Posted by John Byrne and Hal Dardick at 3:45 p.m.; last updated at 4:40 p.m.
Mayor Richard Daley said today that aldermen opposed to giving the inspector general’s office the power to investigate the City Council need to understand that such measures are important to improve the public’s trust in government.
"When you get elected to office, hold public office, hold public trust, people pay their taxes. It doesn’t matter if you work with the schools or the parks. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the executive or the legislative branch, it’s a public trust," Daley said. "And people work hard and pay their taxes — federal, state and local taxes — and they want people to be honest, open and transparent in all the issues you deal with. Simple as that. They elect you for your honesty, hard work and dedication, they want you to commit to that."
Daley’s measure would allow Inspector General Joseph Ferguson to investigate aldermen and their staffs, a power overwhelmingly rejected by aldermen 20 years ago when Daley created the office of inspector general.
Daley has outlined the broad changes he seeks in the inspector general ordinance, but is not expected to release a copy of it until he presents it tomorrow at a regular City Council meeting.
While scores of aldermen have gone to prison for political corruption, Daley’s administration also has been the subject of several scandals during his two decades in office. He voluntarily gave up taking campaign donations from city contractors after the Hired Truck scandal. Daley’s administration also has been the subject of a federal criminal probe that led to convictions of Daley’s patronage chief and other high-ranking city officials. And James Duff, a Daley campaign contributor with mob ties, was convicted of creating phony women- and minority-owned businesses in order to secure city business.
Several aldermen, including Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, said today that Daley’s proposed change to the inspector general’s powers could make members of the City Council the targets of politically-motivated investigations.
“I’m opposed to the inspector general investigating aldermen, because all it would take is for you to make someone mad in your ward or a constituent and then they’ll start calling the inspector general making bogus reports, and you won’t be able to get your job done on a day-to-day basis because you’ll be fending off all these erroneous complaints,” Beale said. “If something like that is put in place, complaints would just be coming from everywhere, and we would just be sidetracked, and wouldn’t be able to do the people’s business.”
Ald. Ed Smith, 28th, said he also opposed the change, contending the U.S. attorney’s office is doing a fine job of keeping aldermen in line. “(U.S. Attorney Patrick) Fitzgerald does an excellent job, they don’t need anybody else,” he said.
Ald. Thomas Tunney, 44th, said he “would be supportive of it,” but went on to suggest that appointment of an inspector general should not be left solely to the mayor.
In a proposal made last year by Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, the inspector general would have been chosen by the mayor from a list of three candidates submitted by a panel that included the county’s chief judge, the county state’s attorney, the top Chicago FBI officials, the U.S. attorney and others.
Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, said today that many aldermen would be more comfortable voting for the inspector general to have the new investigative authority if the person holding the position was appointed by an independent panel, rather than solely the mayor. That would assuage aldermanic concern that the executive branch could exert influence over the council through the inspector general, Solis said.
Daley — speaking at an event to announce a public service campaign to combat the culture of silence that often hampers police efforts to arrest perpetrators of violent crime — said he didn’t know whether he would agree to such a compromise.
Solis said he wasn’t sure he would support the mayor’s proposal as-is, which would keep the inspector general appointment in the mayor’s office, but he said he could understand why Daley presented the plan.
Elected officials, period, are perceived very suspiciously these days," Solis said. "If this is an issue that can be presented that might give some confidence to our citizens, I can consider it."
Daley’s proposal also would shift
hiring oversight from his beleaguered compliance officer, Anthony
Boswell, to the inspector general’s office.
Ferguson has recommended Boswell be disciplined for allegedly mishandling a sexual harassment complaint from a student intern in the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. The mayor said today that he has not decided whether to discipline Boswell.