Alderman Jackson's First Year
Thursday, May 15, 2008
WBEZ Eight Forty-Eight's Gabriel Spitzer talks with 7th Ward Alderman Sandi Jackson about her first year in the City Council, and the causes she’s championing.
Spitzer: There was a lot, sort of, invested in your class of aldermen as an independent group of people, to have a more independent voice in the Council. Former alderman and current political scientist Dick Simpson came out with a report ["The Independent Caucus: Breaking the Rubber Stamp Mold"] yesterday [Wednesday, May 14, 2008] that showed that in the past year, at least, in 11 months, only 13 roll calls were divided, meaning that the Council voted unanimously all but 13 times. And I wonder, does that suggest to you that the cultivation of an independent voice is more complicated than people might think it is, or do you feel like there's a ways to go? How do you read that number?So much for hitting the ground running. Jackson has fallen into the role modeled by the so-called "Progressive Caucus" leadership: get elected on reform talk, settle into the back bench, collect a paycheck.
Jackson: No, I think that there is an educational process that has to take place. You know, you've got a new group of aldermen who are very new to politics. A lot of us did not hold office before. So there's certainly a learning curve that people have to go through when you first get there. You got to figure out where the bathroom is, and, you know, it's been a very busy, very frenetic pace for a lot of us.
Look for Great Things from Ms. Jackson, in year two. Maybe. If she gets organized.
One year ago last month:
Chicago City Council Swears In 50 Aldermen
New Aldermen Could Shake Things Up In City Politics
by Mike Flannery, CBS-2 News, May 21, 2007
CHICAGO (CBS) ― As the Chicago City Council swore in all 50 aldermen Monday, nearly everyone was smiling -- in public, at least. But some of the newcomers have an agenda that could soon cause confrontation. ...
The south lakefront's Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) is the most closely watched of the nine freshmen aldermen. Her husband, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., has already served notice that he may run for mayor in 2011. ...
The Jacksons have shown some of their Council allies a tentative, 10-point "reform" package they have drawn up. Sandi Jackson acknowledged it needs a re-write before she formally introduces it.
7 comments:
What does this have to do with Rogers Park?
Not much at all it seems......
What does this have to do with Rogers Park?
This is yet another shining example of an "independent anti-machine" plutocrat showing her true colors - JUST LIKE MOORE. Except for a brief reprieve for the goose population, Moore too is content to sit back, collect his paycheck and entertain himself with visions of grandeur via trips to Washington and imagining himself as the next Congressman for Illinois.
By the by, did she EVER publish that 10-point plan? If so what was it and has she fought to have any of it instituted?
Anyone who is considering the thought of electing her husband into the Mayor's office would do good to watch her closely between now and 2010. Is she indeed just another in a long line of politically connected, wealthy few who promise change but "settle in" to the corrupt saddle of machine politics once she's in office? If so, how will that speak for her "better half?" You know, half a rotten apple still makes the whole apple rotten to the core.
- PEACE -
Didn't Joe champion himself as the leader of this new group of 'radical alderman'? I recall hearing how they were not going to let the Mayor run the city the way he has in the past. But I think that was before Joe voted himself and his fellow adlerman another salary increase.
"I think that was before Joe voted himself and his fellow adlerman another salary increase."
oh, that is SOOOO 1990's of you
aldermen don't vote themselves salary increases anymore!
back in '06, they voted themselves an automatic, annual cost-of-living increase, unrelated to job performance, that kicks in automatically, every year, no additional vote required, for all time!
AMENDMENT OF TITLE 2, CHAPTER 8, SECTION 041 OF MUNICIPAL CODE OF CHICAGO BY ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW ALDERMANIC COMPENSATION SCHEDULE
Yeas -- Aldermen Preckwinkle, Hairston, Lyle, Beavers, Beale, Pope, Balcer, Olivo, Burke, T. Thomas, Coleman, Mufioz, Zalewski, Chandler, Ocasio, Burnett, E. Smith, Carothers, Matlak, Austin, Colon, O'Connor, Natarus, Levar, M. Smith, Moore, Stone -- 27.
While the rest of the world worries about the recession, our alderman and mayor continue to raise their salaries without as much as a public hearing or vote. Whether they do their job properly or not.
Now that's progressive.
Easy money in the form a raises. Every year. Year after year.
Now that's what I call 'going green'.....
clever insert file.
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