Emanuel, Burke Meet in the Middle

Last week Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported that Mayor-elect Emanuel and 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke have had a series of meetings recently and in the interests of making peace with each other before Emanuel is sworn in next month. It looks as though Burke's position as chairman of the Finance Committee is safe. But with a $1.2 billion budget deficit to tackle, it seems as though both men agree that the number of City Council committees needs to be cut.

If Emanuel plans on cutting the number of committees, now would be the ideal time to do so, with a greatly reconstituted City Council also being sworn in next month. The Sun-Times reports that the number of standing committees could be reduced from its current 19 to 15, with a commensurate 20 percent decrease in spending. 40th Ward Ald. Pat O'Connor, who helped broker a meeting between Burke and Emanuel at his home, said the goal was to make city government more efficient and that Emanuel could realize that sooner with Burke as his floor leader.

For Emanuel, keeping Burke close would be a wise political move initially, given Burke's long history in City Council, how do build consensus votes behind the scenes and his working knowledge of the city budget. The Sun-Times reports that Emanuel is still interested in shrinking the overall number of aldermen from 50 to 25, but that would have to wait until the wards are redrawn according to 2010 Census results and would require legislation from Springfield or a referendum by city voters.