There’s a joke among municipal government nerds that goes something like this: A guy’s running for treasurer and he goes to lunch with a bunch of business people who ask him all sorts of questions about how he’ll invest pension funds and manage the city’s cash flow. He says, “Wait a minute, I’m running for treasurer, not deputy treasurer!”
Still, Belsky says there’s a benefit to the city when the treasurer takes a more public role, even if it’s mostly symbolic. “It’s a citywide elected official and the job is financial in nature,” he says. “It certainly is a value to taxpayers to have someone who is willing to suggest ideas, engage in the debate on the city’s finances. It’s really up to the person who’s in the office: They could just simply sit there and follow the statutes and go to pension fund meetings and vote. Or they could come up with creative ways to use the city’s dollars to promote economic development, promote financial literacy.”
Daley’s next pick for the job was trusted ally Judith Rice, who sailed through an uncontested election in 2003 and unexpectedly resigned in 2006. After that, Daley appointed Stephanie Neely, who left the job for the private sector in 2014. Emanuel picked Summers as her successor.
“It’s important that we leverage the office of city treasurer to help working families,” Conyears-Ervin said on the phone from Springfield last week. “One of the first things I’m going to work on is to bring in the CEOs of financial institutions and we’re gonna make certain that we speak to them and I expect a plan for the unbanked and underbanked population.”
On the way to a campaign appearance with the striking Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians last week, Pawar took offense to the insinuation that there was something improper about Epstein’s work with his office. “We went to grad school together, wrote a book together, we’ve worked together . . . she’s my best friend,” Pawar said, claiming that their romantic relationship developed after she left the job in the early months of 2014. (The two were married in December of that year.) The alderman also expressed disappointment that his opponent has repeatedly emphasized that she’s the only candidate born and raised in Chicago, saying that such statements are part of a “coded language” that’s “playing on the existing black and brown divide.”
The alderman denies that these ties discredit his progressive bona fides, and said that his relationship with Sacks developed “because we see eye to eye on student loans and affordable housing.” He also cited endorsements from U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Mike Quigley, and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, both the Tribune and Sun-Times, and several progressive-leaning aldermen.
