Report: City Council Regularly Violating Laws

By Margaret Lyons in News on May 20, 2008 5:13PM

Aldermen are breaking local and state laws with astonishing regularity, according to a new report from The Beachwood Reporter and Chicago Talks. No one keeps written records, and not enough aldermen are present for votes or meetings.

The investigation found that nearly half of the 21 committee meetings investigators documented did not have enough members present to vote under their own rules, yet they did.

For instance, the traffic committee meeting that violated Illinois law also broke the City Council's own rules. Seven members had to be present for the meeting to be called to order, but that didn't stop the three aldermen from conducting business.

Ald. O'Connor (40th) said no law or rule was broken because the committee didn't take a roll call to determine whether there were enough members to conduct business. Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) agreed, saying: "Unless someone calls for a quorum, the assumption is that the quorum is present."

That...is not how counting works.

The report also found that only 4 of the 19 committees keep written records of their proceedings, despite a state law requiring minutes for all meetings. Technically, "Because most of the Chicago City Council committees don't comply with the law, misdemeanor charges could be brought against individual members by the Cook County State Attorney's office." [Chicago Talks, Beachwood Reporter, photo by MichaelDaKidd]