Only today, he introduced legislation at the City Council meeting to restrict how much lobbyists can give and lend city workers, and to make it much easier for the rest of us to find out what the lobbyists are up to. Good stuff.
But Mr. Emanuel is a Chicago politician, too. Which perhaps explains — but doesn't excuse — what he quietly did a few days ago in appointing members to the Illinois International Port District board.
Though its title makes it sound like a major agency, the port district does little.
Most shipping long ago moved over to better equipped facilities in Indiana, leaving the district with one real task: to run a golfing facility and restaurant. That's why everyone from then-Cook County Commissioner, now-Congressman Mike Quigley to the Civic Federation has urged that the district be dissolved and its assets (like the golf course) turned over to the Chicago Park District and the like.
Beyond that, the district so shrouds its activities that Civic Federation President Laurence Msall can only give me an estimate of its annual budget: $8 million to $10 million. "We are able to find no evidence of any shipping-related activity," he summarizes.
I don't claim to be an expert on district activities. But according to the minutes of the four meetings that so far are posted for this year, the board got a report on painting grain elevators, noted the death of a former member and voted to send letters encouraging contractors to use good environmental practices.
And those were among the highlights of the minutes.
Given all that, you might think that our reform-minded mayor would name a high-powered panel to gin up the outfit. Either that, or do what he's started to do in his own government: merge it into a bigger, better run agency.
But all mayors have pals and others they want to befriend. And this board pays a nifty $20,000 a year ($25,000 for the chairman).
So, Mr. Emanuel named Terrence Fitzmaurice, business manager of Painters' District Council 194. (Perhaps he can help on colors for those grain elevators.) And former Chicago Human Services Commissioner Daniel Alvarez Sr. And Henry Wisniewski, a court reporter, and attorney Michael Forde. And he reappointed former Cook County Commissioner Charles Bowen.
Not a lot of big-time maritime experience there, is there? But Mr. Forde happens to be one of two lawyers who helped Mr. Emanuel repel a challenge to his residency last winter. And Mr. Bowen, well, he has his own talents.
For more than a decade, Mr. Bowen was Major Richard M. Daley's "liaison to the faith-based community," as he put it in an official biography. In other words, he helped Mr. Daley get African-American votes by dealing with powerful ministers. By all indications, he was pretty good at it.
Mr. Bowen's cellphone number happened to be in the paperwork on a $100,000-a-year contract he had with the Chicago Police Department after retiring from city government in 2005. So, I phoned him to ask what he happens to know about shipping.
"I've been on the board for almost six years. We vote on things for Homeland Security," Mr. Bowen replied.
OK. Let's say he's right. And that Mr. Emanuel's office is right in crediting him with "more than 50 years of experience in political government."
Why, though, does Mr. Bowen need another $20K a year, given that he's already drawing a pension of $52,921.97 a year from the county pension fund — and $48,385.56 from the city's municipal pension fund? (Thanks to the Better Government Assn., which provided the county figure after the county pension fund balked at a quick response to my question.)
"You think $100,000 a year is a lot?" Mr. Bowen responded. When I suggested that in these tough times, many people might think that $20,000 a year on top of $100,000 a year might be a tad excessive, he said he does a lot of volunteer work in the community for which he's not paid.
Right.
Unfortunately, there was a fair amount of this kind of stuff in the batch of board picks Mr. Emanuel announced on the Friday afternoon of Fourth of July weekend.
Many are good, solid newcomers. Some are government veterans with value to offer. But many others have been fixtures of city boards for decades, while others fill a political hole — like Andrew Madigan, a new member of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning board, who happens to be the son of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
So, take that reform talk with a pinch of salt. If anyone doubted it, this still is Chicago.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Emanuel shows the limits of Chicago 'reform' | Greg Hinz | Blogs | Crain's Chicago Business
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment