Nov. 16--We might as well be blunt about this: There is no point in naming a blue-ribbon committee to screen candidates who want to be the Chicago City's Council's next watchdog. There is no point in conducting a search.
There is no point in filling the job, period. Why would anyone worth hiring apply for it?
Unless the aldermen follow through with their repeated promises to give their inspector general the authority and resources to scrutinize their behavior. Do those promises mean anything? We're about to find out.
Faisal Khan, the council's very first inspector general, is gone. His four-year appointment expires Monday, but there's little to show for it. That is by design.
The ordinance that created the position was designed to thwart investigations, not to facilitate them.
It's loaded with roadblocks and escape hatches: The inspector general isn't allowed to launch his own investigations or rely on anonymous tipsters. He needs a signed complaint and the blessing of the board of ethics, and he is required to alert the accused that a probe is underway.
The inspector general's budget is controlled by the people he oversees.
Khan managed to get under aldermen's skin anyway. They ignored his requests for records and refused to answer his questions. They justified it by complaining that he'd overstepped what little authority he'd been given. His term wasn't half over before they started talking about getting rid of him.
Now that Khan is out, Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, is rounding up luminaries for that blue-ribbon search committee.
A candidate who isn't turned off by the job description, with its many sets of handcuffs, surely would be cowed by the results of a Google news search. Look what happened to the last person who tried to do the job. Where is the evidence that the next inspector general will fare any better?
That brings us back to the promises to strengthen the inspector general. We've been hearing them for years, but they were especially pronounced just before the spring election.
An ordinance that would have transferred Khan's responsibilities to City Hall's inspector general, Joe Ferguson, was teed up in the Rules Committee with 35 sponsors. That's more than enough votes to pass, but Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, and Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, hate the idea. So Harris, who chairs the committee, wouldn't hold a hearing. The measure expired.
Now that the election is over, there's little enthusiasm for giving the job to Ferguson, who actually has some teeth. A new version of that ordinance has been gathering dust since May.
Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, is preparing an alternative measure that would remove the restrictions on the council's watchdog and provide the office with a guaranteed budget that couldn't be touched by the council or by City Hall.
Aldermen, do not insult taxpayers' intelligence by going through the motions of hiring an inspector general under the current phony arrangement. Do not waste their money.
Do not assign a blue-ribbon committee to search for a patsy who's willing to collect a paycheck and keep the chair warm.
Fix the job, then fill it.
Or eliminate it and put yourselves under the scrutiny of Joe Ferguson.
Aldermen, pick one.
