On April 10, City Council approved a 16-story, 168-unit high-rise at 1624 W. Division St. in Wicker Park against the wishes of neighborhood leaders. PROVIDED

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A developer currently building a batch of million-dollar condos and town homes in Wicker Park has filed a lawsuit against the city this week after former 1st Ward Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno discreetly approved a massive development nearby.

The lawsuit, filed by an entity of Vermilion Properties, alleges the city violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act as well as a six-month city zoning approval deadline when Moreno pushed through a zoning change on his way out of office for a high-rise at 1628 W. Division St.

By Mina Bloom, Block Club Chicago

An expert said the move appears to be a "blatant" example of campaign finance law exploitation.

LOGAN SQUARE — Carlos Ramirez-Rosa was sworn in last week as alderman of the 35th Ward, ushering in his second term.

It wasn't the outcome landlord Mark Fishman was hoping for.

Fishman, one of the most well-known property investors in the gentrifying neighborhood and a longtime foe of Ramirez-Rosa's, donated approximately $100,000 to Amanda Yu Dieterich's campaign to unseat Ramirez-Rosa, according to a Block Club analysis of campaign contributions filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Fishman, who declined to comment for this story, made the contributions from dozens of different limited liability companies associated with the properties he owns as well as his real estate company, M. Fishman Co.

Fishman’s organizations made 107 contributions of $990 each in two bursts in January and February, all from the same address on Fullerton Avenue and from Eric Hoberman, who is executive vice president of M. Fishman Co. and the agent of most of the LLCs, according to the analysis.

Candidates must report contributions of $1,000 or more by filing a Schedule A-1 report with state officials within five business days — unless Election Day is a month or less away, when candidates have to report those contribution within two business days.

Fishman's donations make up approximately one third of all donations made to Yu Dieterich's campaign, which raised a total of $309,189, according to records filed with state officials.

In all, 124 of the 159 candidates for City Council spent less than $200,000 during the past year. About 80 spent less than $50,000, according to state filings analyzed by The Daily Line.

Yu Dieterich didn't respond to repeated requests for comment.

In January, when asked about an individual contribution from Fishman, she told The Daily Line she saw nothing wrong with taking contributions from property developers and managers.

“I am running for alderman to make Chicago a more affordable city, a more accessible city and a more accountable city,” Yu Dieterich told The Daily Line. “That means working with stakeholders and community organizations when I’m elected to bring more affordable housing units to the ward — because you can’t have more affordable housing without building more housing.”

Fishman's donations appear to be a "blatant example" of campaign finance law exploitation, according to Alisa Kaplan, policy director for Reform for Illinois, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization fighting for transparency in government.

In Illinois, corporations are allowed to make contributions to candidates under LLCs. Many states across the country, though, don't allow the practice because it opens up the door to dark money contributions, according to Kaplan.

"You don't ever want one individual to have a disproportionate amount of influence over a candidate," Kaplan said, adding, "The other reason is you don't always know who is financially involved."

At the federal level, campaign finance laws specifically prohibit business and corporate contributions for this exact reason.

Kaplan said Fishman's donations raise a question about whether Illinois should reconsider allowing corporate donations.

Fishman's donations "show the way the current law can be exploited," Kaplan said.

"Certainly the issue of whether to bar corporate contributions has come up before — maybe it should come up again," she added.

Ramirez-Rosa won February's election with 59.6 percent of the vote to Yu Dieterich’s 40.4 percent. Yu Dieterich outspent Ramirez-Rosa 2 to 1.

Fishman has been politically active in the past, routinely donating to the alderman Ramirez-Rosa ousted in 2015 — Rey Colon.

Ramirez-Rosa said that Fishman's attempt to influence the most recent election didn't work.

"More than anything, I'm humbled and appreciative of the voters," Ramirez-Rosa said. "Despite receiving a lot of mailers from a very well-funded campaign, they chose to elect me.

"They want an alderman that is going to be independent and put their interests first."

Ramirez-Rosa and Fishman have a long history of being at odds. Dating back to 2015, Ramirez-Rosa painted Fishman as the mascot for gentrification in Logan Square, a label Fishman has said is undeserved.

Things came to a head in early 2019 when Ramirez-Rosa and State Rep. Will Guzzardi moved out of their shared office on Sawyer Avenue they leased from Fishman amid a rent dispute. Fishman alleged Ramirez-Rosa and Guzzardi owed more than $42,000 in back rent — a dispute stretching back to December 2015 when Fishman bought the building at 2708-2710 N. Sawyer Ave. Ramirez-Rosa said any back rent owed to Fishman is the responsibility of the state.

Fishman ultimately filed a lawsuit against Ramirez-Rosa, which is currently pending.

Ramirez-Rosa declined to comment on the status of the lawsuit.

"My legal team has filed our response and now we're just waiting to hear what the next steps are," Ramirez-Rosa said.

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Ald. Raymond Lopez (15). [Ted Cox/DNAinfo]

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), who was re-elected this week, quit the City Council’s Latino Caucus, which he once helped lead.

In a letter to Latino Caucus Chairman Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) Friday, Lopez said he was resigning and could no longer be involved in “an organization that works against its members.” Lopez had served as the group’s treasurer.

By Kelly Bauer, Block Club Chicago

Early voting in Tuesday’s general elections is on track to be the highest in recent years.

Approximately 60,000 early voting ballots have been cast and another 18,500 vote-by-mail ballots have come in, said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Board of Election Commissioners.

On Thursday alone, 10,000 early votes were cast — the most of any day during this election, Allen said.

That puts the city on pace to surpass the early vote totals it saw in the most recent comparable elections of February 2011 and February 2015.

Those totals don’t even include include military overseas voters and grace period voters, Allen said.

And the board has received nearly triple the amount of vote-by-mail applications as it has in the past, with about a quarter of those returned so far, Allen said.

“We’ll have a solid turnout at this rate,” Allen said.

Election Day is Tuesday. Early voting continues through Monday night. Click here for a list of voting sites.

Sarah-Ji Rhee, a local photographer, says that Ald. Joe Moore used her photo without permission. [Facebook/ Sarah Ji Rhee]

A local photographer and a Los Angeles-based photojournalist are accusing Ald. Joe Moore (49th) of using their photos on campaign mailers without permission — but Moore’s campaign contends they did nothing wrong.

On Friday, photographer Sarah-Ji Rhee accused Moore and his campaign of stealing her photo for a campaign mailer in a Rogers Park Facebook group. She called it the most “egregious violation of professional courtesy” she’s experienced as a photographer.

State Police officials testified Monday that more forensic scientists are coming to its backlogged crime lab, but acknowledged it could take five years to get caught up, in part, because of a national shortage of experts to process crime scene evidence.

The officials faced questions at a state Public Health Committee hearing called by State Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago), who chairs the panel. Family members of murder victims with cases stuck in the backlog also testified, putting human faces on the stack of unsolved cases.

The chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus denounced a sting operation that used “bait trucks” to try to catch thieves in Englewood, saying it was an “inappropriate use of police resources” and a hearing should be held to get answers.

Ald. Roderick T. Sawyer (6) called Chicago Police and the Norfolk Southern Railroad on the carpet for the joint operation, which was revealed when video shot by activists went viral this week.