Lightfoot will have ‘north of 30 votes’ for City Council reorganization plan, floor leader says

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will have “north of 30 votes” — and as many as 35 votes — to deliver the City Council leaders she has chosen and pass with flying colors the first test of her political muscle, two members of that leadership team said Friday.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36^th) is Lightfoot’s choice to chair the Economic Development Committee and double as the new mayor’s floor leader.

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19^th) earned the right to stay on as Aviation Chairman and preside over the $8.7 billion O’Hare Airport expansion after delivering the biggest vote totals in the city for Lightfoot.

On Friday, both men dismissed behind-the-scenes chatter about putting Lightfoot’s City Council reorganization plan in jeopardy by forcing a separate vote on the new mayor’s controversial selection of Ald. Scott Waguespack (32^nd) to serve as Finance Committee chairman.

When the City Council meets Wednesday, there will be one vote on Lightfoot’s carefully crafted lineup and it won’t even be close, both aldermen said.

“It’ll be north of 30 [votes]”, Villegas told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“There’ll be 35,” O’Shea said.

If Lightfoot’s critics could somehow manage to force a separate vote on Waguespack, things could get dicey.

Waguespack is not popular with his colleagues, who view him as a cross between a holier-than-thou know-it-all and a chronic naysayer who, Ald. Anthony Beale (9^th) has said, doesn’t “work well in the sandbox with others.”

For daring to speak out against Waguespack and lead a movement against him, Beale found himself without a seat in the political version of musical chairs.

On Friday, O’Shea advised Waguespack to “change his demeanor a little bit. Be willing to work more with people. Not be so outspoken at times.”

“It’s OK to disagree. You just can’t be disagreeable. Sometimes that applies. I respect Scott. Sharp guy. Does his research. [But] sometimes the way he goes about it” rubs people the wrong way, O’Shea said.

Villegas diplomatically advised Waguespack to stop preaching and start listening.

“Before, you were on the outside. Now, you’re on the inside. Now, you’ve got to take into consideration all of your colleagues’ thoughts the same way you had ideas that maybe went on deaf ears,” Villegas said.

“Come in with an open mind. Listen to your colleagues.”

Within hours of taking office, Lightfoot signed an executive order stripping aldermen of their absolute power over licenses and permits in their wards.

She’s also promising to introduce an ordinance removing the virtually iron-fisted control that aldermen have over zoning in their wards.

The unwritten rule known as aldermanic prerogative is at the heart of the attempted extortion charge against deposed Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke and virtually every one of the 30 aldermanic conviction since the 1970s.

Villegas and O’Shea said Lightfoot’s executive order will change nothing about the way aldermen go about their business.

They still plan to contact department heads to weigh in on licensing and permits — and protect their wards from bad businesses.

They couldn’t care less that Lightfoot’s executive order requires those same department heads to document aldermanic contacts in a report to the mayor every 60 days.

“I look at my job as an advocate for my community. If there’s an issue that I feel is a public safety concern or I feel needs to get done immediately, I’m gonna call . . . whoever I have to call in order to get it done,” Villegas said.

“Codify it any way they want. I’m there to represent my community, and I’m gonna try to get whatever needs to be done done.”

O’Shea said he, too, plans to keep doing what he has always done.

“It’s incumbent upon aldermen not only to be advocating for the residents of our community but also communicating with department heads,” he said.

Earlier this week, Lightfoot launched her history-making administration with a shot across the bow at aldermen whose support she needs to solve Chicago’s financial crisis.

Lightfoot’s decision to turn and almost demand that aldermen get out of their seats and join the cheering audience in a standing ovation embarrassed and infuriated aldermen.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15^th), an ally of Burke, has warned that Lightfoot will pay a price down the road for the strident tone of her inaugural address.

O’Shea disagreed. But, he said, “It felt like there were 10,000 people looking at me with a spotlight on me. It wasn’t the most comfortable feeling….It was a little uncomfortable. I was glad my wife was next to me for that.”

Villegas characterized Lightfoot’s inaugural address as her “final campaign speech.” Implied, but not stated, was that it was anything but an opening speech to start governing the city.