Aldermen facing tough re-election fights next month woke up Wednesday morning hoping for an opportunity to turn the page on the corruption scandal swirling around City Hall by introducing a raft of ethics reform proposals to burnish their good-government credentials.

Instead, they found themselves in the middle of another maelstrom, this one caused by a Sun-Times report that Ald. Danny Solis (25) wore a wire for two years as part of the federal investigation into 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, who has been charged with attempted extortion.

Burke, who found himself literally pushed aside and stripped of his starring role at the first City Council meeting since the charges were revealed, remained defiant.

“Number one: I have done nothing wrong,” Burke toldThe Daily Line Wednesday morning in a City Hall elevator. “No recording that Danny Solis could make would change that.”

Burke spent most of the meeting out of the spotlight — largely silent and without introducing his usual raft of proposals.

Solis, who did not return a phone message, has not been charged with or accused of wrongdoing.

As he left the chambers later that afternoon, Burke told a crush of reporters again that he would not drop his campaign for a 13th term representing the 14th Ward on the Southwest Side.

“I’m not only going to stay in the race. I’m going to win,” Burke said.

Colleagues react 

But some aldermen were angry at Solis — and worried about what the next shoe to drop would be. Others said nothing at all to the swarm of reporters lured to City Hall by the scent of fresh scandal.

“I was raised if you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about, but where I come from, if you wore a wire, someone’s gonna kick your ass,” Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) said.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) said he was not “brought up” to wear a wire on a colleague.

“If I was caught doing something wrong, I’d just take my punishment, deal with the consequences . . . and keep my mouth shut,” Sawyer said.

Ald. George Cardenas (12) — an ally of Solis — said he would have preferred that Solis end his aldermanic career “honorably.”

“Jeez, what is the world coming to?” Cardenas responded when asked about one alderman wearing a wire as part of an investigation of another alderman.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8) called Solis’ action “disheartening.”

“I try to think we are a family down here and  and we all work together,” said Harris, who like Solis, is a close ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Typically, we respect each other. I’m a little uncomfortable about it.”

Ald. Carrie Austin (34) said she was near tears after she learned of Solis’ actions.

“You don’t do that. You just don’t,” Austin said.

Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) said she was “shocked.”

“I don’t know what other people are thinking,” Sadlowski Garza said. “I have nothing to worry about.”

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) noted that few people would volunteer to help federal officials investigate a friend or colleague.

“Most people don’t just generally call the FBI and say ‘Hey, how can I be an informant for you?’” Lopez said. “There’s usually something that pushes that, and only time will tell.”

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) said he also didn’t understand what prompted Solis to wear a wire as part of the Burke investigation.

“Anyone who violates the public trust needs to be held accountable,” Reilly said. “The best way to avoid having to wear a wire is to stay out of trouble.”

Reilly is one of five aldermen who are running for another term unopposed. But Ald. Michele Smith (43) faces five challengers — and acknowledged the news that Solis wore a wire is not good for her chances at a third term, since it reminds voters of Chicago aldermen’s long and sordid history of corruption.

“It is never too late for reform,” Smith said.

Smith introduced five measures Wednesday, including O2019-366, give Inspector General Joseph Ferguson oversight of City Council committees “with the authority to enforce subpoenas and conduct audits.”

The measures are “designed to increase transparency of our proceedings, but also to regulate our internal workings so that the public can have trust in what we do,” Smith said.

Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot, who helped prosecute one of the aldermen ensnared by the Silver Shovel investigation in the 1990s, said the widening investigation into Burke was “even more shocking” than the probe that led to the indictment of six aldermen.

“It again it underscores the fact that the system’s corrupt,” Lightfoot said. “We let people amass way too much power for way too long. They don’t work for the people anymore, they work for themselves.”

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) called for a “citywide conversation about how we ensure we end this system of corruption” that benefits only the rich and powerful.

Ramirez-Rosa said the focus should be on the fact that anyone who is involved in wrongdoing “betrayed the people of the city of Chicago.”

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) said Solis had let down the 25th Ward and the entire Hispanic community.

“I think the community is disappointed that he put himself in that position,” said Villegas, the chairman of the City Council’s Latino Caucus.

Solis, who was not at Wednesday’s meeting, plans to resign, the Sun-Times reported. Emanuel could appoint a replacement to finish out Solis’ term before a new alderman takes office in May.

