Even before the April runoff election finalized the membership of the new City Council, veteran aldermen have been engaged in another, far less public, campaign: Lobbying for premier office space at City Hall.
All members of the City Council are provided an office on the second or third floor of City Hall, but the size and amenities of the spaces vary widely. The standard office has a small reception area and a private side room. Other offices, especially those held by veteran, clout-heavy aldermen, have multiple chambers, extra storage spaces and exterior windows.
Placement is usually determined by seniority and committee chairmanships and competition for the plushest digs can be heated, according to current and former aldermen. Committee assignments for the new council will be decided at Wednesday’s council meeting, the first of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s tenure.
Ald. Daniel Solis (25th Ward), who chairs the Committee on Zoning, said he has heard stories of aldermen vying for larger offices.
“It’s like, ‘How big is your office compared to me? How much seniority do I have? Do I have a window?’ You know, things like that,” Solis said of the jockeying.
Freddrenna Lyle, who joined the Council in 1998 and lost her 6th Ward seat to Roderick Sawyer in the April runoff, said offices with outside-facing windows are among the most coveted. Committee chairs have also argued with each other about larger spaces, Lyle said.
“There’s some egomaniacal requests once in awhile,” Lyle said.
Lyle’s City Hall office includes a storage room that most of the offices lack. She said she began locking the door to her second floor office after becoming a lame duck because covetous colleagues had been sneaking in to scout it.
The location of an office is also taken into account by aldermen, Solis said. While he thinks his office on the third floor is a little cramped, Solis said he is happy with its spot next to the office of the Committee on Finance, which is chaired by powerful Ald. Edward Burke (14th).
“It’s always good to be right next to the chairman of Finance,” Solis said. “He’s an influential guy and has a lot of knowledge. People do go to him when they have issues that he may be helpful with.”
Though longevity and committee placement largely govern office assignments, Lyle said that at least under Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration, loyalty played a role, too.
“Seniority has nothing to do with it,” Lyle said. “It has something to do with whether you’re a team player.”
Lyle pointed to Daley’s decision in 2009 to give former Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) her first committee chairmanship in her 22-year tenure. Shiller, who just retired from the council, regularly voted against Daley’s budget proposals before siding with the mayor later in her career. Shiller received one of the prime window offices after her committee appointment.
Lyle said aldermen will put in a request for a specific office to veteran Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), who chairs the Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics, which handles office assignments. New aldermen, however, have little say in the decision-making process, Lyle said, adding that her first office was a “broom closet.”
“Whatever they get, they’re happy” with it, Lyle said.
Recently retired Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48th) said when Daley appointed her in 1989, she was assigned a small space between former aldermen Bill Beavers (7th) and Robert Shaw (9th), both of whom she said packed heat to work and smoked.
“On either side of me I had chain-smokers who both carried guns,” Smith said. “There was no ventilation, and my office was always in a cloud of smoke from the two of them, and I was always like, ‘Oh man, I hope they don’t get mad at each other someday.’’
