In January, when I sat down for what ended up being a five-hour gabfest with Alderman Ameya Pawar (47th), he predicted that this year was going to be better than the last one in our fair city.
The mayor, Alderman Pawar insisted, was not nearly as intransigent as I’d been writing. Moreover, his heart was in the right place when it came to fiduciary reform.
It’s as if Mayor Emanuel said to the aldermen, “OK, I’ll let you pretend to be independent.” And the aldermen are saying, “No, boss—we’d rather remain dependent on you!”
Let’s hope that Emanuel is right, because otherwise parents are going to have to gear up for more fund-raisers to make sure their kids’ schools have books and toilet paper.
The financial analyst would have to be nominated by the Office of Financial Analysis Oversight Committee—a newly created body consisting of seven aldermen, including Carrie Austin and Ed Burke, two of the mayor’s closest allies. The other five members would be chosen by Alderman Michelle Harris, chair of the council’s rules committee, who also happens to be a close ally of the mayor.
Alderman Pawar says he doesn’t know either. “I wish I had some answers,” he says. “Every time I ask about this they say they’re working on it.”
