Lightfoot passes first test of City Council muscle with flying colors

Mayor Lori Lightfoot presides over her first Chicago City Council meeting Wednesday.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) had predicted “north of 30” votes for the City Council leaders but it passed on voice vote instead — no roll call.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday reshaped the City Council in her reformer image.

Presiding over her first City Council meeting, Lightfoot put in place her City Council leadership team and new operating rules on a voice vote.

Before banging the gavel for the first time, Lightfoot had mingled in the anteroom behind the Council chambers with allies and targets alike.

Ousted Public Safety Committee Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30th), one of Emanuel’s staunchest City Council supporters, got a peck on the cheek from the new mayor.

”It was a good gesture,” said Reboyras, who carried some of Emanuel’s most controversial police reforms over the finish line, but stalled an ordinance creating a civilian police review board.

”It was a good start. It’s not about Lori Lightfoot. It’s about the City Council and getting things done.”

Asked how he felt about losing his chairmanship, Reboyras said, “I didn’t take it that way.”

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36^th), had predicted he wound round up “north of 30” votes. Instead, the voice vote meant no roll call was even taken.

Had the roll been called, Lightfoot would likely have had more than 40 votes for her new line-up.

But, when the moment of truth finally came, it was anti-climatic, with only a few aldermen shouting no.

Villegas said he heard four aldermen shout no when the voice vote was called. They included aldermen Edward Burke (14th), Ray Lopez (15th) and Anthony Beale (9th). Villegas could not identify the fourth no vote.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s floor leader had predicted at least 30 votes for her new committee chair lineup and City Council operating rules, but in the end, no roll call was needed. Both passed on voice votes.

Lightfoot easily survived her first test after deftly handling an early skirmish with Burke, her political arch-rival long before the now deposed Finance chairman was charged with attempted extortion, setting Lightfoot on a path to the mayor’s office.

Burke rose to complain that the Council rules drafted by the Lightfoot administration were not gender-neutral and that it was a big mistake, particularly with a woman as mayor.

Lightfoot reminded Burke that he had been in the Council for 50 years. Implied, but not stated, was that he had never raised such concerns about gender neutrality in Council rules before.

Clearly annoyed with the line of questioning , Lightfoot told Burke to wrap it up. She told the once-powerful alderman who is now just one of 50 that his concerns would be taken under advisement.

Ald. Edward Burke (14th) said the proposed Council rules were not “gender-neutral,” but Mayor Lori Lightfoot brushed him aside, saying she would take his concerns under advisement and pointing out Burke had been on the council for 50 years — implying, perhaps, that he might have objected before, but had not.

Only time will tell whether Wednesday’s test vote set the stage for a relationship between the new mayor and new Council reminiscent of the rubber stamp that former mayors Rahm Emanuel and Richard M. Daley enjoyed for a combined 30 years.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32^nd), Lightfoot’s choice to chair a Finance Committee that for decades had been Burke’s primary power base, is not popular with his colleagues.

In fact, Waguespack is viewed as a cross between a chronic naysayer and a holier-than-thou know-it-all.

Had there been a separate vote on his appointment, it could have been embarrassingly close.

But behind-the-scenes rumblings about a parliamentary maneuver aimed at separating Waguespack from the carefully-crafted package went nowhere.

By stripping 20-year veteran Ald. Anthony Beale (9^th) of his chairmanship of the Transportation Committee and leaving Beale out in the cold, Lightfoot managed to send a message loud and clear that those who dare to join Beale in opposition to her line-up could face similar punishment.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s floor leader, predicted easy passage of Lightfoot’s package of new committee chairs.

Former independent Ald. Dick Simpson (44^th), an early Lightfoot supporter, said it best, even if it was a stunning admission from a self-declared reformer who puts out an annual report chronicling how often aldermen support the mayor’s programs.

Lightfoot, Simpson said, did the right thing by isolating Beale to set an early tone about who is boss.

Waguespack will preside over a Finance Committee with a much lower budget — just a third of the $2.3 million budget Burke had to spend at a time when the Finance Committee chairman still rode herd over Chicago’s $100 million-a-year workers’ compensation program.

The program was transferred to the city’s Department of Finance shortly after Burke was charged with attempted extortion and deposed as Finance chairman.

The new Finance Committee also has been stripped of control over tax increment financing subsidies, like the record $1.6 billion package for Lincoln Yards and “the 78” Emanuel pushed through the Council shortly before leaving office.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) is Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s choice to run the City Council’s Finance Committee, despite complaints from some Council vets that Waguespack “doesn’t play well with others.”

The power over TIF subsidies has gone to the Economic Development Committee, to be chaired by Villegas.

The new line-up also includes: Zoning Committee Chairman Tom Tunney (44^th); Budget Committee Chairman Pat Dowell (3^rd); Workforce Development Committee Chairman Susan Sadlowski-Garza (10^th) and Education Committee Chairman Michael Scott (24^th).

Aviation Committee Chairman Matt O’Shea (19^th), who delivered the biggest vote in the city for Lightfoot, gets to stay right where he is, riding herd over the $8.7 billion O’Hare International Airport expansion project.

Ousted Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin (34^th), second in seniority only to Burke, chairs a newly-created Committee on Contracting, Oversight and Equity.

Austin wanted desperately to remain as Budget Committee chair. She told the Sun-Times she was “hurt” by Lightfoot’s decision to dump her. But, she accepted the consolation prize, convinced she could do some good in an area her late husband championed.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21^st) inherits the Transportation Committee chair long occupied by Beale.

Lightfoot’s line-up retains just enough members of the Old Guard as committee chairs to bolster her lopsided majority. They include: Michelle Harris (8^th), Rules; Walter Burnett (27^th), Traffic; Emma Mitts (37^th), License; and George Cardenas (12^th), Environmental Protection.

First-time chairmen include: Harry Osterman (48^th), Housing; Chris Taliaferro (29^th), Public Safety; Nick Sposato (38^th), Special Events; Michele Smith (43^rd), Ethics and Good Governance; Roderick Sawyer (6^th), Health and Human Relations.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42^nd) is president pro tem. Tunney doubles as vice mayor. Both were approved by voice vote.

Hours after being sworn in on May 20, Lightfoot signed an executive order stripping aldermen of their unbridled control over licensing and permitting in their wards.

Her promise to do the same with aldermanic prerogative over zoning will require a code change and, therefore, a City Council vote.

That is certain to encounter resistance. It could trigger a floor fight and a roll call.

But that’s a fight for another day. Wednesday was Lightfoot’s day to bask in the glow of an impressive victory over a City Council, that, with six democratic socialists, has taken a sharp turn to the left.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s gavel awaits her first City Council meeting.