THE PRICE WE PAY FOR THE CHICAGO WAY
What is it about the Chicago Way that so many public officials go down that crooked road that leads to prison? Is it something in the water? Let’s not blame Lake Michigan.
Thursday’s federal indictment of former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who is accused of steering $23 million in contracts to a consulting firm in return for kickbacks, points to at least one more credible explanation— overly centralized political power.
When positions of authority and accountability in government are dominated by the hand-picked designees of one man— in Chicago’s case, the mayor— essential checks and balances against public corruption are greatly weakened.
Consider this sequence of events:
In October 2012, Byrd-Bennett was hand-picked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to be CEO of the public schools.
Byrd-Bennett’s appointment was approved by Mayor Emanuel’s hand-picked school board.
On the same day the mayor’s hand-picked board signed off on his hand-picked CEO, the board also awarded a $2 million no-bid contract to Byrd-Bennett’s hand-picked education consulting firm, SUPES Academy.
Did the board have reason to question that no-bid contract? You bet. The board has reason to question every no-bid contract.
But more specifically, just weeks earlier a nonprofit group, the Chicago Public Education Fund, had declined to fund SUPES for that very same purpose— to train school managers— despite entreaties from Byrd-Bennett. The Fund was not convinced it would be money well spent.
Unfortunately, hand-picked boards do not challenge hand-picked CEOs. That’s the point of picking by hand. And so the Great SUPES Hustle began. One safeguard against such institutional abdications of responsibility is a good inspector general. It was, in fact, former CPS inspector general James Sullivan, prompted in large part by a Catalyst Chicago news story, who first dug into the SUPES contracts. Not for nothing do we regularly call on other public bodies, such as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and the Chicago City Council, to hire an independent inspector general or upgrade an IG’s powers.
But specifically in the case of the Chicago Public Schools, we support another good-government reform that could have made a difference — switch to a partially elected school board. We favor a board in which a majority of members are appointed by the mayor, so that one elected official remains ultimately accountable, but also includes a minority of elected members. It would be a more independent board, more likely to ask uncomfortable questions.
A third bulwark against public corruption, of course, is an aggressive U.S. attorney in Chicago. U.S. attorneys here have been dispatching crooked Illinois public servants to prison for decades. So it’s good to see Zachary Fardon stepping up his game with this 23-count indictment against Byrd-Bennett.
But the damage is done. In the wake of Thursday’s indictment, CPS will have a tougher time than ever getting $480 million in pension help from the state Legislature and Gov. Rauner. As Ald. Will Burns told a Sun-Times reporter, “If you’re a Downstater or suburban legislator who hates Chicago, this confirms why you don’t like Chicago.”
And every parent who is still furious that the school board shut down 50 neighborhood schools in 2013— largely to save money— will be incensed to see that Byrd-Bennett pushed through a $20.5 million no-bid contract for SUPES just one month later. With kickbacks, allegedly, to follow.
We pay a high price in this town for the Chicago Way.
Money flies out the window. And so does trust.
It’s good to see Zachary Fardon stepping up his game with this 23-count indictment against Byrd-Bennett.