WBEZ | Joe Moore

Dorothy Brown tries to fend off Rick Munoz in bitter Cook County Circuit Court Clerk race

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:00:00 -0600

It's been a difficult few years for Dorothy Brown, the elected clerk of Cook County's circuit court. She's lost two bids for higher office, for mayor in 2007 and county board president in 2010.

Brown also faced a lot of criticism for poor bookkeeping of an employee "Jeans Day" program, for taking campaign money from her staff and office vendors and for accepting cash gifts from employees.

Now seeking a fourth term, Brown touts her record as an experienced administrator. First, she'll have to get past a feisty opponent, 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz, in the March 20th Democratic primary.

Back in 2000, Brown won the court clerk's office by plowing through a Democratic field that included two Chicago aldermen. The machine-endorsed candidate was the 45th Ward's Pat Levar and the other was Joe Moore of the 49th Ward.

"I had previously announced my candidacy for that office and was getting a lot of support," Moore remembered. "But when she entered the race, it kind of sucked all the oxygen out my campaign."

Moore had television commercials, but Brown had an energized, independent organization of volunteers, and another advantage.

"What I failed to take into account is the large amount of favorable publicity that Ms. Brown received from news media. That free press was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Moore, who is backing Munoz in this year's election.

That "favorable publicity" might be surprising now, after several years of ethics questions, but back in 2000 Brown won endorsements from the Tribune, Sun-Times and Daily Herald. They were impressed by her multiple professional degrees and her political independence.

Brown is now the Cook County Democratic Party's endorsed candidate and has had little trouble keeping the clerk's office. Four years ago she didn't even have a primary opponent. This year, though, she's up against Munoz, a 19-year veteran of the Chicago City Council. The two met for a debate last week in a Lincoln Park church. The setting didn't temper the mudslinging.

"You know what after 18 years [Munoz] doesn't even have a [ward] website for his constituents," Brown said.

"We can clean up the last corner of corruption in Cook County," Munoz told the crowd, referring to Brown's office.

"And then he just went on the floor and just voted for it blindly," Brown said, referring to Munoz's vote for the unpopular parking meter lease.

"The most eye-popping example is her failure to adopt an electronic document filing system that could save the taxpayers millions," Munoz said.

Munoz has tried to put electronic filing at the center of this election. He said it's long past time Cook County had a system for lawyers to file all legal briefs online. Some are filed electronically in a test program approved by the Illinois Supreme Court. But the court is not yet letting the county expand that program, and is not saying much publicly about why not.

Still, Brown defends how far the clerk's office has come since she took over.

"I had to actually move [the office] from the 19th Century...with handwriting, we didn't quite have quill pens, but we were close to that," Brown said at the debate.

Cook County, Brown continued, has one of the largest court systems in the country. Her office is responsible for handling the millions of documents that move in and out of hundreds of courtrooms.

How efficiently the office does that most certainly affects attorneys, who - at the Daley Center the other day - tended to give Brown a mixed grade.

"Great Job. There's a billion cases filed in this thing, and for the most part, things are where they're supposed to be, when they're supposed to be," Mark Mayer said. 'I don't know if she's wasting money or doing good with money...But as far as what I need to do...as far as my business, she does a great job."

"I notice sometimes that documents are mis-filed, which is only human considering the massive number of documents that they have," Ken Peters said.

The clerk's operation, of course, also impacts non-lawyers: people dealing with traffic tickets, divorces, criminal charges and foreclosures. And with about 2,000 employees and a $100 million budget, it affects anyone who pays taxes in the county.

Rick Munoz wants to take over the responsibility of the office after almost two decades on the City Council, where he was known as a rare voice of opposition to former Mayor Richard Daley. But Dorothy Brown disputes Munoz's reformer credentials, noting that he took money from developers in his Southwest Side ward and his vote on the parking meter lease. (Munoz has since sought to repeal the lease.)

Brown also questioned whether an alderman with only a handful of employees has enough management experience.

"You can throw out all kinds of accusations, but can you run an office of this magnitude? That's what's going to be important here," Brown said at the debate.

Munoz scoffed at that, citing the recent example of his key supporter, the county board president and former alderman Toni Preckwinkle. He's been dropping Preckwinkle's name all over the place, and also her photo - on campaign fliers Munoz passed out this week at the Loyola University 'L' stop.

"[I'm] just visiting all the way around - New Trier, Palatine, Wheeling, Hegewisch - just all over the county," Munoz said.

Has he found any commuters who cared about the circuit court clerk's office?

"Once they learn about the office, once they hear that I'm running against Dorothy Brown, the lady with the blue jeans scandal - they say, 'Oh, good. I'll support you," he said.

