The Chick-fil-A Controversy Is Really a Government Ethics Issue
If you read the newspapers and blogs, the big issues in the
Chicago Chick-fil-A controversy are free speech and government
boycotts. But it's really a government ethics issue.<br>
<br>
All rational voices acknowledge that a local legislator should not
block a store opening just because it has given large sums to help
an unpopular political cause. What they aren't saying is that a
local legislator shouldn't be able to block a store opening in his
district at all. Zoning matters should not be up to council members.
They should be up to zoning boards and zoning officials.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/ct-met-chicago-chick-fi…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Chicago <i>Tribune</i> yesterday</a>, "Ald. Proco 'Joe'
Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A's effort
to build its second Chicago store ... 'If you are discriminating
against a segment of the community, I don't want you in the 1st
Ward,'" he told the <i>Tribune</i>.<br>
<br>
The problem isn't what Moreno or the mayor want. It's that they have
a say in the matter. What Moreno is basing his threat on is what the
<i>Tribune</i> calls "a rarely violated Chicago tradition known as
aldermanic privilege, which dictates that City Council members defer
to the opinion of the ward alderman on local issues." This privilege
allows individual aldermen to engage in pay to play, and also to
punish those they don't like for political, personal, or ideological
reasons.<br>
<br>
Chick-fil-A has already obtained zoning for a restaurant in Moreno's
ward, but it has to seek council approval to divide the property.
It's this approval that the local alderman can block.<br>
<br>
The council just this week passed the mayor's recommended ethics
reforms, but those reforms did not include abolition of the
aldermanic privilege. This will hopefully be in the mayor's second
round of ethics reforms, after the city's special ethics task force
files its second report.<br>
<br>
Related blog posts:<br>
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/council-fiefdoms-and-unethical-behavi…; target="”_blank”">Council
Fiefdoms</a><br>
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/810" target="”_blank”">He Zones, She
Sells, and It's Legal (in Chicago)</a><br>
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/chicago-ethics-task-force-files-first…; target="”_blank”">Chicago
Ethics Task Force Files First Report</a><br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
203-859-1959