In a hastily-called City Hall news conference, Hilario Dominguez, one of five candidates running for 25th Ward alderman, said Solis should resign immediately.

Candidate Vying For Ald. Solis’ Seat Calls For His Resignation: ‘You Don’t Wear A Federal Wiretap Voluntarily’

Solis’ resignation would mean that current Zoning Committee Vice Chairman Ald. James Cappleman (46) would take over, just as Ald. Pat O’Connor (40) became the head of the Finance Committee after Burke’s resignation.

However, a measure (R2019-46) introduced Wednesday to replace O’Connor as chairman of the powerful committee with Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), the chairman of the Progressive Caucus, was blocked by allies of the mayor and O’Connor.

Emanuel introduced his own package of reforms Wednesday (O2019-285) and told reporters that the Burke investigation should serve as a “wake up call to everybody that our work is not done.”

“People are tired of politics as usual,” Emanuel said.

The first part of that reform effort passed unanimously Wednesday, with aldermen voting to move the workers’ compensation program from the Finance Committee to the comptroller’s office with no debate.

Our preview of the City Council meeting and the @TheDailyLineChi feed detailed the other items approved Wednesday.

The Daily Line’s spreadsheet of introduced items

Emanuel said he was open to the debate over whether the practice of giving aldermen the final say over proposals, projects and developments in their own wards — known as aldermanic prerogative — breeds corruption.

“What we have today is not working,” Emanuel said.

The practice should be “mended, not ended” — and care should be taken not to give a “nameless bureaucrat” power over people’s communities, Emanuel said.

Cappleman said that unwritten but pervasive rule is at the heart of questions about corruption in Chicago, which he said he has always opposed. Cappleman is running for a third term.

“There is a fine line between advocating and extorting,” Cappleman said. “Every alderman is faced with that.”

As Emanuel prepares to leave office in May, part of his legacy will be the more than 50 corporations he has lured to Chicago, fueling a boom Downtown.

In a news conference after the City Council meeting, Emanuel rejected any suggestion that Chicago’s reputation — tarnished once again by corruption allegations — would suffer lasting damage.

More than 30 Chicago aldermen have been convicted of political corruption since 1973. Ald. Willie Cochran (20) faces a June trial on corruption charges.

Separately, Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22) has been charged with domestic violence, and ordered to stay away from the city and county building where his wife works.

Those deciding where to locate their business want to know whether Chicago has the “political will” to make changes and “not accept the status quo,” Emanuel said.

“No company thinks any city is perfect,” Emanuel said, noting that there have been ethics scandals in “New York state, New York City and Alabama.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) said the news of the widening investigation should halt consideration of most other council action aside from reforms, including the “mega TIF deal” at Lincoln Yards.

“I think we need to take a careful look at everything that’s going through except for the reform ordinances that we’ve proposed, because it’s pretty clear that we’ve got serious problems across the board and they’re not going to be all fixed in this term, but a lot of things need to come to a halt,” Waguespack said.

The fallout over the criminal charge facing Ald. Ed Burke (14) finally spurred aldermen to back a plan Tuesday to pull the city’s $89-million-a-year workers compensation program from the Finance Committee shadows and send it to the comptroller’s office.

More than $28 million in proposed settlements await Cook County commissioners’ approval Wednesday in the Finance Committee at 10:30 a.m., with the bulk going to three of the Englewood Four — men who alleged they were falsely convicted for the rape and murder of Nina Glover in 1994.

A snow storm — followed by a polar vortex — welcomed Chicago’s new head of the Office of Emergency Management, while City Colleges faculty prepared to strike and Cook County is set to go carbon neutral — eventually.

When Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls the meeting of the City Council to order at 10 a.m. Wednesday, he will not see Ald. Ed Burke (14) front and center, ready to usher his proposals through the City Council or deliver a stemwinder about Chicago history or a paean to the valor of police officers or firefighters.

Instead, Burke will be seated to the mayor’s far right — still in the front row of the chambers, but literally shunted aside after being charged by federal prosecutors with attempted extortion. Burke’s attorney has said he is innocent, and Burke has defied calls to resign or drop his bid for a 13th term.

