Fighting Chicago City Hall isn’t easy with Mayor Daley at the helm, and for people like the 49th Ward’s Alderman Joe Moore, it can be polical suicide.
Moore, for rattling City Hall’s cage with the Big Box Ordinance, spoke about those issues and his work in city politics at a talk on Tuesday, Oct. 24 in SU-003.
Moore explained the history of the politics in the city and pointed to recent actions in the City Council, in which he is involved. He told the small audience that Mayor Richard M. Daley is, “now losing the power he once had.”
“City Council is no longer a rubber stamp,” Moore continued, explaining that the City Council has traditionally been the go-along for the Mayor. This is because if there is a split vote, Daley gets to win cast the deciding vote, and City Council agrees with the mayor’s decision.
With the Big Box Ordinance vetoed by Daley, which he has rarely done, has shaken the relationship between City Council members and the mayor. Moore added that when he and other alderman were opposed to Daley’s veto decision, “The heavens didn’t fall, the garbage was still picked up and the city ran like normal.”
Moore also sponsored and passed ordinances to ban foie gras from being served in restaurants in the city, as well as an anti-Iraq War resolution and an anti-patriot act resolution in the City Council.
Moore concluded that even with the battle between Daley and the City Council that “Mayor Daley will most likely be reelected, but he won’t be able to take the City Council for granted.”