BY MEGHAN STREIT
After serving as an advisor for other elected officials for 20 years, Jose Cerda has decided to throw his own hat in the ring as a candidate for city clerk. The Harvard-educated Chicagoan worked in Washington as a domestic policy advisor for President Bill Clinton, but then made his way back to his hometown. Most recently, Cerda served as Mayor Daley's chief of policy, but resigned to launch his own campaign for city clerk.
Windy City Times: The city clerk's office has obviously been plagued with corruption in recent years. If you're elected, how will you restore the integrity to that office?
Jose Cerda: I think new leadership and somebody with a different background and different credentials is part of that. I think our local system has not produced strong city clerks, and that is not a good thing for the city of Chicago. I think the fundamental job of the city clerk is not something that we're doing today. The job of the city clerk, instead of being caught in corruption scandals, is to be on the front lines, fighting corruption. The city clerk keeps records for the city, and should be in a position of shining a bright public light on everything government does, and nobody's doing that job today.
WCT: As far as the nuts and bolts that the Clerk's office handles, what would you want to improve?
JC: I remember wanting to check the ordinances of the city in order to do my job for the mayor—to reference the municipal code—and there is no searchable municipal code on the city's Web site at all. It strikes me that's probably a violation of law. The municipal code for a city should be available to voters on a city Web site.
The second thing is creating an easily searchable format for the ordinances as they're introduced, amended [ and ] passed, so people can see their how their government is acting and how legislation is being changed along the way. I think we should have a timely and clear schedule for the city council. It's really a bit of a joke that the city council for the third largest city in the country meets and people don't know what's going on.
The other pet project that I have is to make the votes of the aldermen available to the public in an easily searchable format. I worked in Washington for a while. You just put in a topic, it spits out all the bills being considered, and it spits out where they are and who's associated with those bills. Cities like Chicago ought to have that.
The other thing I would do is broadcast city council meetings. Again, the third largest city in the country, and you have to physically be there to know what's going on. If cameras can cut crime all across the city, they can cut crime in the city council too—so we should put one there.
WCT: Your former position as policy chief to Mayor Daley is a pretty influential job. What makes you want to leave that post for this one?
JC: The attraction to me of the clerk's office was that it's a hugely undervalued asset for the city. I saw an office that should be contributing to the quality of life of Chicagoans. I'm in the mayor's office to do that. The truth is that anyone who knows the mayor knows he's his own chief of policy, just like he's his own planner. I enjoyed working for him. He is definitely contributing and providing something I believe the people want him to provide. I saw the clerk's office, and I saw our system for picking clerks. And then I saw myself, bringing a very different set of skills and background and credentials.
WCT: Having worked so closely with Mayor Daley, why do you think he chose not to back you in this race?
JC: I think, one, you have to talk to the mayor about the decisions he makes. He's a complex guy. He didn't pull any punches with me. When I ran, he explained to me that he would probably be supporting someone else, that he had his reasons. But he said, 'If this is something you want to do, if this is where your heart is, then you have to do it.' I know I was a first-time candidate, and I know it's hard to run citywide. But I didn't get to where I am today without doing hard work, and I won't get to where I want to be tomorrow without doing more hard work.
WCT: Do you think you can win without Mayor Daley's support?
JC: Absolutely. And here's why: Most people in the city don't know any of the clerk candidates. Most people have not made up their minds yet, and I know this. I also think the mayor has strong support throughout the city, and with good reason. But people are open to a new face. I think people would like some change, and I think I can give them both continuing in the policy direction of some of the mayor's good policies, because I worked with him, but I don't bring a 20-year history in local politics.
WCT: What are some of your accomplishments from your work in the mayor's office that you are most proud of?
JC: One of the things I enjoyed working on the most was the mayor's green steering committee. I think it's some of the most exciting work going on in Chicago today. People come from all over the world to see what we're doing.
The other thing that I'm very proud of is the work we did in pulling together a federal tax-reform proposal, which we presented to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Now Katrina kicked this issue off the table for Congress, but I think the new Democratic Congress is going to focus on our recommendations.
WCT: Switching to a different topic of national concern, what are your thoughts on same-sex marriage?
JC: I think it is a great thing when people love each other, and they want to make a commitment and raise a family. I think it makes our country stronger, and it's something that we should support.
WCT: Do you think there's anything that the city of Chicago could do to make this city friendlier to the LGBT community or other minorities?
JC: I'm not an expert on all the things we do right now, but my general impression from the time I spent working for the mayor is that we have a pretty decent record, better than some cities. You can always do more, and I won't be satisfied with what we're doing. But bringing it back a little bit more to what the clerk does, every community has an interest affected by this lack of information made available to the public by city government. The one thing in the office I'm seeking that we can do is provide that information so the gay and lesbian community can really judge what the city is doing.
WCT: Someone wrote on ABC7.com that if we've been living without a city clerk for seven months, then why do we need one? How do you respond?
JC: My response to that question is what makes us think that with no elected official to be held accountable, with an office that brings in over $100 million in revenue and has 125 employees—that everything was working just fine because nobody was watching them. If I'm elected, I'd be really interested in doing a top-to-bottom review of the office to see what's been going on there for years.