Reform embraced in mayor’s race

CHICAGO — Reform is not a concept usually embraced by Chicago politicians known for their patronage, but after corruption charges were filed against a powerful alderman and a court got involved in overseeing the city’s troubled police department, the word is now on the lips of the 14 candidates running for mayor.

Those looking to succeed retiring Mayor Rahm Emanuel include veteran politicians— some with legacy ties — businessmen, former prosecutors and community activists. The Feb. 26 election will almost certainly lead to a runoff: If none of the candidates receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off April 2. Although a nonpartisan election, most of the candidates have links to the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has virtually disappeared from the city.

The variety of candidates reflects the many issues facing Chicago’s next mayor: poor neighborhoods in need of investment, overwhelming pension debt, low-performing public schools and a crime rate that is often pointed to as among the nation’s worst.

But the issue taking center stage is the need to change how business is conducted at City Hall. For some that means an end to pay-to-play, paying off influential politicians in order to do business in the city.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas has taken to showing up at events with a broom, saying it’s part of his mission of “sweeping corruption out of City Hall.”

“There’s nothing Chicago politicians fear more than this broom,” Vallas said in a campaign ad that shows him sweeping cash off the floor of City Hall.

Nothing crystallized the reform issue like the federal fraud charges filed last month against powerful Democratic alderman Edward Burke, a 50-year veteran and former chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee. Authorities said a wiretap on Burke’s cellphone captured him pressuring executives of a fast-food chain to hire his law firm in exchange for help with permits to renovate a restaurant.