* Gregory Royal Pratt…
Ald. Bill Conway is crying foul after Johnson’s administration said they would have the city remove the tents in which people are sleeping [in West Loop homeless encampments] only if Conway voted in favor of two pillars of the mayor’s progressive policy agenda.
The conflict between Conway and [op Johnson adviser Jason Lee] begins with the encampment near Union and Ogilvie stations, which Conway said is a trouble spot for drugs and violent crime in the ward. Two recent shootings in the area have exacerbated his concern. […]
Lee pulled Conway into a copy room behind council chambers and offered to help remove the homeless camps, but Conway said he tied the action to the alderman supporting two Johnson initiatives: an increased real estate transfer tax on properties over $1 million to help fund citywide homeless services and an end to the tipped wage for restaurant workers. […]
Conway also recalled Lee saying that the administration’s progressive allies would “raise hell” if they helped clear out the viaducts, but City Hall was willing to make that happen because Conway’s votes “give us all the ammunition we need to justify why this is a critical intervention.” […]
“What I expressed to Ald. Conway is that … there’s a perception that doing something like removing encampments is not necessarily in line with progressive values and that it could be perceived as a callous act disconnected from the realities of what the unhoused and other vulnerable populations are going through,” Lee said.
“Ald. Conway demonstrating his commitment to progressive values, including eliminating the subminimum wage but most importantly Bring Chicago Home, is helpful to neutralize some of the criticism he might face in pursuing that.”
* From Jason Lee in 2018…
I learned the meaning of Dr. King’s axiom that the “ends are pre-existent in the means.” If my goal was truly to create a just world, I decided that I could not use unjust means … to achieve those ends.
This is what Dr. King said…
The means represent the ideal in making and the end in process. And in the long run of history, destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.
Thoughts?
…Adding… There’s also the practical side…
…Adding… Ald. Conway…
Playing politics with public safety is dangerous, both in the literal sense and when it comes to restoring people’s trust in government.
I take my oath and responsibility to protect our community seriously, so when the Mayor’s Office offered to address rising drug and violent crime incidents under the viaducts in my ward only if I agreed to support two of their legislative priorities, I was shocked.
When I subsequently learned the Mayor’s Office canceled plans to address those issues after I didn’t vote according to their wishes, I was speechless.
As a result, I have referred this matter to the City Inspector General and will cooperate with any investigations that follow.
This all began when I brought concerns about a rise in crime under several viaducts in the 34th Ward to the Mayor’s top aide. What started as peaceful homeless encampments has quickly turned into a magnet for narcotics and violent crime.
On a weekly basis, my staff works on site with Chicago Police and other city departments to safely remove drug packets, guns, abandoned tents, and propane tanks which present a danger to those living under the viaducts, the surrounding community, and the rail line running above. We’ve also been working with Family & Support Services to offer rehousing support to individuals who will accept it. I appreciate all of their work.
I had been told by city agencies that nothing more could be done, despite several overdoses, armed robberies, and two shootings in the immediate area. The Mayor’s aide told me that was not true. He said that the Mayor’s Office frequently intervenes in special circumstances and would do so here in exchange for my votes on the tipped minimum wage and real estate transfer tax.
It’s no secret that political horse trading occurs within the City Council. However, the denial of public safety resources and essential city services in exchange for legislative votes is abhorrent and unethical.
I have supported this administration’s efforts at times and when we disagree, I’ve always been willing to have a conversation and find common ground. But I will not bargain with public safety.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 9:54 am:
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Old school Chicago politics at work.
- SpiDem - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 9:57 am:
“That which is understood, need not be said”
These guys don’t understand much
- Yikes. - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 9:59 am:
Also, “removing encampments” isn’t what it used to mean back in the day. DFSS works to move homeless people through rapid rehousing: they either get placed into a semi-permanent location or, if housing is not available at the time, in a shelter while DFSS figures out a semi-permanent location. So technically, the one violating progressive values was not Conway.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:01 am:
===So technically===
There’s no technicality here.
- Jumbo - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:06 am:
The Johnson admin is so Old School Chicago Machine but have fooled a huge amount of the city into believing they are somehow more progressive. Bizarre stuff.
- DisappointedVoter - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:10 am:
The community organizers are really bad at building community. Jason had the opportunity to correct or reframe the conversation. I suppose there’s value in his honesty despite his confessions being disturbing.
SN: has the mayor had a week without some sort of PR crisis? Unsure who is leading press but they need A LOT of help.
- Socially DIstant watcher - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:11 am:
Sometimes I wonder if Team Johnson is ready for prime time, but then I read Vallas in the Trib and I know “ready for prime time” isn’t the most important question.
