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“A lot of folks think it’s a really good idea to have someone to rely on for information besides what the administration provides us,” said 49th Ward alderman Joe Moore, one of the leaders of the still developing group of more or less progressive-minded alderman. “It’s by no stretch of the imagination meant to be antagonistic to anybody, but we think the City Council is actually a separate branch of government and needs some independent information.”
The caucus, a fluid group of around a dozen aldermen, has been getting together before meetings of the council’s finance committee. Last week they decided to accept an offer of “seed money” from an unspecified outside source and to come up with specific proposals for organizing an office and hiring at least one staffer, according to several aldermen who attended. In the past officials with the Service Employees International Union have said they were prepared to help fund the caucus. “Certainly our friends in organized labor will help, and we’ll look other places as well,” Moore said.
