Matt Martin and Michael Negron, both candidates that advanced to a runoff in Chicago’s Ward 47 alderman race, completed Ballotpedia’s special Chicago candidate survey, which was developed with input from more than 100 Chicagoans.
Martin and Negron will face one another in a runoff election to serve as Ward 47 alderman on April 2 since neither earned a majority in their race on Tuesday when Chicago held elections for mayor, city clerk, city treasurer, and all 50 alderman positions.
Ballotpedia’s special Chicago candidate survey was developed in partnership with the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Interactivity Foundation, and City Bureau.
Read their responses to one of our questions below:
Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
Matt Martin: “Recent news has confirmed that there is corruption in Chicago politics. Our city government badly needs reform. We must ban secondary employment to eliminate conflicts of interest that mired Alderman Ed Burke’s property tax firm. The City Council should not be immune to inspection, opening itself to audits and investigations by the Inspector General. There should also be term limits for Committee Chairs to ensure no one alderman is too powerful, such as the Finance and Zoning Committees that Aldermen Burke and Solis, respectively, oversaw. I also support reforming aldermanic prerogative so that individual aldermen do not have an inordinate amount of power over the developments that affect their constituents.”
Michael Negron: “The recent Alderman Ed Burke scandal epitomizes everything that people hate about Chicago government. If Ald. Ed Burke and Ald. Willie Cochran are convicted, then we will have seen 35 aldermen convicted of corruption-related crimes committed while on their official duties since 1972. That’s a conviction every 14 months!
We need to view this as an opportunity to make big reforms. We can’t simply rely on electing new people and hope for the best. We need to change the rules.
That’s why I support prohibiting aldermen from having side jobs so they focus on their jobs full time. We need to limit aldermanic privilege when it comes to zoning and permits to remove the temptation to shake people down. I support expanding the authority of the inspector general over the City Council, and establishing the public financing of elections. We should also strengthen independent budget office, and take a real look at term limits.”
Two candidates in the Ward 47 race who did not advance to the runoff election, Jeff Jenkins and Angie Maloney, also completed the survey. Five other candidates who did not complete the survey also ran unsuccessfully in the race.
The Ward 47 race is one of five Chicago alderman elections in 2019 without an incumbent competing, making it an open-seat contest. Of the other four open-seat alderman races, only the Ward 22 race was decided outright in the general election. Nicole Johnson in Ward 20 and Byron Sigcho-Lopez in Ward 25, who are both candidates in open-seat races, each completed the survey and advanced to the runoff election. Their opponents, Jeanette Taylor in Ward 20 and Alex Acevedo in Ward 25, have not yet completed the survey.
Ballotpedia is contacting all Chicago candidates competing in the April 2 runoff to encourage them to fill out the survey in order to share their views with voters.