Crowdsourcing Aldermen, Daley hangs 'Help Wanted' sign at City Hall :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall

Daley hangs 'Help Wanted' sign at City Hall

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BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

For the second time in nine months, Mayor Daley is holding an open casting call before filling three temporary jobs that pay $110,556-a-year: aldermen of Chicago�s 4th, 28th and 38th Wards.

The vacancies were created when Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) was elected Cook County Board President, Ald. Ed Smith (28th) abruptly resigned and Ald. Tom Allen (38th) quit to accept an Illinois Supreme Court appointment to the job of Circuit Court judge. Replacements who don�t win election on their own will serve until the new City Council is sworn in on May 16, 2011.

The last time Daley accepted applications to fill aldermanic vacancies, 97 resumes came in and political insiders ended up getting the jobs.

Daley appointed State Rep. Deborah Graham (D-Chicago) to be the new 29th Ward alderman and businessman Joe Moreno to fill a 1st Ward vacancy.

The mayor said he interviewed 44 candidates, but ultimately chose Graham, a state representative who had sponsored some of his ill-fated gun-control bills while doubling as a city planner.

He also chose Moreno,  a graphic arts and printing company executive who ran for the state Senate in 2008 and had served as a leader of the United Neighborhood Organization's Metropolitan Leadership Institute, where Daley has drawn other Hispanic appointees.

This time, applications are due in the mayor�s office no later than 4:30 p.m. Monday. Would-be aldermen need a cover letter to the mayor expressing their interest, a resume that highlights community involvement in addition to work experience, and at least three letters of recommendation from ward residents, community and business leaders.

They also need a completed application that can be downloaded at cityofchicgao.org.

The application asks whether applicants have lived in the ward they�re applying to represent for �at least the past year�; whether they have filed nominating petitions to run for alderman on Feb. 22; whether they are registered to vote at the address listed as their residence and what strengths they would bring to the office.

After making 33 aldermanic appointments, most by following the predecessor�s recommendation, Daley opted for posting the �Help Wanted� ad on the Internet after Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) was convicted on federal corruption charges and Ald. Manny Flores (1st) quit to become chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

But in a city whose Democratic ward bosses famously said, �We don�t want nobody nobody sent,� the mayor ended up choosing political insiders anyway.

State Rep. William Burns (D-Chicago) is Preckwinkle�s preferred replacement, but he is not seeking the temporary appointment.

Smith is backing former Maywood Village Manager Jason Ervin.

Allen�s ward organization has endorsed Cullerton family scion Tim Cullerton, a former first deputy buildings commissioner.

via suntimes.com

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