Munoz took a brief moment to find a response when he was asked if that's how he wants to win the race, by emphasizing Brown's negatives rather than his own positives.

"You know, I'm running to reform this office. Her negatives are just what they are," Munoz said.

In the city's Bronzeville neighborhood, Brown's campaign said it has well over a hundred volunteers. The campaign is running a seven-day-a-week phone bank, evidence that the clerk's political organization has some of the same heft it did twelve years ago.

And in an election in which most Chicago Democrats have, really, no big-name contested primaries to draw them to the polls, every little push may count.

Majority of aldermen call for budget changes

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:58:00 -0500

A majority of Chicago's aldermen are calling for changes to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's 2012 city budget. They say his proposed budget cuts would hurt public safety and quality of life.

Twenty-eight of the city's 50 aldermen signed the letter to Mayor Emanuel. They say his plan to cut library hours would cause too many layoffs and negatively effect patrons who rely on the library.

"We're hearing it loud and clear, all across the city, from the West Side to the East Side to the North Side to the South Side," said Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd). "Everybody's complaining about the cuts."

Fioretti said cutting library hours, as mayor Emanuel has proposed, would hurt kids and people who use the internet to search for jobs.

In addition to the library cuts, the 28 aldermen voiced other concerns.

The current budget proposal also consolidates 12 mental health clinics into six, and privatizes some health services. Aldermen say public clinics are vital for Chicago's neediest and must be protected.

Other concerns include the $10 million cut from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. That would eliminate fire and police dispatcher positions - and, aldermen say, endanger public safety.

The bloc says they also "have reservations" about the proposed near doubling of the fee for city stickers on SUVs. But aldermen recognize that the 2012 budget won't avoid cuts entirely, said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th).

"'Cause somethin' have [sic] to give. And we're rational enough to understand that. But we just wanna see if we can balance the burden out a little bit more," Burnett said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Emanuel said he remains open to changing his proposed budget, as long as alderment identify other cuts or revenue sources to offset the ones they don't like.

"I hear them. It doesn't mean I agree. But it doesn't mean I disagree," Emanuel said. "And as I always said, not all signatures on a letter are created equal."

How long will Emanuel's City Council honeymoon last?

Mon, 16 May 2011 05:00:00 -0500

On Monday, Rahm Emanuel - Chicago's next mayor - will be sworn-in. So will the 50 members of the city council. It's the official first date in a relationship that's bound to be tested, especially as the city deals with major budget problems.

Retiring Mayor Richard Daley hated when reporters referred to the city council as a "rubber stamp" for his proposals.

"None of them are a rubber stamp, regardless of what you say," Daley said at a news conference earlier this month. "I worked each and every one of [the aldermen] continually, whether they agreed or disagreed with me on many, many issues."

The "rubber stamp" label is also dismissed by aldermen - even some of Daley's most frequent critics. Sure, they knock him as autocratic and, at times, undemocratic. But they point out the administration did a lot of work behind the scenes to find compromises.

Alderman Leslie Hairston of the 5th Ward thinks the media missed this part of the story.

"Unfortunately, all we see is the day at the council after all the work has been done and there's no acknowledgement to the other work that has been going on before we get to the council floor," Hairston said.

Still, Hairston said Daley came up short on some issues important to her, such as economic development in her South Side ward. And she says she likes some things she's hearing from Emanuel.

In fact, the mayor-elect is coming off a transition that's been nearly free of aldermanic criticism.

He waded into some city council runoffs, spending close to $300,000. Seven of the 10 candidates he endorsed won. Emanuel denied he was just trying to buy a friendly council.

"We don't want a rubber stamp city council, and we don't want council war," Emanuel said in March, shortly after his campaign announced he was forming a political action committee. "I want a council that will part of the reform agenda, and be a partner in that effort."

So, a middle ground between a go along get-along city council like what's existed under Daley, and a council at war with itself, like what happened during the first term of Mayor Harold Washington. But where is that middle ground? Some disagreement, just not angry disagreement?

If you hear Ald. Bob Fioretti of the 2nd Ward explain it, it sounds a touch Kumbaya-ish.

"Working together doesn't mean that you're against each other," Fioretti said. "It's how we all lock arms with all of our citizens to move the city forward."

That all sounds great. But is it actually going to happen?

"I think it will," he said. "I think we're going to see differences disappear, because I think every one of the 50 aldermen that're coming in and the new mayor realize what a financial problem that we have."

But don't expect aldermen to instantly lock arms with the new mayor, and agree on cuts to erase a $587 million budget deficit.

Jason Ervin was appointed in January to represent Chicago's 28th Ward on the far West Side, an area of the city he says has been short-changed in the past.

"I understand you've got to balance the budget, but because so much has gone on and has not happened in the ward that balancing the budget on the backs of the residents of the 28th Ward is not a good thing," Ervin said.