Emanuel will formally introduce the package of ethics reforms he unveiled in the wake of the criminal charge filed against Burke. The mayor’s proposal would bar committee chairmen from invoking Rule 14 and recusing themselves from a vote before their committee more than three times per year, and presiding over matters they plan to recuse themselves from.

In addition, the revised rule would give the Board of Ethics the authority to review disclosures for sufficient detail, request further detail when necessary and assess penalties under the Ethics Ordinance for violations.

Aldermen would have to update their annual Statements of Financial Interest within 30 days of any changes “relating to outside employment, board service or business interests,” according to Emanuel’s proposal.

Emanuel’s proposal would also require the Committee on Zoning to act within six months on proposals. Aldermen who object to a permit must detail their reasons in writing and must have “substantive reasons” to block the permit.

Finally, the package would block campaign contributions from parties with matters before City Council for six months before the matter’s consideration in addition to the current ban for six months after consideration.

The mayor’s proposals are significantly less strict than those offered by several mayoral and aldermanic candidates as well as the Progressive Caucus — and are expected to face significant opposition.

However, aldermen are expected to rubber stamp the first part of the mayor’s reform proposal, which would move the city’s workers’ compensation fund to the comptroller’s office, a transfer endorsed Tuesday by the Finance Committee.

That fund had been controlled for decades by Burke before he was forced to resign as Finance chairman after he was charged.

Related: Burke abstained from votes every month for 10 years under the city’s Ethics Ordinance, records show; Lightfoot, aldermanic candidates commit to curbing aldermanic prerogative, non-partisan remap, term limits; Aldermen, mayoral candidates scramble to take advantage after charges filed against Burke alter political landscape

Emanuel is also likely to face a rebuke from aldermen on his decision to close six mental-health clinics in 2011 as part of his first budget.

Forty-three aldermen have signed on to a plan to create a task force to determine whether — and where — to reopen city-run mental health clinics, despite the vehement opposition of the Emanuel administration.

Related: Defying Emanuel, aldermen green light task force charged with determining where to reopen mental health clinics closed in 2011

Ald. Sophia King — who authored the measure (R2018-1398) to create the Public Mental Health Clinic Service Expansion Task Force — said the closures of the mental health clinics had led to “increased 911 calls and jailings.”

The measure requires the Health Committee to hold a public hearing in 45 days — which would be just about the same time aldermen are up for re-election — to allow Chicagoans to weigh in on the need to reopen the clinics. The task force will have 180 days to report its findings to aldermen.

Aldermen are expected to back Emanuel’s call to expand the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance to include projects planned near busy bus routes in an effort to spur development in blighted areas.

Only Ald. Deb Mell (33) voted against the proposal (O2018-9304) when it was considered by  the Zoning Committee, saying the city was moving too quickly.

Related: Aldermen back mayor’s call to expand transit-oriented development to busy bus lines

Aldermen are also set to approve a number of items:

• SO2018-8121— A measure designed to give seniors displaced by renovations or rehabilitations in large affordable housing buildings more notice and coordination from building owners. [Our coverage]


• O2018-9270 — Permission for the new Jewel-Osco under construction in Woodlawn to sell liquor, as well as several other changes to rules for the sale of packaged alcohol across the city. [Our coverage]


• O2016-5571 — A measure to restore the Congress Theater and build a seven-story, 72-unit tower next door.


• O2018-8010 — A $75 million redevelopment of the Uptown Theater, which is set to get $13 million from the area’s tax-increment financing district.


• O2018-8006 — A proposal to build an observatory deck atop the Aon Center at 200 E. Randolph St.


• O2018-9263 — A proposal to turn the long-vacant Grace’s Furniture building at 2618 N. Milwaukee Ave. into a boutique hotel with 44 rooms and two restaurants, as first reported by Block Club Chicago.


• O2018-9559 — A proposal to use $1.85 million from the Pulaski Industrial Corridor Redevelopment Area to renovate Kosciusko Park in Logan Square.


• Three lawsuit settlements worth $1.36 million [Our coverage]


• O2018-9957 — $45 million in loans for the 134-unit Parkside Four development. The land was once home to the Cabrini-Green Housing project.


• O2018-9534 — $2.3 million in loans for the Cicero Senior Lofts at 4801-57 S. Cicero Ave. in the 14th Ward.


• S2018-9195 — A pilot program offering a free city sticker to all veterans who are honorably or generally discharged from the armed services through January 2020.


