Johnson allies shoot down attempt to level legislative playing field between City Council and mayor
Mayor Brandon Johnson has made a series of parliamentary rulings during his 16 months in office that have contradicted Robert's Rules of Order to prevent a rambunctious City Council from flexing its muscle.
That’s likely to continue, thanks to Monday’s 24-18 vote by the City Council’s Rules Committee, known as a "committee of the whole" because all Council members serve on it.
The committee, controlled by mayoral allies, shot down a resolution long championed by Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and endorsed by the Better Government Association and the League of Women Voters.
It would have converted the existing Legislative Reference into the Office of Legislative Counsel and charged that office with giving alderpersons “competent, unbiased advice” on parliamentary procedure and other legal matters before, during and after Council and committee meetings.
Staffers would have been empowered to prepare and review legislation before the Council and gather necessary information from city employees, department heads, contractors and license holders.
Those same staffers also would have been required to attend all full Council and committee meetings and would have been free to roam the Council floor during meetings to advise members on parliamentary rules, even during debate. A companion ordinance to bankroll the office is pending before the Budget Committee.
For an emboldened Council that already has moved to tie the mayor’s hands on ending the controversial ShotSpotter contract, it seemed like a baby step to level the legal playing field.
But Beale said Johnson “called his people and told them to kill” the resolution to avoid what could have been another political embarrassment for the rookie mayor. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot blocked similar legislation.
“The administration wants to maintain control over the rules and regulations in order to manipulate our body to do whatever the administration wants,” Beale said.
“Some of my colleagues are so used to being led, they don’t know how to lead and don’t realize they are the leaders. They don’t understand that we are supposed to be a strong City Council. That’s why the city is in the turmoil that it’s in.”
Reilly blamed the uneven legal playing field on “very strong mayors who felt it was in their best interest to keep this body as uninformed as possible and with as few resources as possible so the executive branch could push through their will.”
“We’ve seen chaos break out during City Council proceedings — not just under this administration, but previous administrations — and lots of questions raised about whether this body is following Robert's Rules of Order. Our lawyers would be allowed to provide us with advice during the proceeding in real time so that we can raise questions or make a motion to overrule the chair and parliamentarian on their decisions rendered about our process. … It makes us better at our jobs,” Reilly said.
“We’re not blazing new trails here, folks. We’re the last in line. We’re the last guys to show up at the dance. Other bodies, smaller governments have had this exact stuff in place for decades, and yet, we’ve chosen not to, to the detriment of our constituents.”
Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3rd) strongly disagreed, emboldened by a deputy corporation counsel who warned that a 1941 state statute approved by voter referendum and “recognized by the Illinois Supreme Court” designates Chicago’s corporation counsel as the “sole lawyer for the entire city of Chicago, including the City Council.”
That means an Office of Legislative Counsel "is really unnecessary,” Dowell said. “I think it will create … gridlock in this body. ... I’m not willing to spend half my life down here … doing word gymnastics and voting gymnastics.”
Budget Chair Jason Ervin (28th) joined the 24-vote majority that buried the resolution, sparing Johnson another political embarrassment.
Ervin argued the resolution would create “more chaos” without solving any intransigent city problems, including violent crime.
“I’m not signing up for chaos,” Ervin said. “We just had a bunch of people shot and killed over the weekend. What are we doing about that?”