1. Should the City of Chicago's Inspector General's Office have the authority to investigate alderman or should the current system of the City Council investigating its own members continue?
2. Should there be a review of current systems regarding competitive bidding for city contracts? Ending no-bid city contracts?
3. Should there be city council approval of legislation requiring aldermen and city employees who participate in zoning approval to publicly reveal any personal conflicts of interest as well as those of family members?
Cast a wider net on this topic. Are these the ONLY issues concerning ethics and ethical behavior as it/they revolve(s) around OUR future alderman? No!
ReplyDeleteWhat could/should he/she bring to the City Council, at large, that would prod it to clean up its disgusting image?
What council-wide impact could we logically expect the 41st ward alderman to have?
The 41st ward is not a microcosm of the city it is an anomaly(something different).
Given that reality what can we expect from our new alderman? And, how do we know who would best represent our interests, in an ethical manner, within the council?
A lot of question here. Pat answers will not suffice. City politics are about infighting, arm twisting, scratch my back I'll scratch yours, quid pro quo and compromise to name a few.
The 41st ward does not and never has had anything close to wide-ranging affect on Chicago politics. Why? Because it has been seen as the only conservative ward in the city. And as such it is included, by default, without any real, positive or long lasting impact on council decisions. When is its vote REALLY needed and by whom and for what reason?
The council would love nothing better than to see us go liberal and send the Democrat Party annointed one downtown. We do that we loose our distinctive political flavor. We need to keep our house, in the 41st ward, in order. My bet is if you start weeding out the candidates based on real, not percieved, ethical problems; ie; major party endorsement, union endorsements, the hack-kneed Times endorsement, outside business interests that conflict with the time an alderman would have to devote to ward business, the possibility, remote though it may be, that an alderman's 'day job' could be influenced(helped) by his/her membership on the council(see 'quid pro quo' above). With this 'weeding out' finished you have only a couple candidates, at most, who would qualify, ethics, considered to be our next alderman. Choose wisely or risk continuing being a rubber stamp for the movers and shakers downtown.
I think sending an independent to city council will address many of the ethical ills entrained in party candidates (both the democratic and republican parites).
ReplyDeleteConservative, liberal, progressive are labels cast upon political parties... and these labels entrap us in endless ideological battles.
Send/vote for an independent candidate to city council who is honest, ethical, hard working and has the people's back...
If we are going to clean up the city of the corruptive practices of the past, we must elect city council members who are free of committments to political parties, business and unions.
ReplyDeleteThe 41st ward needs to be a stong voice on the city council to make sure the voters who live here are represented. Voter representation needs to be first and foremeost in the ALderman's mind NOT PARTY POLITICS. and lets face it, we need to elect an alderman who can stand up to the possibility of Rahm and be unwavering in doing what is best for us. I don't see an O'Connor or Gavin as a choice. The independents who will not commit to being a full time alderman are out to.
I can't believe "no bid" contracts still exist. All contracts should go to city contractors, by bid, if the service can be provided by a city contractor.
ReplyDeleteWe need the feds to monitor Chicago goverment. An Inspector General hired by the city will never receive the support and power to hold aldermen to ethical standards, much less the law.
ReplyDelete