A Calumet City alderman is accusing that city’s newly elected mayor of bypassing the City Council on recent hirings and shifting employees who were under the purview of the city clerk to come under his authority.
Sixth Ward Ald. James “JR” Patton also, along with Mary Cox, who recently resigned as a member of the city’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, also are asking the Cook County state’s attorney and Illinois’ attorney general to take action to remove Mayor Thaddeus Jones from office.
Jones said legislation signed last month by Gov. J.B. Pritzker cemented his win as Calumet City’s first Black mayor following a legal battle that went to the state’s Supreme Court and was decided after his February primary win over Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush, who had been mayor since 2003.
“It ends the story,” Jones said.
Jones said that any actions he has taken fully fall under the umbrella of his office and dismissed Patton’s accusations.
“Ald. Patton is not speaking for the entire council,” the mayor said. “He is speaking as one, disgruntled non-Black alderman.”
Patton, who works as a political consultant, was chief strategist and counselor to Markiewicz Qualkinbush, then later her chief of staff, before leaving the position in April 2017.
He was appointed alderman in July 2017 to fill a vacancy, then later elected to a full term.
Patton said that Jones has sidestepped City Council approval in hires such as purchasing director and shifted employees from the clerk’s office, who are responsible for tasks such as collecting water bills and fees for city stickers, to come under his authority.
He said that the clerk is no longer responsible for approving City Council agendas and that if an alderman has something he or she wants placed on the agenda, requests have to go through Jones’ office.
Jones said that power has always been vested in the mayor, and that no agenda initiative offered by an alderman has been denied. Of the clerk’s office employees, “they have always been under the office of the mayor,” he said.
Police and fire diversity
Cox and fellow Board of Fire and Police Commission members William Galgan, the city’s former fire chief, and Carmela Ziobro resigned last month, and Cox said her resignation followed accusations the board was not doing enough to boost diversity among the police and fire departments.
Cox said she agrees with the mayor about the need to bring on more Black and Hispanic police officers and firefighters to better reflect the city’s population, which, according to census data, is 72% Black.
“I am 1000% with him about getting diversity in the departments,” said Cox, who is Black and has been on the commission since November 2017.
However, she said the commission is essentially colorblind when it comes to evaluating potential candidates for jobs in both departments. Cox said she has actively worked to advertise opportunities in both departments among Blacks through venues such as area Baptist churches, but that the commission’s job is to evaluate potential hires based only on their qualifications.
Still, Jones placed the blame for a lack of diversity at the feet of the commission members, who have since been replaced.
“It’s a failure of responsibility,” he said, noting nearby communities such as Homewood, Lansing and South Holland “have been able to do it right.”
Jones said Calumet City has never placed ads in newspapers with a predominantly Black readership, such as the Chicago Crusader, to promote job openings in the departments.
Ability to hold office
Patton and Cox said in a letter to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul that Jones should be removed from office due to a conflict with a Calumet City ordinance that prohibits municipal officeholders from also serving as a state legislator.
The ordinance came about following a Nov. 3, 2020, referendum question that was aimed squarely at Jones, who had questioned its constitutionality and survived challenges to his being on the ballot for this past February’s primary, in which he defeated Markiewicz Qualkinbush, then later won over a write-in candidate in the April election.
Jones has represented the 29th District in the Illinois General Assembly since 2011.
The House district extends from Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood south through Dolton, South Holland, Thornton, Glenwood, Ford Heights, Steger, Crete and Monee. He ran unopposed last November for another term.
Jones was Calumet City’s first Black alderman, serving the city’s 3rd Ward from 1997 to 2017.
In March, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court decision that Jones was rightfully on the ballot for the Feb. 23 Democratic primary in Calumet City, but didn’t address the question of whether he was able to hold office.
Jones said Pritzker’s signing of Senate bill 825, which expands ballot accessibility in Illinois elections, confirmed his standing as the first Black mayor in Calumet City’s history and “puts an end to a long history of divisive politics” in the city.
He said that efforts to prevent him from becoming mayor were “baseless and without merit.”
Patton contends that the new law which Jones maintains secures his right to serve as mayor doesn’t fully address the question.
“He had every right to seek office,” the alderman said, but said the law does not address ability to hold office.
“No court, no legislation has overturned that ordinance,” the alderman said.
The law states that a “unit of local government may not adopt an ordinance, referendum, or resolution that requires a member of the General Assembly to resign his or her office in order to be eligible to seek elected office in the unit of local government,” and that any such ordinance or referendum is void. The law applies “to ordinances, referenda, or resolutions adopted on or after November 8, 2016.”
A spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said it could not comment on “potential or pending investigations.” A message with the attorney general’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned.