Chicago Tribune political editor Eric Krol phones in to discuss the resignation of Alderman Sandi Jackson and the future of the Chicago City Council. (Posted: January 11, 2013).
Ald. Sandi Jackson has resigned from the Chicago City Council.
The 7th Ward alderman submitted her resignation letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel today. It is effective Tuesday.
"After much consideration and while dealing with very painful family health matters, I have met with my family and determined that the constituents of the 7th Ward, as well as you Mr. Mayor, and my colleagues in the City Council deserve a partner who can commit all of their energies to the business of the people. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation as Alderman of 7th Ward, effective January 15, 2013," reads the letter released by the mayor's office.
Ald. Jackson's resignation comes after her husband, Jesse Jackson Jr., resigned from Congress before Thanksgiving amid federal ethics probes and a diagnois of bipolar depression.
Talk swirled around City Hall that Ald. Jackson also would step down, but she remained on the council until Friday afternoon.
Emanuel put out a statement about the resignation.
"As Sandi takes this time to focus on her family, we give her our deepest thanks and support for her service to our City and the residents of her ward. Her leadership has been greatly appreciated in the Chicago City Council," the statement read.
"The process to identify a replacement for Alderman Jackson to serve and represent the residents of Chicago’s 7th ward will be announced early next week."
A month ago, amid rumors that she was considering a run to replace her husband in Congress, Jackson denied she was interested in the job and said she wouldn’t resign from the City Council unless "something catastrophic happens.”
At the same time, she also said she was undecided about whether to move back to Chicago from Washington, D.C., where the couple lives with their children.
"I will finish my term. I intend to finish my term," Ald. Jackson said then. "Unless something catastrophic happens -- I could step outside and get hit by a bus today."
Her husband, in his resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner in November, appeared to try to shield his wife in the federal ethics investigation. "I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators, and accept responsibility for my mistakes, for they are my mistakes and mine alone," the former congressman wrote. "None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties, and I pray that I will be remembered for what I did right."
The former congressman paid his wife hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to act as his political consultant.
Ald. Jackson could not be reached for comment.
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the former congressman’s father and the former council member’s father-in-law, was reached Friday afternoon by telephone, but had no comment on her resignation.
“I think that she has made a very personal decision that she feels is in the best interests of her family and her constituents,” said Ald. Patrick O’Connor, 40th, the mayor’s floor leader.
Emanuel will have 60 days to name a replacement, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
"He is looking for someone who has a history of community involvement and engagement," Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said.
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley got to substantially shape the City Council during his two-decade tenure, appointing scores of aldermen who tended to be loyal to him in return. All told, Daley got to make 35 appointments.
Jackson's resignation marks Emanuel's first chance to appoint an alderman since taking office in May 2011.
Sandi Jackson was elected to the City Council in 2007, defeating then-Ald. Darcel Beavers, who had been appointed to succeed her father, William Beavers, who moved to the Cook County Board. Jackson defeated Darcel Beavers in a 2011 rematch.
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