• O2018-9339 — A measure to expand the Chicago Department of Health’s vision program to include the 4,000 students who attend private or parochial school.


• O2018-9307 — A measure to give the health commissioner the authority to issue a subpoena to investigate “serious public health threats” or discover the location of people “exposed to a health attack agent.”


• A2018-153 — The appointment of Latasha Thomas to the Community Development Commission


• A2018-154 — The reappointment of Eileen K. Rhodes to the Community Development Commission.


• A2018-145 — The appointment of Barbara McDonald to the Board of Ethics.


• A2018-142 — The reappointments of Raul Garza and Smita N. Shah as members of Chicago Plan Commission.


• A2018-143 — The appointment of Ashley Hemphill Netzky to the Chicago Park District.


• A2018-144 — The appointment of Timothy J. King to the Chicago Park District.

The mayoral contest is set: 14 candidates are vying to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel, elections officials decided. Candidate Toni Preckwinkle vowed to roll back the city sticker fee increase backed by Emanuel — and rival Susana Mendoza, who has said she regrets the impact of the hikes.

Aldermen delayed approval of a tax break for a massive distribution center in Little Village Tuesday after opponents said the already-approved development would pollute the environment.

Aldermanic candidates across Chicago raised $7.2 million, spent $4.9 million, and ended 2018 with $15.7 million cash on hand, according to The Daily Line’s analysis of quarterly filings with the State Board of Elections.

Elections officials are set to meet Tuesday morning to hear the challenges filed against mayoral candidates Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and tech entrepreneur Neal Sàles Griffin as well as those lodged against treasurer candidates Ald. Ameya Pawar (47) and Certified Public Accountant Peter Gariepy. Meanwhile, some high-profile candidates finally defeated the challenges keeping them off the ballot.

For the first time in nearly 30 years, Ald. Ed Burke (14) will not gavel Tuesday’s meeting of the Finance Committee to order shortly after 11 a.m.

Former Ald. Will Burns (4) agreed to pay a $5,000 fine to settle charges he improperly lobbied the city on behalf of Airbnb — his new employer — soon after stepping down from the Chicago City Council.

A day after Ald. David Moore (17) blocked former 17th Ward Ald. Latasha Thomas’ appointment to the Community Development Commission over questions about campaign cash, Thomas amended her campaign finance reports. Meanwhile, aldermen will consider a scaled-back proposal from City Clerk Anna Valencia to waive the fee for a city sticker to all veterans who are honorably or generally discharged from the armed services.

A Muslim woman who said a handful of officers assaulted her near a Downtown train platform in 2015 after assuming she had a bomb should be paid $160,000, city lawyers recommended Friday.

Police officers detained Itemid Al-Matar while she climbed the stairs of the State/Lake "L" station on July 4, 2015. CTA surveillance footage showed the officers tackling her from behind and ripping off her hijab and face veil.

Al Matar’s lawsuit claimed that she was taken to a nearby police station, where she was unlawfully strip searched. That federal lawsuit alleged excessive force, unlawful search, and a violation of her constitutional rights by the Chicago Police Department. She is being represented by Phillip J. Robertson, the trial attorney for the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Police charged Al Matar with disorderly conduct, reckless conduct and resisting police in connection with the incident, but was acquitted on all counts, according to the complaint.

City lawyers have also recommended paying $1 million to the family of Charles Edward Jones, who died in August 2015 while being held in the lockup at the Grand Crossing Police District Headquarters.

The lawsuit filed by Jones’ family said he asked for medical care and was ignored by officers.

In addition, aldermen will consider a recommendation from lawyers to pay $200,000 to former Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief Ernie Pinkston, who claimed he was discriminated against because of his race and disability before being terminated in 2011.

The fire department has long faced allegations that racism is rampant within the department’s ranks, and that officials have not done enough to hire and promote African Americans.

The City Council's Finance Committee is scheduled to consider all of the settlements at its meeting set for Tuesday. The full council could approve the settlements Wednesday.

 

Aldermen backed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call to expand the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance to include developments planned near busy bus routes on Thursday, sending the proposal to the full City Council on Wednesday.

Ald. David Moore (17) slammed the brakes on former 17th Ward Ald. Latasha Thomas’ appointment to the Community Development Commission, blocking a vote at least temporarily after asking Thomas about campaign cash.