Do You Know What An "Expediter" Is?

By Karl Klockars in News on Jun 11, 2008 6:15PM

When we were in the food-service industry, an expediter was someone who organized the orders before they hit the floor. (Think Tom Collichio in the Tramanto's episode of Top Chef from a couple weeks ago.) But in terms of Chicago politics, before today we had no idea. Alderman Ed Burke sure did, however - and would like to have them all licensed by the city. [Ed note: God forbid we make anything at City Hall less bureaucratic and needlessly complicated.] From the Trib:

Developers, contractors and homeowners often hire private individuals known in City Hall parlance as expediters to apply for and obtain permits from the city...Some expediters argue that their reputations have been unfairly tarnished by the expediter-turned-government spy and another expediter who last year admitted bribing city workers to speed up the permit process.

The mole reported that, among other things, certain construction stop-orders would be lifted if certain expediters were hired. In other words, it's a lot like "we don't want nobody nobody sent- and we're sending them to you, whether you like it or not."

No word on how much the expediters would have to pay to get a city license, but if the allegations of bribery are true, at least they'd be paying a fee for the opportunity to show up and "forget" those stuffed envelopes they're always leaving around.