If you're on Scott Waguespack's mailing list (hint: we are) this landed in your inbox yesterday afternoon. Wags has been a reliable independent on the city council, and he won his seat in the 32nd Ward after a hard runoff election. Funny, though. We didn't think the meters were going up to $5 a minute until next year. But, hey, nothing surprises us anymore... more ›

Mayor Daley's recent calls for expanding the city Inspector General's authority over the rest of the city council got me thinking about a Chicago Reader blog post by Mick Dumke that ran last month. That's because back in 2007 when Jesse Jackson Jr was beating the drum of reform in the city, pushing a slate of candidates (including his wife, Sandi) for city council that would challenge the mayor's stranglehold on civic discourse in the city, take apart the Chicago Machine and clean up the corruption that's the most public secret in town, he published a ten-point ethics package designed to make Chicago government make sense for regular people (hat tip to Reader reader Hugh for the link!). Strangely, only one has come to be - broadcasting all city council meetings on the internet, although expanding the purview of the city IG ranked number six on Junior's list. more ›

Lots of press releases grace our inbox at the Chicagoist offices. Every once in a while we get one that makes us do a double-take. Gerald Farinas's announcement that he's running for 46th Ward Alderman is one of those press releases. Farinas officially announced his candidacy Sunday at Chicago Solidarity Rally in Daley Plaza, held in support of the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. Farinas notes that, if elected he will "be the Council’s second openly gay member," after noting that "Farinas is expected to garner much of his support from reform minded Democrats and, as a former inner circle advisor to Keyes 2004, city Republicans wanting a seat at the table to have their voices heard." Besides Shiller, Farinas will face James Cappleman, who lost in 2007. more ›