Still, they’d better get ready to step it up or it’ll really start to cost them.
- Lake Villa township democrat pc - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:12 am:
Sweet home Chicago (to the tune of sweet home Alabama) also using these *people* as bargaining chips is revolting.
- Roman - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:15 am:
Though it was exaggerated more than a bit in Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln,” federal jobs were given to members of Congress in exchange for their votes in favor of the 13th Amendment. Call me an old hack, but I think the ends justified the means that time.
Then again, we don’t live in 1865.
- Wild Bunch - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:16 am:
Amateurs. Total amateurs.
Oh wait, these are ‘reformers’.
Nothing to see here.
- uialum - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:21 am:
Can’t wait to see Pratt’s story once he gets the FOIAs back from the Mayor’s office with all the documentation around cancelling plans to remove the encampment after Conway voted against the Mayor’s proposals.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:21 am:
I am not surprised this was offered it is old school you scratch my back I will scratch yours politics. I am just surprised how unsubtle and ham handed they are
- Jumbo - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:30 am:
Honest question from a non-lawyer here: Is this type of quid pro quo legal?
Obviously I know it is not uncommon in politics, but is doing it brazenly like this running afoul of any laws?
- VK - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:35 am:
Look, I’m as liberal as they come. However, I will never term myself a progressive because this keeps happening like clockwork.
They scream about how they’re going to fix the system when they are running and then they get in with absolutely no practical governing experience or ability to persuade. So they either scream that everyone else is the problem or they do some ham-fisted nonsense like this and it’s somehow justified because their cause is the most righteous.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss but less capable and with 40% more hubris.
- Shambolic Defending - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:38 am:
based on the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in the New Jersey Bridgegate case, it’s ok because there’s no money changing hands.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:39 am:
Meh. That’s just political log rolling.
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:40 am:
=== Socially DIstant watcher - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:11 am:
Sometimes I wonder if Team Johnson is ready for prime time, but then I read Vallas in the Trib and I know “ready for prime time” isn’t the most important question.===
Thanks for taking one for the team. It’s practically impossible finish reading his ramblings.
- Wally - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:42 am:
Im just surprised Jason is actually in Chicago right now considering his mom is currently in a runoff.
- Just Another Anon - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:44 am:
Not just lazy work, but bad work here by Lee. Most egregious issue here from a PR perspective is the “single subject rule” violation. Its not nearly as egregious to say, “I need your votes on the transfer tax if you need the homeless camp cleared” because there is a clear connection between the funding to remove and rehouse the homeless in connection with displacing the camp. That’s rationally related and can be couched as seeking support for a global (issue wise, not geographically) solution on the issue. Adding in the tipped wage was just greedy (and lazy) and makes this a more egregious violation of societal norms worthy of rebuke. Run the tipped wage issue down another way, because its clear the scales don’t balance on it with this issue. I award Lee zero points, a total loss of all leverage, and an oversized serving of crow right before Thanksgiving.
- Wild Bunch - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:45 am:
====old school you scratch my back I will scratch yours politics====
But these are ‘reformers’ running City Hall. The mayor lectures the media about how they need to get used to the new says things are done. That ‘back scratching’ would never happen!
- Dan Johnson - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 10:57 am:
Call me an apologist but….
Sounds like the issue is it costs money to deal with the homeless. And if legislators want to spend that money on specifically housing (not on general law enforcement), then it seems reasonable to support the tax to fund the specific program.
It’s like raising the gas tax to invest in transportation. It’s not unfair (and certainly isn’t unethical in my view) to say the specific investments from a specific tax ought to reasonably flow to areas that support the tax. It’s also appropriate to distribute investments regardless of who supports the tax. But I don’t think it is inherently inappropriate to tie the two together in some form or fashion.
General law enforcement or general budgets gets problematic. But a specific (underfunded) service request that is only getting funded with a specific new revenue…. that seems appropriate to allocate limited resources to those who support the tax in the first place.
Budgets and services aren’t made of magic. So it’s not inappropriate to be honest about specific services tied to specific legislative actions to fund those services. It’s high minded to not consider those votes at all, kind of like it’s high minded to draw legislative maps without regard to where incumbents live or the partisan lean of each precinct. But it’s not unethical to be more direct about it.
- Frida's boss - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 11:13 am:
Conway just said he’s voting for the budget, even though TIF money is being taken from his ward but he’ll get to “keep the 5 projects per the mayor’s teams agreement with him earlier”.
