A Chicago alderman wants more oversight of contracts the city hands out. But Mayor Richard Daley says it’s a bad idea.
Alderman Scott Waguespack says members of the city council’s finance committee should be able to at least see all contracts worth more than $500,000. Right now, aldermen don’t view those contracts before they vote on them.
WAGUESPACK: Every other city in the country does it, I don’t know why we can’t. And they don’t have chaos. They have democracy. They have clean government.
Waguespack says his proposed ordinance would allow aldermen to reject a contract until it meets their needs.
But Daley says the city grants so many contracts, it would paralyze government.
DALEY: It’d be impossible to pass anything because someone would have an objection at the last minute.
Waguespack says it wouldn’t cause chaos. He says aldermen could prevent bad contracts from going on the books.