Mothers, don’t let your sons grow up to be Alders – Danny Solis Charged with Corruption

General

The Chicago Tribune just reported that former 25th Ward Alderman, Danny Solis, has been charged with a count bribery by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. The extremely curt one-page charging document (see infra) alleges that Mr. Solis took illegal campaign contributions in exchange for amendments to a zoning ordinance in 2015.

Risking understatement, I will opine that (a) these sort of quid pro quo zoning payoffs are lamentably fairly common in our Great White City; and (b) a direct result of the enormous amount of power that Aldermen wield over zoning decisions in their ward due to Chicago unofficial “aldermanic prerogative / privilege” custom.

For anyone playing along at home, Chicago has had 30 aldermen convicted of public corruption charges since 1973 and many more indicted, raided, or charged. For more details on this ignoble part of our City’s history, Block Club Chicago did a great write up in April, 2021.