Is the Camel's Back Truly Broken, or Just More Mayor-Council-Feds Politics in Chicago?
Last week, according to <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-daley-city-hiring-20100…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in the Chicago <i>Tribune</i></a>, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley
responded to the conviction of yet another alderman by proposing (i)
that the Inspector General's office oversee the city's hiring program
for fairness, instead of the Office of Compliance the mayor set up in 2007;
(ii) that the IG's office take jurisdiction over the council (whose members are called "aldermen") and their
staff, something the council rejected twenty years ago, and ever
since; (iii) that city workers and contractors who fail to report
corrupt
activity be punished; (iv) that the IG office's investigative reports
be posted online, minus the names of
those involved; and (v) that the IG's office get a guaranteed minimum
budget. Click <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wgntv-daley-wants-city-council-watc…; target="”_blank”">here
</a>to see a video of the mayor's proposal.<br>
<br>
On first glance, all one can say is "Wow!" He even said the right
things, such as "people are losing confidence in government. [The
conviction of another alderman] broke the camel's back." And "We have
to reassure the public that there is independence, accountability,
transparency and honesty in government."<br>
<br>
But there are a few problems with this proposal, besides the fact that
the aldermen aren't thrilled with being investigated by someone
appointed by the mayor.<br>
<br>
One is that the mayor is not offering to make the IG's office
independent through appointment by an independent panel. Two is that
nothing is being said about the city's ethics board. Three is that
guaranteeing a minimum budget won't do much to help an IG's office
whose reach is being expanded to include hiring and the aldermen. Four
is that the IG's office might find itself less able to deal with
problems in the executive branch, since it will be very busy with
hiring and the aldermen.<br>
<br>
Of course, aldermen are saying the very same things. Aldermen are especially arguing that separation of powers
prevents an executive appointee from having jurisdiction over them. I
haven't seen the term "legislative immunity" yet, but that won't be
long in coming, considering that the city's corporation counsel is
using the argument against subpoenas in a current case (see my <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/one-chicago-alderman-goes-prison-rest…; target="”_blank”">recent
blog
post</a>).<br>
<br>
Aldermen are also saying that the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office are
doing a fine job now. Who needs city oversight?<br>
<br>
The proposal still sounds good. But is it sincere? <i>Tribune</i> columnist John Kass, a strong critic of Daley, isn't sure. He has some <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-met-kass-0210-20100209,0,…; target="”_blank”">proposals
of
his own</a>.<br>
<ul>
First, [the mayor will] tell us who promoted Angelo Torres, the former
gangbanger put in charge of his scandal-plagued Hired Truck program.
Daley promised he'd tell us. But he must have forgotten because that
was, oh, 1,971 days ago.<br>
<br>Next he'll hand out a list of every free
airline trip and "working vacation" to foreign lands he's taken since
1989, and who paid, and his fellow travelers, including fave mayoral
developer Michael Marchese.<br>
<br>While he's at it, he'll also disclose
how many sports jackets (if any, like that yellow one) he's received
from mayoral fashionista/waste consultant Fred Bruno Barbara.<br>
<br>And
he'll list all the insurance clients of his brother Johnny Daley,
whether they have city contracts or not, and all the zoning deals of
his brother Mike Daley.<br>
<br>Naturally, he'll happily list all the
Chicago business executives who joined him on that recent trade mission
to Moscow, and which Russian political bigwigs were introduced to his
son Patrick, who was doing business in Moscow<br>
</ul>
In other words, it's easy for a mayor to win the people's trust by
proposing oversight over a city's legislators. What's hard is for a
mayor to win the people's trust by being transparent about his own
ethics problems. If he did that, his proposal would be seen as
something more than a way to look good and, while he's at it, get the
federal patronage oversight people off his back (see my <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ig-compliance-battle-chicago" target="”_blank”">recent
blog
post</a> on the patronage situation). But that will only happen if the camel's back is truly broken.<br>
<br>
This battle between mayor and council points to the importance of
independence to government ethics. The city's ethics board is appointed
by the mayor with consent of the council. The city's IG and its
compliance director are also appointed by the mayor.<br>
<br>
A better solution would be to create a panel selected by community
organizations (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/770" target="”_blank”">my
blog post</a> on this), as in Atlanta and Milwaukee, and have this
panel select the members of the ethics board, the IG, and the
compliance director. Or the ethics board itself could select the IG
and/or the compliance director. The advantage of the second solution
would be to more closely integrate what can otherwise be competing
offices (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ig-compliance-battle-chicago" target="”_blank”">my recent blog post</a>).<br>
<br>
An IG selected by the ethics board could do ethics
investigations, thereby better separating ethics investigation, advice, and
enforcement. And a compliance director selected by the ethics board
could be not the mayor's ethics officer, but an important part of the
ethics program, reporting to an independent board.<br>
<br>
For more background on the situation in Chicago, see the following
<i>Tribune</i> articles and editorials:<br>
<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-daley0209…; target="”_blank”">City
Hall
on the Grill</a> (editorial)<br>
<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-daley-city-hiring-0210-…; target="”_blank”">Daley
Presses
City Council</a><br>
<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-daley-ethics-aides-0212…; target="”_blank”">Daley
Suspends
Top Ethics Aide</a><br>
<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-council02…; target="”_blank”">Policing
the
Aldermen</a> (editorial)<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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