A 6 1/2-year, multimillion dollar legal battle over the city’s ward map was boiled down to some simple, if brutal, essentials Monday as both sides came to an agreement in the complicated case.
A politically potent Southwest Side ward was the winner–untouchable when it came to drawing new lines. But a neighboring ward, and its less-than-influential alderman, was the clear loser.
And the City of Chicago, backed into a corner by a federal judge, finally agreed to make a few adjustments in ward boundaries that should give the 18th Ward a black alderman in 1999, raising the number of black wards to 20.
The tentative accord produced this odd scene Monday: Six months before aldermanic elections, 18th Ward Ald. Thomas Murphy came to City Hall a bit dazed, with tears in his eyes, to deliver what for all practical purposes was a concession speech.
He hadn’t lost an election, but he had lost his ward. Murphy, in the new map, resides in the 13th Ward.
“I do not wish to be portrayed as someone who stood in the way of minority voting rights,” said Murphy, his wife, Patsy, standing behind him. “Since my election in 1991, I have worked to bridge the racial gap in our ward by bringing people together. The last thing I want is a divisive racial fight which would undo all the good that has been accomplished over the last seven years.”
If approved by U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo on Friday, as expected, the agreement would end a battle that may ultimately cost the city more than $20 million in legal bills.
A key result: The politically powerful 19th Ward, which includes the Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood, remains unchanged. That should please not only Ald. Ginger Rugai but also Beverly residents who had feared the loss of property values and clout.
The agreement was worked out over the weekend after Bucklo issued a ruling on Friday that gave city attorneys five days to come up with a new map that added a black ward.
If they failed to do so, Bucklo said she would accept a map submitted by the plaintiffs that would have split off the east end of the 19th Ward, a majority white ward, and moved it into the predominantly black 21st Ward. That plan was vehemently opposed by Beverly politicians and residents who argued that it would prompt white flight and ruin an integrated neighborhood.
Bucklo’s ruling gave the plaintiffs considerable leverage going into this weekend’s negotiations. As of Sunday afternoon, however, the two sides remained at an impasse after the city submitted a ward remap that the plaintiffs deemed unacceptable.
Attorney Judson Miner said the plaintiffs were willing to accept a new map as long as the city agreed to two conditions: that the west end of the 18th Ward, which includes the majority white Scottsdale neighborhood where Murphy lives, be moved to the 13th Ward, effectively ensuring a black alderman in the next election; and that the changes made to the neighboring wards be drawn by the aldermen, not by the Daley administration.
The city, meanwhile, insisted that the 19th Ward, a majority white ward that has produced some of the city’s most powerful politicians, remain untouched.
The compromise map was presented by Miner to the city’s chief attorney, Corporation Counsel Brian Crowe, at 5:30 p.m. Sunday and a deal was struck within 30 minutes.
It makes changes to six wards–the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th–to ensure that the 18th Ward has an overwhelming majority of black voters. The 18th Ward, which was 54 percent black based on the 1990 census, would become 72 percent if the new map is approved.
The changes are minor enough in five of the wards that they will probably have little impact in next year’s aldermanic elections. It’s a different story for Murphy, though.
“He’s history,” Miner said. “Scottsdale is part of the 13th Ward. He happens to live in Scottsdale. The ripples will flow north instead of south.”
Murphy, while not a maverick, has been one of the few critics of Mayor Richard Daley during an era of City Council calm. His fate would not be high on the priority list for the Daley administration and its legal team.
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A dejected Murphy said he had not ruled out a run for re-election in the 18th Ward, which would require him to move if he won, or some other political office.
“It is very difficult to accept having your ward stolen from you by a federal judge as opposed to being defeated in an election,” said Murphy.
Daley on Monday had little to say about the settlement. “They changed 12 precincts,” he said. “It cost taxpayers a lot of money.”
The settlement was praised by African-American aldermen, including several of those whose wards would be redrawn. They have argued from the start that the ward map drawn by the Daley administration following the 1990 census favored whites.
Ald. Robert Shaw (9th) said the city–and the white aldermen represented by city lawyers–only agreed to settle the lawsuit when left with no recourse.
“They were determined to deny African-Americans any further representation on this council,” Shaw said. “There was no way out for them. They were up against a wall with a .38 to their head.”
Even with a tentative agreement in place, both sides took jabs at each other for dragging out the lawsuit and driving up legal costs. Already, the city has paid about $13 million in legal fees to its own attorney, Jenner & Block; and Miner, the plaintiff’s attorney, has not yet submitted his bill, city officials said.
Already, some aldermen were wary of the next ward remap, which will be done after the year 2000 census and is almost sure to prompt another battle over racial politics.
“This is a political city,” said Ald. Ed Smith (28th), a plaintiff in the remap suit. “You talk about Murphy’s Law. That’s applicable here. If it can happen, it will.”