Referendum battle showcases tension between Mayor Johnson and City Council
<p>A meeting Wednesday to determine what advisory referendums get on the November and February ballots turned into a legislative spitball fight that showcased mounting tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and an emboldened City Council.</p><p>The same renegade bloc of conservative Democrats that rejected Johnson’s corporate head tax in favor of an alternative budget rammed through their own carefully crafted ballot questions. But not before a contentious back-and-forth between the warring factions that saw the mayor appear to lose his cool.</p><p>It happened during debate about a February ballot question that seeks to ask Chicago voters whether the City Council should have its own legal counsel.</p><p>After a friendly question from mayoral ally Ald.
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<p>A meeting Wednesday to determine what advisory referendums get on the November and February ballots turned into a legislative spitball fight that showcased mounting tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and an emboldened City Council.</p><p>The same renegade bloc of conservative Democrats that rejected Johnson’s corporate head tax in favor of an alternative budget rammed through their own carefully crafted ballot questions. But not before a contentious back-and-forth between the warring factions that saw the mayor appear to lose his cool.</p><p>It happened during debate about a February ballot question that seeks to ask Chicago voters whether the City Council should have its own legal counsel.</p><p>After a friendly question from mayoral ally Ald. Lamont Robinson (4th), Johnson stressed that “for an independent legal counsel to exist, the state of Illinois would have to provide the authority.”</p><p>That’s when Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), who chairs the Hispanic Caucus and co-chairs the Progressive Caucus, appeared to get under the mayor’s skin.</p><p>“I’m having a problem with the framing of, `This can’t be a question because the state would need to make changes,’“ Vasquez said.</p><p>Johnson replied, “The body cannot establish its own independent legal counsel without the authority being granted by the state of Illinois.
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- What's the story?
- <p>A meeting Wednesday to determine what advisory referendums get on the November and February ballots turned into a legislative spitball fight that showcased mounting tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and an emboldened City Council.</p><p>The same renegade bloc of conservative Democrats that rejected Johnson’s corporate head tax in favor of an alternative budget rammed through their own carefully crafted ballot questions. But not before a contentious back-and-forth between the warring factions that saw the mayor appear to lose his cool.</p><p>It happened during debate about a February ballot question that seeks to ask Chicago voters whether the City Council should have its own legal counsel.</p><p>After a friendly question from mayoral ally Ald.
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Referendum battle showcases tension between Mayor Johnson and City Council
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