Grande dame trio in charge of Chicago – now THERE’S a historic first

The Associated Press billed Monday’s inaugural as a “first black woman” being sworn in as mayor, while other news entities found ways to work either “gay” or “lesbian” into the headlines so as to justify the use of the word “historic.”

LIGHTFOOT: No. 55 in Chicago history

Yet the intriguing aspect that I think truly justifies considering this date historic, rather than just another political hack put into place, is the composition of our city government.

AS IN THE fact that our city’s mayor, treasurer and clerk are not only all women, but not quite so Anglo-oriented as people once would have thought possible.

We have, aside from Lightfoot as mayor, Anna Valencia as city clerk and Melissa Conyears-Ervin as city treasurer. As in an African-American woman, a Mexican-American woman and another African-American woman – to be specific.

The “old boys network” at City Hall is most definitely a thing of the past.

Unless they’re now going to be convening in that legendary (and most-definitely cliched) “smoke-filled room” and complaining in some 21^st Century version of the “He-Man Woman Hater’s Club” (remember the old Our Gang film shorts that continued to air for decades to come along with “The Three Stooges?).

VALENCIA: Getting clerk term in own right

FOR THE NEXT four years, it will be the women in charge around City Hall. Instead of the old variation of what was once considered diversity in city leadership – various ethnicities along the lines of the old New York political “Three I’s” structure (an Irishman, an Italian and someone of Israel – as in Jewish).

Not that it’s a total change. For in the case of Valencia, she already was Chicago city clerk. Her post was considered one belonging to Latinos (she’s of Mexican-American ethnic origins).

She took over the office when Susana Mendoza gave up the clerk’s post to become Illinois state comptroller in 2017, finishing up her city clerk term. The significance of this year’s municipal elections is that Valencia managed to win a four-year term as clerk in her own right.

 

CONYEARS-ERVIN: Returning to Chicago

Making her potentially the city government official with whom the typical city resident will have contact. It will be her name printed on all those city stickers that motorists are required to purchase if they wish to avoid being constantly ticketed by police while driving their cars around the city.

WHILE CONYEARS-ERVIN IS the one life-long resident of Chicago amongst the trio. Born on the South Side and raised on the West (the Austin neighborhood, to be exact), she was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Until she gave up her Springfield-based post to become a part of the city political structure proper. As opposed to Mendoza, who gave up her city post to become a part of the Statehouse-based Illinois political structure.

Conyears-Ervin will be in charge of the city entity that manages municipal monies and investments, along with pension funds for city employees and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Which will put her right in the middle of the financial morass that will wind up preoccupying much of Lightfoot’s time and attention. Lori Lightfoot may well get the blame (or praise) for whatever becomes of Chicago’s financial situation. But Conyears-Ervin may well wind up being the person who will suffer severe headaches trying to figure out the convoluted fiscal mess and what (if anything) can be done to fix it.

VALENCIA HAD THE easiest path to election – since she managed to get all her opponents knocked off the ballot. She ran unopposed. While Conyears-Ervin had to beat now-former alderman Amaya Pawar – who if he had won the April 2 run-off would have been the first Indian-American citywide official.

PAWAR: Historic in own right, or standing in way?

Although his victory would have been perceived as screwing up the grande dame scenario of female leadership at the top of Chicago. Which is what we’ll see through the spring of 2023.

I do find one aspect intriguing in that there are those of Chicago who insist one has to be native-born and raised to really belong here. But in the case of Lightfoot of Massillon, Ohio and Valencia of Granite City, Ill. (where the nearest big city is St. Louis), it would seem we’ve handed over our city’s leadership to outsiders.

Or at the very least, to people who came to Chicago later in life – and came to realize how wonderful the city could be, to the point where they’re not likely to want to leave.

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