Tunney Suspends Aide in Parking Flap

By Kevin Robinson in News on May 12, 2009 2:00PM

44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney suspended "indefinitely" aide Zodak Yonan, whom the Tribune busted on Monday for parking around the ward with a homemade placard. Yonan displayed the placard, which reads "44th Ward Official Business" next to a City of Chicago seal to avoid feeding the meters. "Nobody gave it to me. I made it," he told the Tribune. "I've worked for the alderman's office for 25 years. We're so busy in the office, sometimes you forget to put the money in. The sign is there for the meter maids to know. There's no problem with that." Tunney told the Tribune that "we don't have any official 44th Ward business signs. I don't even have one."

After being contacted by the paper, Yonan admitted that he made the sign himself. "Nobody gave it to me. I made it," he said. "I've worked for the alderman's office for 25 years. We're so busy in the office, sometimes you forget to put the money in. The sign is there for the meter maids to know. There's no problem with that." When he was told that city ordinance forbids unauthorized use of the city seal, he agreed to take it down. "If they don't like it, I'll take it off," he said. "You're right. I'll stop doing it." Yonan, a contract employee with ward office, works about 100 hours a month. He's also a voter registrar for the 44th Ward Democrats, the partisan ward organization.