So I guess it all works out no harm no foul sn/
- New Day - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 11:29 am:
This is shocking in that it’s not remotely shocking. Someone above asked if the Mayor and his team are in over their heads. Gee, ya think. Every day that goes by reveals just how incompetent this administration is at doing its job.
Conway is 100% correct on this and he is behaving ethically as you would want an alderman to behave. He’s also setting up a rather striking contrast that will put Conway on everyone’s lips in three years when it’s time to look for an alternative to correct this disastrous mistake for the City.
- low level - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 11:30 am:
==That which is understood, need not be said. These guys don’t understand much==
Yes, this is the work of small minds. There were ways of making the connection without being overt about it. These people have zero IGA skills.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 11:36 am:
Chicago Bars nails it. The Mayor simply needs a majority, and there was no scenario where Conway could justify voting against his ward on these two items. Lee should have marked him as a no and moved on. Instead, he offers this clumsy and dumb offer.
26 votes. That’s how you pass city ordinances. No need to make yourself look foolish trying to get 50. They might have a plan to address the migrant crisis by now if they didn’t waste this kind of time and effort on meaningless stuff.
- Thomas Paine - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 12:30 pm:
Seems like much ado about nothing.
“Political logrolling is ethical except when it comes to homeless encampments” doesn’t seem like a very strong legal or political argument.
Some say “The ends justify the means” and others say “the ends never justify the means” but most people argue both depending on which side of the ends they are on at the time. That’s because the truth is that the ends sometimes justify the means to the people who are for those particular ends.
Campaign like an Idealist, govern like a Pragmatist.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 12:38 pm:
===govern like a Pragmatist.===
LOL
You think this was pragmatic? C’mon, man.
- AlfondoGonz - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 12:55 pm:
Mayor Johnson has tapped some pretty tactless buffoons to act as his foot soldiers.
Not good.
- Interested cook countian - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 1:09 pm:
After the “reformers” Rauner and Lightfoot complete failure on figuring out how to actually govern, Mayor Johnson and his troops are trying to actually govern and get things accomplished but realize it can’t all be a way street. The problem is they have no book to follow on how to govern the city of Chicago except the classic “we don’t want nobody nobody sent” … and probably that is still the only book that explains how to actually get things done.
- Boomerang - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 1:40 pm:
== They scream about how they’re going to fix the system when they are running and then they get in with absolutely no practical governing experience or ability to persuade. ==
This is scary accurate. And there’s only 3 1/2 more years of this to go!
- ElTacoBandito - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 1:49 pm:
==Conway is 100% correct on this and he is behaving ethically as you would want an alderman to behave. He’s also setting up a rather striking contrast that will put Conway on everyone’s lips in three years when it’s time to look for an alternative to correct this disastrous mistake for the City.==
Maybe… but its probably daddy’s money and clout will do that for him. But Daddy can’t get you a city or countywide seat and he’ll look like he did running against Kim Fox a couple of years ago.
- LastModDemStanding - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 2:38 pm:
== They scream about how they’re going to fix the system when they are running and then they get in with absolutely no practical governing experience or ability to persuade. ==
I’m going to try to look on the bright side of things and hope this admin fails fast, has a hard reset including engaging the business community and becoming fully staffed.
- JP Altgeld - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 3:19 pm:
==Though it was exaggerated more than a bit in Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln,” federal jobs were given to members of Congress in exchange for their votes in favor of the 13th Amendment. Call me an old hack, but I think the ends justified the means that time.==
At least in the film, Seward had the good sense to maintain a distance and hire those two gents to do all the work (including a memorable scene of whalloping a crab with a mallet).
That Jason did this and then actually spoke to the media about it is somewhat shocking.
- Wild Bunch - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 3:59 pm:
====The problem is they have no book to follow on how to govern the city of Chicago====
Stop.Just stop. This is just another version of what the Mayor has been saying in press conferences. You’re saying Mayor Johnson and his team need a ‘how to manual’? Really.
- Pragmatist - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 4:08 pm:
Jason Lee committed political malpractice by saying the quiet part out loud and to the media. Conway might be a mayoral contender in 4 years and Lee helped underwrite the opening salvo.
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Nov 15, 23 @ 9:02 pm:
I don’t know why anyone would want to be the Mayor of Chicago.
I don’t even know why any talented or intelligent politico would want to work for the Mayor of Chicago.
What would I do different? I tell you what I’d do, I’d open up the menu and start a new game of Sim City rather than deal with trying to fix this mess and even if I knew what the right policies were to fix the problems and improve the city’s problems I don’t think anyone would be able to build a consensus among the individual council members of which there are 50 because of course there would be that many people to have to convince.