Ervin said he relayed that message directly to the mayor-elect. And how did Emanuel respond?

"Well, I won't way it was overly negative or positive," Ervin recalled. "You know, I understand his position, and I want him to understand mine."

The first responsibility of the new council will be to pick its leaders. Technically, Emanuel has no say in this, but he says he came up with a plan after talking with every alderman. It would shrink the number of council committees.

Alderman Ed Burke of the 14th Ward, who supported an opponent of Emanuel's in the mayoral campaign, keeps his committee but would lose some power, while an Emanuel ally, 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O'Connor, gains influence.

Emanuel's plan also includes a bone for a longtime foe of Mayor Daley's. Alderman Joe Moore, 49th Ward, would chair the Human Relations Committee. Moore never got a committee chairmanship while Daley was in charge, despite serving in the council for 20 years.

"The only committees I chaired were ad-hoc committees that I named myself chairman of," Moore said with a laugh. "But, no. This is the first time I've been a chairman in a city council committee."

Moore sounds excited - giddy, even - about post-Daley politics at City Hall. He said he has chatted with Emanuel four or five times since the election, and said he feels like he's being listened to.

"I think we're dealing with a new paradigm here," Moore said. "The old divisions between...independent aldermen...and machine aldermen...I don't think those divisions really have as much meaning now that we're facing these very difficult issues that don't fall neatly along ideological lines."

This does not mean there won't still be disagreements in the council, still be divisions. Moore just said he thinks the alliances will shift, depending on the issue.

Power-plant emissions bill dead, but not for long

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:00:00 -0500

A proposal for Chicago to regulate exhaust from coal-fired power plants may be dying. But the bill’s sponsor, Ald. Joe Moore, 49th Ward, says it will come back to life soon.

Moore’s legislation is stuck in a joint City Council committee chaired by Alds. Virginia Rugai, 19th, and James Balcer, 11th — close allies of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who opposes the bill. But Moore says he will introduce a similar version after Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel takes office next month and a new City Council convenes.

The proposal targets fine particulate matter, known as soot, that many health experts blame for respiratory diseases. It would also impose one of the nation’s first limits on emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

California-based Edison International, which owns coal-fired generators in two mostly Latino neighborhoods of Chicago, dispatched a top Latino executive to a Chicago City Council hearing Thursday. Pedro Pizarro, president of a company arm called Edison Mission Group, warned that the regulations would force the plants offline.

“If we take on, unilaterally, costs that our competitors don’t, we can’t compete,” Pizarro told WBEZ after the hearing. “We don’t protect the jobs for employees. We don’t end up serving our customers.”

The company’s Fisk and Crawford plants, which stand in Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, together employ about 185 workers. The company sells the electricity in the wholesale market.

Moore accused Pizarro of crying wolf. “Business and industry always claim we’re going to drive them out of business,” the alderman said. “And you know what? If you push them hard enough, they’ll do what they need to do. We have a cleaner environment and a stronger economy as a result.”

Spectators packed the council chambers for the hearing. Edison’s local unit, Midwest Generation, bused in about 300 employees. Many wore hard hats and blue work shirts. Outside the hearing, they chanted, “Save our jobs!”

A similar number of environmentalists and neighborhood activists attended to urge the bill’s passage. They tried to hijack the workers’ chant, changing it to, “Save our lives!”

Fate of Chicago coal plants could hang on election

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:35:00 -0600

New leadership in Chicago’s City Hall could reopen some old fights, including a long-standing battle over two power plants: Crawford and Fisk. In spite of lawsuits, regulations and politicking, the coal-fired plants still churn out electricity, and pollution.

Now a local ordinance to force them to clean up or shut down is getting a fresh look from officials and candidates. They’re holding an unofficial hearing in the City Council chambers today. But just what would happen if they succeed remains a big question mark.

WBEZ’s Gabriel Spitzer spoke with host Melba Lara to explain why the outlook for coal in Chicago may be about to change.

CTA considers closing stops on north lines

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:05:00 -0600

The Chicago Transit Authority is considering several options for how to modernize its century-old Red and Purple Lines on Chicago’s North Side and in Evanston, and this week officials revealed that some of those options would involve closing stations. In their stead, new entrances would be added to nearby stations. “You would still have a station that would serve that area,” said CTA spokesman Sheila Gregory. “It would just be sort of reconfigured for modern times.” Gregory said having fewer stations could reduce travel times.

The CTA is unveiling the six options and receiving feedback from residents at community meetings this week. The proposals range from leaving the system as-is, to performing simple station repairs, to even taking portions of the elevated line below ground as a subway. Three options include closure of the Jarvis, Thorndale, and Lawrence stations on the Red Line; and the South Boulevard and Foster stations on the Purple Line.

