bunk. An alderman's job is both executive and legislative. As "mayor" of their individual wards, aldermen wield considerable executive power, and history tells us it is often abused. Recall all the aldermen who have been marched off to prison for trading zoning changes, liquor licenses and other perks for cash and other favors.
The aldermen who lie awake at night worrying about witch hunts are worried about false complaints from their political enemies -- including constituents who are angry about being denied a parking sticker or a sign permit.
Sorry, aldermen, but your paranoia does not trump the interests of taxpayers. Ferguson's office gets thousands of complaints every year, and discards more than 70 percent of them in the first round of review. The IG doesn't waste time on whispered claims that aren't backed up with real evidence. Get ahold of yourselves.
There's no excuse to continue to exempt the council from the rigorous oversight that applies to the rest of city government.
This is a big moment for the City Council, for Chicago.
Citizens are openly disgusted with how their elected officials have mishandled a series of ethical and financial crises. They're angry with aldermen for quickly signing off on a $5 million settlement to pre-empt a wrongful death suit after a Chicago cop gunned down 17-year-old Laquan McDonald -- and for the countless spending and borrowing plans they approved with equal haste.
Aldermen seem to get that they're on thin ice with the public. This week they've shown rare signs of independence. They forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel to scale back a plan to borrow yet another $2.65 billion, at least for now.
They bucked Burke and Austin to bring the IG ordinance to the floor. Push it over the finish line, aldermen, and your city will applaud.
