City Council member angered by game of musical committee chairs

Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) said Tuesday she accepted Mayor Brandon Johnson’s offer to chair the City Council’s Housing Committee, only to be told by a top mayoral aide the job she covets has been promised to Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), who was forced out of Council leadership after bullying and intimidating her.

Ramirez-Rosa resigned as Johnson’s floor leader and Zoning Committee chair after apologizing for stepping over the line in a desperate attempt to prevent the Council from approving a non-binding referendum that would have allowed voters to weigh in on whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.

He survived what would have been the City Council’s first censure of one of its own members only after Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote.

Mitts said the mayor asked her about a month ago to take over the Housing Committee, now chaired by Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th). At the time, Johnson said he was planning to move Sigcho-Lopez to Zoning and wanted Mitts to replace Sigcho-Lopez.

Sigcho-Lopez subsequently managed to survive 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.

A 24-year Council veteran, Mitts jumped at the chance to take over the Housing Committee and spearhead construction of housing that has eluded her impoverished West Side ward.

She was counting on the mayor to deliver on his offer — until Tuesday. That’s when she got a call from senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee, who told Mitts the Latino Caucus “didn’t want to lose what they already had.”

If Sigcho-Lopez was moving up to Zoning, they wanted another Latino to replace him as Housing chair and Johnson wanted that Latino to be Ramirez-Rosa, Mitts quoted Lee as saying.

Lee did not return repeated phone calls about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering. The mayor’s office had no immediate comment.

Mitts said the double-cross left her “very stunned” and wondering who’s running the show.

“There’s no doubt about that — I’ve been bamboozled,” Mitts said.

“The mayor asked me and he never came back and told me [otherwise]. I had no knowledge of what was going on. That’s sort of like a back-door slap. … I don’t think I should be used as a pawn here.”

The fact that the job she covets could be going to the colleague who bullied and intimidated her adds insult to injury, Mitts said.

“What you’re doing is [saying], 'We forgot about this. We’ll move the pieces around and we’ll still put Carlos in. We’ll just put him in another place,’“ Mitts said.

“If that was the case, why did the mayor ask me to take Housing? Where did the change come up and why wasn’t I included? Why didn’t the mayor come back and say, `I’ve had a change of mind.’ But don’t tell me somebody else caused the mayor to change his mind. Who’s running the city?”

Ramirez-Rosa did not return repeated phone calls or text messages.

Mitts said the apparent change of heart by the mayor’s office was a head-scratcher.

“If there was someone on my team who caused an embarrassment to me, I certainly wouldn’t try to reward them for it,” she said.

“I don’t think I’ve been treated fairly. I don’t believe the respect has been there for even believing in any way that it was right of him preventing me from coming into the City Council. Apparently, they didn’t feel that he did anything wrong. Only my colleagues and myself feel like that was wrong. … Where do you come off putting your hands on someone, holding them. That’s wrong.”

According to Mitts, Lee tried to explain away the change, saying Johnson was trying to make as few changes in Council leadership as possible.

The question now is whether or not Johnson would have the votes he needs to install Sigcho-Lopez as Zoning chair and Ramirez-Rosa as Housing chair.

“I don’t know if he’ll have the votes. But I know one vote he ain’t gonna have,” Mitts said, referring to her own vote.

Ald. David Moore (17th) said he, too, was adamantly opposed to restoring Ramirez-Rosa to Council leadership.

“We voted that he should not be in a leadership role for his actions. You don’t get rewarded for that bad behavior. ... Not in a million years,” Moore said. “That’s a slap in the face to the residents of Chicago and to the City Council.”

Sigcho-Lopez said he has “talked to the mayor and other Council members” about becoming Zoning chair and he is “open to serve the city of Chicago in whatever capacity is needed."

He branded those who might try to use the flag-burning controversy to oppose his promotion as knee-jerk obstructionists who should be called, "the new Vrdolyak 29."

He was referring to Council Wars, the bitter 1980's power struggle in which a mostly-white coalition, led by then-Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, tried to thwart Mayor Harold Washington's every move.