Chicago mayor gets first reforms through City Council

CHICAGO – Mayor Lori Lightfoot has begun implementing reform to Chicago’s City Hall.

During her first time chairing a City Council meeting, Lightfoot got aldermen to go along with her picks to chair council committees that will vote on key parts of her agenda. The aldermen also approved new operating rules proposed by Lightfoot designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

Lightfoot campaigned for mayor as a reformer, making known her intent to curb aldermanic power and push for ethics reforms.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Lightfoot skirmished with an alderman who complained her proposed rules used the pronoun “he,” adding they should be gender neutral. Lightfoot cut him off. When rose to make another concern, she said she will call on him “when I want to hear from you.”

The alderman, Edward Burke, is facing federal attempted extortion charges.