Three months ago, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) survived an effort to remove him as Housing Committee chair because he'd attended a rally outside City Hall rally where an American flag was burned to protest U.S. support for Israel.
Sigcho Lopez escaped punishment on a divided City Council vote, and only after a private apology and public forgiveness.
Now, he’s poised to become the City Council’s powerful Zoning Committee chair with the power to oversee Chicago development. And Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), who resigned as Zoning chair amid charges of bullying and intimidating colleagues, is the odd man out in the game of musical chairs.
Sources said Mayor Brandon Johnson's office informed alderpersons over the weekend that Johnson plans to fill the long-vacant zoning chair with Sigcho-Lopez and fill the Housing Committee chairmanship that Sigcho-Lopez is vacating with Vice-Mayor Walter Burnett (27th). Emma Mitts (37th), chair of the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity will stay where she is, under the mayor’s plan.
“If the mayor believes I can serve well in this position, then I will do my best to serve the people of Chicago with integrity, honesty and fairness,” Sigcho-Lopez, a member of the Council's Progressive Reform Caucus, told the Sun-Times.
But his potential selection has some in the business community, as well as their Council allies, more than a little concerned.
Mitts told the Sun-Times in May that she had accepted Johnson’s offer to chair the Housing Committee, only to be told by senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee that the job had been promised to Ramirez-Rosa. At the time, Mitts said the double-cross left her “very stunned” and wondering who’s running the show.
“There’s no doubt about that — I’ve been bamboozled,” Mitts said.
On Monday, she was more accepting of the outcome -- which at least did not involve her being pushed aside for Ramirez-Rosa.
"I'm OK with it," she told the Sun-Times.
Johnson had responded to Mitts' rare public outburst in May by insisting he had not “made any commitment to anyone” about committee chairmanships, while laying the groundwork to restore Ramirez-Rosa to his Council leadership team.
“Ald. Ramirez-Rosa is a leader. He’s one of my strongest allies. What he has done in City Council over the course of his time is remarkable,” Johnson said then.
But Johnson continued to face behind-the-scenes backlash to restoring Ramirez-Rosa to a leadership post.
“He didn’t have the votes and he knew it, one alderperson, who asked to remain anonymous, said at the time.
And Mitts, for her part, had said she would oppose any effort to restore Ramirez-Rosa to Council leadership. Ramirez-Rosa had to apologize to Mitts in November for stepping over the line in a desperate attempt to prevent the Council from approving a non-binding referendum that would have allowed voters to weigh in on whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city. Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote that spared Ramirez-Rosa from censure.
He narrowly escaped censure over his conduct, but only after Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote to spare him. Ramirez-Rosa apologized on the Council floor. Mitts admonished him, but accepted the apology and a hug, then voted against censure. She has since had several private meetings with Ramirez-Rosa at Johnson’s request.
Ramirez-Rosa declined to comment on Monday, and Lee did not return phone calls or text messages.
Johnson’s decision to put Sigcho-Lopez, a progressive firebrand at the center of a flag-burning controversy, in charge of the Zoning Committee is certain to face a backlash from a development community that craves stability.
Jack Lavin, president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said picking Sigcho-Lopez would send a “negative signal to a business community.”
While his group supports "balance with environmental regulations," he said, "we need to set the rules, follow them and not move the goal posts. If we do that, then businesses can make their decisions on investments."
Businesses want clarity, Lavin said.
“Part of the concern is that we have environmental regulations. There’s rules on the books, but it seems like many of the community and environmental groups keep moving the goal posts. And given Ald. Sigcho-Lopez’s background, will he follow the rules put in place by the Illinois EPA, or will he move the goal posts?”
Downtown Ald. Bill Conway (34th) was similarly opposed. He called Sigcho-Lopez the wrong choice — a "divisive person" at a time when “we’re trying to take the temperature down” politically.
“Someone who stood with the group that was trying to disrupt the DNC and incite violence is somebody who is a divisive person,” Conway said. The zoning chair must show "predictability and ... a collaborative approach," Conway said. "Byron is neither of those things. We have a massive housing shortage in Chicago and we need somebody who is able to provide a predictive process so we can motivate investment in all areas of this city.”
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th) has been serving as interim Zoning chair since the Ramirez-Rosa resignation. But Ald. Monique Scott (24th) said she, for one, has no problem with the change, arguing the mayor was simply moving Sigcho-Lopez "from one committee chair to another."
"What's impactful about that? He's a sitting chairman now. If the Council had a problem with it, they would have spoken up when he was in front of the burning flag," Scott wrote in a text message Monday. Instead, "they were defending him when others and myself spoke out."