Alderman Joe Moore of Chicago's 49th Ward said he was blindsided by the fact that the CTA is even entertaining closing the Jarvis station. His ward office is located at that stop, as are stores and restaurants that have reinvigorated the area in recent years. “If that El station closed, it could very well signal the demise of the Jarvis Square business district,” said Moore.

CTA officials said they'll consider community input gathered at meetings this week. A final decision could be a long way off, however. Gregory pointed out that the system still has no funding for the modernization project, which would cost roughly $4 billion. She said the CTA is laying the groundwork with planning now so it will be poised to apply for federal funding as it becomes available.

Mayor Daley's final budget passes

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:30:00 -0600

The Chicago City Council Wednesday signed off on Mayor Richard Daley's final city budget. The plan does not raise property taxes, but it does empty some of the city's reserves.

Bob Fioretti of the 2nd Ward was one of just seven aldermen to vote against Mayor Daley's spending plan. He criticized its reliance on money from the billion dollar parking meter lease fund.

"Only 6.6 percent will remain, and there still are 73 years left on the lease," Fioretti said.

"Again this year, we came up with a few more rabbits to pull out of a hat," said 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore.

Moore and a handful of other aldermen voted "no" on parts of the mayor's budget, but then "yes" on other parts. That led to a mocking reaction from Daley.

"Uh oh, Joe! You can't. Please," Daley said. The mayor then turned to the crowd of reporters in the room, who often quote Moore disagreeing with the mayor.

"You can't interview him anymore. What's going to happen?" Daley asked with a laugh.

Ald. Carrie Austin of the 34th Ward, the budget committee chair, says the parking meter funds were needed to prevent steep service cuts and tax increases. Austin ridiculed those who spoke against the budget.

"[If] you got suggestions, if you've got alternatives, if you've got revenue suggestions, bring them forth," she challenged.

At a press conference after the vote, Daley dismissed criticism that his budget just kicks the city's financial problems down the road.

"No, I don't kick the can. I never kick the can in my life," the mayor said.

Daley, who is not seeking re-election in next year's city elections, insists Chicago is in better financial shape than when he took office in 1989.

At least Quinn is up-front about nepotism. It's strangely refreshing, eh?

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:20:00 -0500

Top story: Sheila Simon is now officially the democratic nominee for Lt. Governor.‚ It's at least refreshing‚ that our governor is up front about nepotism. He even goes on to cite it in the press conference announcing her. You can tell he's from Chicago (OK, Hinsdale). But what is it with Illinois politics? Is there anyone who's Dad wasn't already an influential politician? Oh, right, one dude - and he's now President. And the other is awaiting trial for corruption. B story: There must have been some super-strategy meetings at Celebrity Apprentice when considering Rod Blagojevich. He really has nothing to offer that show and yet, they just keep letting him play. And at the end of the day, Trump goes out of his way to not only edit in some of his political nonsense (for comedy), but even gives him shout-outs in the board meeting about what a good, nice guy he is. What was with the "I understand you have to be nice, jurors could be fans of other players..." bit? My theory? The numbers for Celebrity Apprentice's in the past were way down in Chicago. This is a big market, so they had to get a big-market presence. And Sammy Sosa wasn't available. Once Blago is fired? It'll be like 'Earth Hour' where you can feel the collective shutting off of television sets across our fair city. Until then, Sunday night is popcorn party time at my house. C story:‚ Forget putting reality TV cameras on the White Sox, put them on City Hall. On Friday, Mayor Daley just shut off Alderman Joe Moore's microphone. He has a button to do that. And he just shut it off.‚ I wish they could now go into a confessional room and tell us about how they both feel. Oh wait, that's what the media is for. And this was over street-sweeping? Imagine what would happen if Moore actually took Daley to task over something bigger, like, say, the city budget. I think Daley might just go over to his desk and rip the microphone out. Weather: You gotta love that it will be 70+ later this week. It's time for everyone who gained a few pounds this winter to pull out the spring/summer wardrobe and try and fit into those shorts. Sports: Hey Illini fans, remember when you were in the Final Four and that skinny kid from Northbrook was thinking of going to your school but then decided to go to Duke instead? Yeah, Jon Scheyer got there before you did. And DePaul fans...you realize your team could be Butler, right? Kicker: Did you see former President George W. Bush wipe his hands on former President Bill Clinton's shoulder after shaking hands with someone in Haiti? The clip is exactly why we have the internet. 15 years ago, that would NEVER make it to a broadcast news platform. But today, there is a place for it in our daily media diet. And then, well, MSNBC and all cable channels pick it up and show it over and over and over again, thus making us less fond of the clip that we first saw on-line. Moral of the story? We need a second internet.