We’ve been trying to figure out Ald. Joe Sweeney (1st) since he took his seat on the City Council as newly-elected Mayor Dave Schmidt’s appointee to fill the Council seat Schmidt was vacating for the big chair at The Horseshoe.

Sweeney has called himself a “conservative.”  That term has become relatively meaningless over the years but, had it not, Sweeney’s brand of conservatism would have rendered it so – as his votes on various issues over the past three years seem about as “conservative” as…oh…a drunken Secret Service agent in a Colombian brothel?

For example, Sweeney seems to favor virtually unfettered spending on anything that smacks of “public safety,” whether it be raises and benefits for police and fire employees, an enlargement and renovation to the current police station, the latest railroad Crossing Cam, or everything in between.  He also has supported raises for non-safety, non-union City employees – perhaps because they provide handy in-house “comparables” that the collective bargaining agents for his favorite unionized public safety employees can use to leverage the same or higher raises from the City or an arbitrator. 

So when it came time Monday night (04/16/12) for the vote to sustain Schmidt’s veto of approx. $6,000 worth of firefighters contract amendments that were ostensibly entered into in order to settle a grievance over paid holidays provided by their new contract, we counted Sweeney as a sure vote – along with Ald. Rich DiPietro (2nd), who rarely has seen tax dollars he can’t find a way to spend – to over-ride that veto.  True to form, Sweeney blubbered about how the vetoed settlement would end up going to “no-win” arbitration and cost the City money. 

But then Sweeney kicked it up a notch with a petty political announcement that he would vote to sustain Schmidt’s veto…if Schmidt would agree to personally reimburse the City for any and all expenses the City incurs if it were to lose the arbitration.

Understandably, Schmidt declined.

But when Sweeney’s name was called first on the sustain/over-ride vote, he oddly invoked Roberts Rules of Order and passed on his vote.  DiPietro predictably voted to over-ride before Ald. Jim Smith (3rd) also passed, explaining later that he “just did it to annoy Joe.”  For reasons neither of them explained, Alds. Sal Raspanti (4th) and Marty Maloney (7th) also voted to over-ride, while Ald. Dan Knight (5th) predictably voted to sustain.

That made it 3-1 for over-ride when Sweeney cast his over-ride vote.

When Smith voted to sustain, however, the over-ride effort failed to get the necessary 5-vote super-majority because Ald Tom Bernick (6th), a certain over-ride vote, was…wait for it…absent yet again.

By our unofficial count, Bernick has been MIA from Council meetings significantly more in his first year in office than the previous record holder, former Ald. Robert Ryan (5th), had been when he was cited for excessive absenteeism by the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate in both an article and an editorial in its June 19, 2008, edition.  Bernick’s absences may leave the Sixth Ward unrepresented, but we happen to think that MIA Tommy contributes more by his absence than by his presence, as Schmidt’s sustained veto demonstrates.

But Sweeney’s crass political grandstanding was not just the mindless buffoonery it appeared at casual glance. 

His comments and his vote sent an unmistakable message to the City’s unionized employees that Sweeney will readily grab his ankles and vote to give those employees whatever they want, rather than risk going to arbitration.  And if Monday night’s veto vote and/or their prior support of a 2% across-the-board salary increase line-item in the new budget are any indication, so will DiPietro, Raspanti and Maloney.

Earlier Monday evening, Schmidt read his budget veto message that properly recognized this year’s budgetary accomplishments while wisely noting the many financial perils which remain.  That’s why, despite the new budget’s projection of the largest “real” surplus in at least a decade, $462,000, Schmidt felt compelled to line-item veto another $480,000 of non-essential spending, and then warned about that still not being enough.

Finance Director Allison Stutts, the diligent architect of this new budget (along with Council Finance & Budget Chair Knight), echoed Schmidt’s concerns, pointing out to TribLocal reporter Jon Davis that Schmidt’s vetoes will only help with one year and “won’t solve…any of the problems we have with the Uptown TIF.”

None of those discouraging words phased DiPietro, however.  After years of irresponsibly rubber-stamping deficits as both an alderman and the previous Finance & Budget chair, he promptly voiced his disagreement with all of Schmidt’s line-item vetoes, singling out that line item belonging to DiPietro’s favorite private charity, Center of Concern: “I think there is a legitimate responsibility for the community to help human-needs services like Center of Concern.”

So do we, Richie D.  Which is why it’s well past time you and your current and former politician buddies who fill the ranks of CofC’s board of directors and advisory board (including the newest addition, former 5th Ward ald. Rich Whalen) started running some real fundraisers instead of putting yet another involuntary and arbitrary CofC “donation” on the taxpayers’ tab.

As for Sweeney odd, we suggest he stop advertising his willingness to give away the store to the City’s employees.  While he’s at it, he should come up with some ways to save the taxpayers’ money instead of more ways to spend it.  And if he wants to prove how serious he was with his idea that City officials guarantee the adverse financial consequences of their erroneous decisions, he should put his own “John Hancock” behind each of the mayor’s line-item budget vetoes Sweeney intends to over-ride on May 7.

Or, if that’s too rich for starters, he can instead guarantee what should have been the City’s half of the first $20,000 of this year’s Taste of Park Ridge profits.

How about it, Sweens?

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