Column: Waukegan should investigate aldermen's alleged actions

Chicago Tribune

02-06-2025

Clout has always been a word associated with Chicago pols. Unfortunately, it looks like it has floated north into Waukegan.
Fourth Ward Ald. Victor Felix has been mainly mum about claims he's been throwing his governmental weight around over the city's annual Viva la Independencia parade. The parade celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, and the independence of Mexico and several other Central and Latin American nations. It is planned for September.
Felix had 'no comments' when asked by reporter Steve Sadin the other day if accusations that the alderman was using his post 'to intimidate or manipulate' a community group which was awarded a special-use permit for the parade back in January were accurate. The allegations surfaced at the City Council session of May 19.
According to Sadin's account, Elizabeth Marrero, a director of the not-for-profit Juntos, which is organizing the parade, said the alderman urged the group to give up its parade permit. In a statement she read during audience time before the City Council: 'Felix stated that the parade had been promised to other individuals and warned us that if we do not withdraw, they will find loopholes to revoke the permit.'
If true, that's an openly daring move by an elected official to use his political power to influence events, like the Hispanic-centric parade. Especially so since Marrero alleged the alderman approached city staff to find loopholes to rescind the group's parade permit, and told her the City Council would vote against the group.
'No public official should use their position to intimidate or manipulate community groups or leverage influence for political gain,' the document said. It added: 'The people of Waukegan deserve elected officials who operate with integrity.'
However, Felix responded during alders' time: 'I'm willing to support any parade that brings our city together in the right way,' Sadin reported.
The parade has been an annual celebratory event, but also controversial and not without past drama. Last year, the city held two separate Mexican Independence Day parades in Waukegan by vying groups who both received permits for similar occasions. City officials called the dual parades 'unprecedented.'
Abuse of power is nothing new in politics, but it has largely not been something that happens in Waukegan in recent years as local media, government watchdogs and political gadflies remain on guard. Newly elected Mayor Sam Cunningham was given a copy of the formal statement.
'We're making it an official document,' the mayor said.
City officials should investigate Marrero's allegations to determine what exactly occurred when Felix met with two members of Juntos at a city restaurant. At the very least, pressuring Waukegan residents is a violation of the city's ethics code
These are serious charges, if true, and shouldn't be overlooked. The document given to the mayor urges a formal probe of Felix's alleged actions. Perhaps this will be the first case legal counsel representing solely members of the City Council will be on hand to tackle.
This isn't the first time city aldermen have been in the spotlight for dodgy happenings. Second Ward Ald. Jose Guzman has been accused of using two homes for his official residence.
That allegation was brought up at a City Council meeting last month. Jack Dye, chairman of the Waukegan Port District board, raised the two-house issue during audience time, alleging inconsistencies in the way Guzman was representing himself, according to an April 22 story by Sadin.
Dye said the alderman appeared to be treating both homes as his residence. Guzman apparently lives in the 2nd Ward in a house owned by another person, but continues to claim an $8,000 homestead exemption on the home he owns and rents to a tenant in the 7th Ward, according to a series of official documents.
Since 2021, Guzman has claimed an $8,000 property tax homeowners' exemption for the 7th Ward property, which he bought in 2020, including the current tax year, according to Lake County Assessor's Office records, Sadin reported. Only one property can receive the tax exemption, and it must be a homeowner's primary residence.
'Either Jose is lying to the state of Illinois and Lake County about his address, (because) he has a general homestead exemption he shouldn't have; or he's lying to the city of Waukegan, saying he's living in the 2nd Ward, about his actual primary residence,' Dye alleged at the meeting.
This is another accusation city officials need to get to the bottom of. Or city voters can make known how they feel about clout in the 2027 aldermanic elections.