January 24, 2006

City Council Now Willing to Challenge Administration, Study Says

The Chicago City Council appears to be displaying a new-found independence, according to a report co-authored by a University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist.

"Due to the continuing patronage and corruption scandals at City Hall, Mayor Daley's political strength has weakened," said Dick Simpson, UIC professor of political science and a former 44th ward alderman in Chicago.

"As a result, some aldermen are more willing to challenge the administration and bring new ideas to the council."

The report analyzes voting by the current council over a 31-month period. In the most recent 13 months, the report found 20 "divided" roll call votes -- votes in which at least one alderman was willing to oppose the administration.

By comparison, only nine divided roll call votes occurred during the first 18 months of the current council.

The report notes that the 29 total divided roll call votes occurred in a period when the council voted on over 4,000 pieces of legislation, 400 of which were considered key matters with city-wide impact, such as taxes and the smoking ban ordinance.

Even with the latest voting trends and the increased racial, gender and age diversity among council members, the 2003-2007 Chicago City Council has not changed enough to be a truly independent legislative body, the authors said.

Analysis of the divided roll call votes shows 36 aldermen voted with Daley at least 80 percent of the time. Only four voted in opposition to the mayor more than 30 percent of the time.

"Overall, Mayor Daley has more power over the council than any other Chicago mayor in the city's history," Simpson said. "A consistent organized opposition bloc has yet to challenge the mayor's administration."

With elections scheduled in 2007, the report is a valuable tool for Chicago residents and community groups to evaluate the effectiveness of their alderman, Simpson said.

"This study allows citizens and community organizations to hold their aldermen accountable for their voting and city council role for the last three years," he said.

To raise awareness, a number of civic and political organizations, such as the Better Government Association, Crossroads Fund, and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, will post the report on their websites, notify members through e-mails, or print it in their membership newsletters.

Voting records were collected from the city clerk's web site and cross-checked with the Journal of Proceedings of the City Council. The study contains quotes from aldermen who were interviewed by media or by the authors of the report.

The study, which also includes an examination of controversial issues considered by the City Council and a breakdown of the council members by race, age, gender, party affiliation, length of service and percentage of vote, is available online at www.uic.edu/depts/pols/CityCouncilVotes.htm or www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci/programs/chicagopolitics.htm

UIC political science undergraduates Elias Cepeda, Socrates Harisiadis, Sharmeen Hussain, Sumaira Hussain, James Renzetti, Tom Sdralis and graduate student Kevin Navratil co-authored the report and assisted Simpson with data collection and analysis for the study.

Simpson, a researcher and writer of Chicago politics for more than 35 years, is the author of 16 books including "Inside Urban Politics: Voices from America's Cities and Suburbs" (2004), and "Rogues, Rebels and Rubber Stamps: The Politics of the Chicago City Council from 1863 to the Present" (2001).

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

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