Chicago City Wire

As much as he is supportive of the idea of Chicago voters having the chance to drastically reduce the size of the now 50-member City Council, Chris Robling says he questions how sincere a current proposal to do that really is, considering its source.

Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Daley, whose brother and father combined to control City Hall and Chicago politics for more than four decades, recently proposed trimming the number of Council members to 15, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. 

“Frankly, reducing the size of the City Council and increasing the attention on the individual aldermen is probably one of the best things we can do,” Robling, a Republican political strategist, told Chicago City Wire. “The City Council is a den of corruption. It has one of the highest conviction rates in the country for legislative bodies.”

Robling argues the Daley family’s contribution to that kind of environment cannot be overlooked or denied.

“Bill Daley is part of the system that created (federally indicted Chicago Ald. Ed) Burke, Daly is part of the system that created (Ald. Daniel) Solis, Daley is part of the system that created the current imbalances in our entire activity, Daley has not helped and Daley’s brother made things worse. I don’t see that Daley is coming forward with a compelling program to straighten out the problems of the city of Chicago,” he said.

Daley’s proposal ultimately calls for a citywide referendum to be placed on the 2020 ballot that would allow voters to decide.

Again, Robling said, he is skeptical about how serious Daley might truly be.

“I think that the only serious candidate in the field for mayor is Paul Vallas,” he said. “I think that all the other ones are posturing. I think that Daley has no new ideas that are equal to the task of reforming Chicago except maybe for this one.”