Some Chicago City Council members are asking Illinois lawmakers to limit the mayor's power over Board of Education appointments amid a massive shake-up that ended with Mayor Brandon Johnson announcing six new appointments on Monday.
The appointments follow the surprise resignation of the entire Chicago Board of Education on Friday as the Johnson administration faces an impasse over a $300 million short-term loan.
Chicago mayoral appointments do not currently require City Council approval.
As Johnson moves to bring six new school board members, NBC 5 Investigates discovered one appointee, Mitchell Johnson, who was disbarred from Ohio State in 1990.
In recent years, Mitchell also had a lien on his home for failure to pay child support, and was later released. He was also issued a lien for not paying the water bill at his home in South Holland.
Johnson is a “mayor of the Chicago Federation of Teachers” who does not represent all of Chicago, said Forrest Claypool, the former CPS CEO who memorialized his years at City Hall in the title of a new book, “The Daley Show.”
“He represents the political sponsor who brought him to the party and put him in the mayor's office, and the taxpayers are going to pay for that,” Claypool said.
42 Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly is among the city council members lobbying state lawmakers to make a change.
“Given what's happening now, with the school board being reconstituted, the board needs to have a role in the approval process,” Riley said.
Mayoral ally and 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez said Johnson's appointments must be respected.
“The mayor was democratically elected by the people, and some city council members do not accept this fact,” Sigcho Lopez said.
NBC Chicago reached out to Mitchell Johnson, Mayor Johnson's office and Chicago Public Schools for comment, but did not receive a response.
