Chicago City Council

The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The Chicago City Council is gaveled into session regularly (usually monthly) to consider ordinances, orders, and resolutions whose subject matter includes traffic code changes, utilities, taxes, and many other issues. The council, in conjunction with the Mayor of Chicago, hears recommendations from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and then may grant individual properties Chicago Landmark status. The presiding officer of the Chicago City Council is the Mayor of Chicago. The secretary is the City Clerk of Chicago. Both positions are popularly elected offices.

The Chicago City Council chambers are located in Chicago City Hall. Also located in the building are the downtown offices of the individual aldermen and staff.

Between 1972 and 2009, a total of 30 Chicago aldermen were indicted and convicted of federal crimes such as bribery, extortion, embezzlement, conspiracy, mail fraud and income tax evasion. Three additional aldermen were indicted for similar offenses but two died before federal prosecutors could bring them to trial and one, Anthony Laurino (39th) was too sick to stand trial.^[1]

Chicago aldermen

The last election was held in 2011, with new members being sworn in on May 16, 2011.

Ward	Name	First elected	Party
1	Proco Joe Moreno	2010*	Democratic
2	Bob Fioretti	2007	Democratic
3	Pat Dowell	2007	Democratic
4	Will Burns	2011	Democratic
5	Leslie Hairston	1999	Democratic
6	Roderick Sawyer	2011	Democratic
7	Sandi Jackson	2007	Democratic
8	Michelle A. Harris	2006*	Democratic
9	Anthony Beale	1999	Democratic
10	John Pope	1999	Democratic
11	James Balcer	1997*	Democratic
12	George Cardenas	2003	Democratic
13	Marty Quinn	2011	Democratic
14	Ed Burke	1969	Democratic
15	Toni Foulkes	2007	Democratic
16	Joann Thompson	2007	Democratic
17	Latasha Thomas	2000*	Democratic
18	Lona Lane	2006*	Democratic
19	Matthew O'Shea	2011	Democratic
20	Willie Cochran	2007	Democratic
21	Howard Brookins Jr.	2003	Democratic
22	Ricardo Muñoz	1993*	Democratic
23	Michael Zalewski	1995	Democratic
24	Michael Chandler	2011	Democratic
25	Daniel Solis	1996*	Democratic
26	Roberto Maldonado	2009*	Democratic
27	Walter Burnett, Jr.	1995	Democratic
28	Jason Ervin	2011*	Democratic
29	Deborah L. Graham	2010*	Democratic
30	Ariel Reboyras	2003	Democratic
31	Ray Suarez	1991	Democratic
32	Scott Waguespack	2007	Democratic
33	Richard Mell	1975	Democratic
34	Carrie Austin	1994*	Democratic
35	Rey Colón	2003	Democratic
36	Nicholas Sposato	2011	Democratic
37	Emma Mitts	2000*	Democratic
38	Timothy Cullerton	2011*	Democratic
39	Margaret Laurino	1994*	Democratic
40	Patrick J. O'Connor	1983	Democratic
41	Mary O'Connor	2011	Democratic
42	Brendan Reilly	2007	Democratic
43	Michele Smith	2011	Democratic
44	Thomas M. Tunney	2002*	Democratic
45	John Arena	2011	Democratic
46	James Cappleman	2011	Democratic
47	Ameya Pawar	2011	Democratic
48	Harry Osterman	2011	Democratic
49	Joe Moore	1991	Democratic
50	Debra Silverstein	2011	Democratic

* Year of appointment, not first election

See also

Chicago portal

• Council Wars, a period of conflict within the City Council

References

1. ^ Gradel, Thomas J.; Simpson, Dick; Zimelis, Andris (2009-02-03) (PDF). Curing Corruption In Illinois: Anti-Corruption Report #1. University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Political Science. http://www.uic.edu/depts/pols/ChicagoPolitics/Anti-corruptionReport.pdf. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 

External links

• City of Chicago
• Map of Chicago Wards (PDF) - City of Chicago
• Chicago City Council
• Office of the City Clerk (with links to legislative agendas and other information about the council)
• Chicago City Council Journal of Proceedings directory
• The Chicago Reader guide to the City Council, including brief biographies of all fifty aldermen
• "The Untold Stories of Alderman Don Parrillo" By Anthony DeBartolo | Hyde Park Media
• Journal of the City Council of the City of Chicago 1908