It is surely the nature of reporters to resent the functionaries who control the spigots of public information. Three years ago I wrote a column relating the exasperation of education beat reporters with Monique Bond, the head of communications for the Chicago Public Schools. They complained that Bond made it next to impossible to find out what was going on inside CPS.
Carroll doesn’t so much disagree with what Brizard said about her insider status as frame it differently. “CPS pays my check so I definitely work for CPS,” she told me. “But this is the same protocol as the Daley administration, when I worked in City Hall and for the planning department. You traditionally work with the mayor’s office. That’s the nature of the relationship.”
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Was there a price paid for this relationship? I asked. “Absolutely,” said Brizard. “We had great stress when it came to scheduling things. She felt she should have the priority when it came to my schedule, that whatever she wanted to do with media should have priority. I felt my time was better utilized in doing the work of the district. It was always quite a strain.”
A spokesman for Emanuel told the Tribune “the mayor has complete confidence in J.C.,” and an unnamed “administration source” said that “I’ve never heard [Emanuel] say ‘I’m done with J.C.” Not taking seriously these assurances, the Trib piece stated that the frustrated mayor could cut Brizard loose “potentially as soon as a contract agreement with teachers is reached.” That’s what happened: Brizard disappeared at the end of a strike he’d played no role in settling. He rarely got even a passing mention in the media coverage of the strike, and later he told ABC TV that his communications department—i.e., Carroll—stopped forwarding to him the media’s requests for interviews.
Correction: This article has been amended to reflect Becky Carroll’s description of her role as it relates to the mayor’s office; Carroll works with the mayor’s office, not for it. In addition, Carroll’s statement about the teachers’ strike has been corrected; she stated that the strike impacted every community, not every communication.
