Determined to avoid another embarrassing City Council defeat, Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday pulled the plug on progressive firebrand Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) as Zoning Committee chair, and instead threw his support behind Vice-Mayor and City Council dean Walter Burnett (27th) for the post.
Johnson abandoned a fight he could not win after Sigcho-Lopez openly acknowledged he did not have the votes to be confirmed as zoning chair, despite months of lobbying by the mayor. Instead, Johnson turned to Burnett, widely seen as pro-development.
“A lot of developers and people with money interests in the city want me to be the zoning chair because they know I’m fair and they know I’m pro-development and they’ve worked with me. I’ve been working with folks for 30 years,” Burnett told the Sun-Times.
Major developers he refused to name were “calling people asking them not to vote for Sigcho-Lopez,” putting alderpersons in a difficult position and Johnson in a political vise, Burnett said.
“I offered him an alternative. I said, ‘I’m wiling to take one for the team. I really don’t want to do this.’ … It’s a lot of work,” Burnett added. “But I told him I was willing to help.”
The Zoning Committee has been without a permanent chair for more than a year. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), was forced to resign that post after being accused of bullying colleagues in an attempt to block a Council vote on a non-binding resolution allowing voters their say in whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.
With “two options that he trusts that are working with the administration,” Sigcho-Lopez said Johnson’s choice is Burnett and, “I’ll support the choice of the mayor to carry that agenda.”
Sigcho-Lopez said three Latino Caucus members — Andre Vasquez (40th), Felix Cardona (31st) and Gilbert Villegas (36th) — can “blame themselves” for denying Johnson the chance to choose a Latino Zoning chair.
Vasquez laughed off the allegation.
“A majority of the Latino Caucus does not support Ald. Sigcho-Lopez. I would not assign blame to a whole caucus if a majority has a concern about one person. Different people have different reasons,” Vasquez said.
As for Burnett, Vasquez said, “ It’s less drama for everybody. … Walter understands zoning more than most and it doesn’t cause any drama.”
Villegas said Sigcho-Lopez “never had the votes.” The Latino Caucus was not united behind him for good reason: “He is someone that’s just a firebrand who doesn’t know how to build consensus. He’s too extreme.”
The Rules Committee is expected to meet Monday to vote on Burnett .
Ramirez-Rosa confirmed with the mayor’s staff that Johnson had thrown in the towel on Sigcho-Lopez. He said he believed Burnett has “the policy chops. And I think he will be a very effective zoning chair.”
For months, Johnson tried desperately to overcome steadfast opposition from business and labor leaders by pairing the Sigcho-Lopez promotion with Burnett as Housing Committee chair. It didn’t work.
Business and labor leaders who crave predictability were determined to stop Sigcho-Lopez, whom they feared would move the goal posts on development and environmental issues to press his social agenda.
They rallied behind a compromise candidate: Cardona. He told the Sun-Times earlier this month he had the votes to win the powerful job, with or without the mayor’s acquiescence, and advised Johnson to back off to avoid an embarrassing political defeat.
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jack Lavin said Friday he’s relieved Johnson abandoned Sigcho-Lopez in favor of Burnett, with whom the business community has a “longstanding good working relationship.”
“He has a history of … being balanced to bring development forward in his ward. He can do that for the whole city. It takes balance, working relationships, collaboration,” Lavin said.
Cardona said he has not yet decided whether to challenge Burnett.
“You’ll find out,” Cardona said. “I like Walter. It’s a great alternate. But that seat belongs to a Latino. It should have stayed within the Latino Caucus. But the mayor has different agendas and he knows Walter is a safe bet,”
Sigcho-Lopez survived an effort to remove him as Housing Committee chair for appearing at a City Hall rally where an American flag was burned to protest U.S. support for Israel. Opposition to him only hardened since then, stemming from his participation in anti-Israel rallies during the Democratic National Convention , and photos that surfaced on social media showing him among those attempting to disrupt the convention.
Southwest Side Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) also led the charge against Sigcho-Lopez, who is pushing an accessory dwelling ordinance Quinn fears will destroy the character of Chicago’s bungalow belt and undermine the unwritten rule known as “aldermanic prerogative.”
Sigcho-Lopez supports a version of that ordinance that would allow two investor-owned accessory dwelling units per block each year. Those units would not have to be owner-occupied. No community input or aldermanic oversight would be required.
On Friday, Quinn said he wants to talk to Burnett about “his position on ADUs” before committing to support him.