Former mayoral challenger Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) on Wednesday asked Chicago’s Board of Ethics and inspector general to investigate Mayor Lori Lightfoot for accepting a $25,000 contribution from the owner of the Chicago Fire two months after she muscled through a zoning change allowing the soccer club to build an $80 million training center on Chicago Housing Authority land.
In a letter to IG Deborah Witzburg and Ethics Board Executive Director Steve Berlin, Lopez, who dropped his mayoral bid last week, said he believes the contribution from billionaire Joe Mansueto, founder and majority owner of Morningstar Inc., “represents a gross & familiar abuse of power and, at minimum, a potential violation” of the city’s ethics ordinance.
The letter specifically highlights the section of the ethics ordinance that prohibits a city official or candidate for office from accepting “anything of value, including but not limited to, a gift, favor or promise of future … employment based upon any mutual understanding, either explicit or implicit, that the votes, official actions, decisions or judgments of any official candidate for city office or city contractor concerning business of the city would be influenced thereby.”
“My concerns are just the perception of the impropriety of deals being made — public land being given away meant for housing — and the result being less than altruistic. This seems very much like typical Chicago way, pay-to-play politics that the mayor has railed against and ran against when she was elected,” Lopez told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“For a $25,000 donation to come less than two months after receiving 26 acres of public land is something that all of us deserve clarity on. … We need to know if this was a quid pro quo involving ... the use of CHA land to build this Chicago Fire training facility. The fact that the mayor had to bring back the Zoning Committee to undo a previous vote just so she could push it forward tells you how much pressure was put to make this deal go through. Now, we know why.”
Christina Freundlich, a spokesperson for the Lightfoot campaign, released a statement in response to Lopez’s demand.
“Government decision-making is firewalled from political campaign activities, and our team executes a rigorous vetting process on every contribution to ensure we have complied with all campaign finance rules and laws,” Freundlich said.
A Morningstar spokesperson who represents Mansueto referred questions to the Fire, whose spokesman had no immediate comment.
In late September, Lightfoot regrouped and won City Council passage of a zoning change — shot down in committee one day before — that allows the Fire to build an $80 million training center on CHA land on the Near West side formerly occupied by ABLA Homes.
The abrupt legislative about-face was stunning, even by Chicago standards.
Led by local Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), mayoral allies argued that the training facility would provide an economic boost for the area while adding soccer pitches for local youth. Critics countered that the nearly 26-acre site should be set aside for the CHA to meet its long-stalled commitment to building new units.
The spirited debate touched on everything from the CHA’s track record on delivering new housing to Mansueto’s $5 billion personal fortune and aldermanic prerogative over zoning.
“We are in the system where the alderman is the one who represents and knows what’s best, that he or she is the person that comes to this body, advocates for their communities and is expected to answer back to them,” Lopez argued on that day.
“That’s on each and every one of us to make that decision.”
The property is generally bounded by Roosevelt Road, Ashland Avenue, 14th Street and Loomis Street.
Besides paying $8 million upfront, the Fire will pay an annual rent to the CHA starting at almost $800,000, with increases in future years. The lease extends 40 years with two 10-year renewal options.
The Fire’s upfront payment will cover the estimated $4 million cost for environmental work needed at the property, according to CHA officials.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) argued then that the community “should be getting a lot more” from Mansueto, one of Chicago’s wealthiest business leaders.
Ald. Edward Burke (14th) responded with an account of Mansueto’s generosity in funding a charter high school in his ward.
After the Council meeting, Lightfoot, in rare alignment with Burke, praised the Fire for investing in the city and said Mansueto has heeded her call for Chicago’s business leaders to support needy communities.
The Chicago Sun-Times receives funding from the Mansueto Foundation.
The Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights said the CHA and a private developer, Related Midwest, have delivered just 245 of 775 promised units to date at the former ABLA site, now known as Roosevelt Square.
