When did you find out the repeal of the foie gras ban was going to come up Wednesday?
Members of the City Council had been victims of a concerted campaign by special interests to ridicule the ban and insult the council. I could see the writing on the wall—I knew the chances of keeping the ban were minimal. But I was concerned about the process, so I tried to appeal to my colleagues for a hearing on the matter. Except in extraordinary circumstances, there’s a process in place, and things are brought before a committee for a hearing. That’s a fair thing to ask—especially for an ordinance that’s been on the books for two years and originally passed by a 48-1 vote. So my appeal to my colleagues was to at least have a hearing in the committee. I argued to them that they should at least not set a precedent by allowing a member of the council to circumvent [standard] procedure.
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After that I moved to defer and publish. It’s a matter of right under Illinois law that when a matter is brought before the City Council for the first time, any two aldermen have the right to move to defer it until the next meeting. But I was told I couldn’t do that in this case. I did not have an opportunity to appeal that ruling and we just pushed ahead.
Over the years I’ve agreed with him on far more issues than I’ve disagreed with him on. I think what has changed in the last couple of years was the fact that on a couple of issues—the living wage ordinance and this ordinance, for example—my allies and I had scored some legislative victories. And that’s apparently something the mayor takes very personally. And so he has been more demeaning, not just to me but to the entire City Council. And what I find shocking is that most of my colleagues just take it. They may grumble about it privately, but they do nothing to comment on it.
Well, I’m an eternal optimist. And with the new aldermen elected last year I was extremely hopeful that we would have more debate in the City Council, more aldermen willing to challenge the administration from time to time. But I must say that what happened this week has tempered that optimism tremendously. I think this does not bode well for Alderman Reilly and his battle with the Children’s Museum. The last real power that aldermen give themselves is aldermanic prerogative [to allow fellow aldermen the right to decide whether to approve zoning and development plans in their own wards]. And while I understand that this particular issue involves a development in the downtown area, nonetheless the mayor’s willingness to completely disregard the views and sentiments of the local alderman and the people he represents is not a good sign.
