Many of us missed an important story: In late September, Walter Redmond Burnett, son of longtime Ald. Walter Burnett, Jr. (27th), replaced his father on the City Council.
While the younger Burnett has strong credentials, the appointment process raises serious concerns. His father, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s vice mayor, stepped down midterm, allowing Johnson to appoint a successor. The mayor quietly assembled a selection committee, consisting of Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), an ally of Burnett, Jr.’s, and three others, all of whom either donated to Burnett Jr.’s campaign or were paid by it, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data. The group met in a closed room and proceeded to recommend his son from a field of seven applicants.
This process lacked transparency and community input. There were no public hearings and the applicants’ resumes were tucked away on a relatively unknown website without any suggestions box.
CHANGE Illinois proposes an alternative process that would maintain appointment by the mayor, while making it community-centered. This procedure would hinge on an independent selection of committee members. After the committee is selected, several public hearings — similar to the ones held in the independent ward mapping process commissioned by CHANGE Illinois — should be scheduled. The hearings should take place at different times, and include virtual options, with broad language access. Notices should also be provided via email lists from the outgoing alderperson, social media and other methods.
The public feedback should be taken into serious consideration by the commission, which can then recommend two applicants, from which the mayor can choose one.
Once the mayor makes the selection, he or she would provide a written statement of the rationale behind the decision. Likewise, the commission would produce a report on the entire process, including committee selection, public comment received and the process of choosing finalists. Such a report should be made public within 60 days of the appointee being seated.
We urge the City Council to consider an appointment process that centers on community input and transparency, and we welcome discussions. Chicagooans should be able to choose who is responsible for their neighborhoods, and in the current process, that does not happen. The government must proactively reach out to the people, not the other way around.
We wish Walter Redmond Burnett the best, and hope that voters will have the opportunity to elect him in a fair and open election soon.
Eli Brottman, policy director, CHANGE Illinois and the CHANGE Illinois Action Fund
Democratic socialists aren’t the problem
Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist running for mayor in New York City, is just a Democrat. People don’t realize that when a party like the GOP becomes alt- right fascist, even a centrist Democrat seems far left.
I would venture to say that even a Republican hero like Ronald Reagan would be getting a shellacking from Donald Trump if he was still alive. Trump would also call Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic hero who saved us from Hitler’s tyranny, a left-wing socialist radical and an enemy of the state who should to be jailed.
We are where we are today because of the Stephen Millers, Steve Bannons, Laura Loomers and other MAGA loyalists who are advising the president. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these types have signed copies of “Mein Kampf” sitting at their bedsides.
So let’s not be afraid of democratic socialists. Before Trump, they were just called independents.
Louis De Rosa Jr., Westchester