One Chicago Alderman Goes to Prison, The Rest Claim Legislative Immunity

Never a dull moment in Chicago. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, a now-former alderman has pleaded guilty to bribery and tax fraud charges relating to $40,000 in work done on his home by a developer whose development he backed. This makes him the 29th Chicago alderman to be convicted over the last four decades (including his father, on a similar charge). Other deals done by the alderman have also come to light, as well as the fact that he wore a wire for the last year (shortening his sentence). In other words, more heads will soon be rolling.

But not if the current aldermen can help it. The developer will soon be going to trial for his end of the transaction, and he wants to subpoena ten current and former aldermen, including five members of the zoning committee.

Surely these aldermen care more about transparency, justice, and the people's trust in government than they do about the Speech or Debate Clause that provides them with legislative immunity from being questioned in court. Yeah, right.

According to the Tribune article, "Corporation Counsel Mara Georges last week filed a motion with the court trying to keep the aldermen from having to testify by claiming legislative immunity." It's likely she'll be using this motion a lot over the next year.

An excellent Tribune editorial yesterday calls for allowing the Inspector General to have jurisdiction over aldermen. It so happens that when the aldermen set up the IG's office, they conveniently excluded themselves, and subsequent attempts to get rid of this loophole have never made it out of committee.The editorial also calls for protection of the IG's budget from political interference, and for all IG reports to be made public. Hear, hear!

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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