Patrick J. O'Connor - Aldermanic Career

Aldermanic Career

O'Connor is a member of the Democratic Party.

During the tenure of Mayor Harold Washington, who was black, O'Connor, who is white, caucused with the mostly-white opposition block in City Council known as the "Vrdolyak 29". O'Connor chaired the City Council's Committee on Education as a freshman alderman.

In his first term a federal grand jury investigated O'Connor for providing, in late 1983 and again in late 1984, year-end jobs on the Education Committee staff for fifteen persons, including his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law, his sister-in-law, wives of two former members of his law firm, and the wife of a former staff aide. Some of those hired admitted they did not realize they were on the City payroll. "All in the Family" was a popular name for O'Connor's hiring practices, and O'Connor became known as the "City Hall Santa." O'Connor did little to help his cause when he compared his hiring practices to those of Britain's royal family. When asked at a City Hall news conference if the practice amounted to nepotism, O'Connor said: "Absolutely. I think nepotism is a system that has been around a long time. It has worked very well in England. I don't think it's been much more of a problem here."

O'Connor and the ward organization he chairs, the 40th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, were cited in a complaint filed on August 31, 2005 with the Illinois State Board of Elections by the Cook County Republican Party. The complaints charged that sixteen Democratic Party ward organizations are illegally housed in City-funded neighborhood ward offices. Taxpayers fund aldermanic service centers, which are open to the public. State law prohibits the use of public funds by any candidate for political or campaign purposes. The complaint against O'Connor and his ward organization was one of nine that a Hearing Officer appointed by the Board recommended proceed to the next step of the hearing process, an Open Preliminary Hearing. On October 17, 2005, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the Board entered an executive session and voted, in a 4-4 tie, along strict party lines, failing to adopt the recommendation of the Hearing Officer, and ordered the complaints dismissed. The complaint against O'Connor and his ward organization was one of eight that the Cook County Republican Party appealed all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. On January 23, 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Illinois appellate court to conduct a judicial review of the Board's dismissals of the complaints.

In 2008 O'Connor was found to be one of seven Chicago aldermen who between them got ten of their children good-paying summer jobs with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

O'Connor used tax increment financing to create a library and a police station in Lincoln Bend/Budlong Woods on Lincoln Avenue, and helped get a fountain in Lincoln Square. The library and the police station replaced several motels that were centers for drugs, crime and prostitution, thus causing a significant decrease in crime in the ward and improving the Lincoln Bend neighborhood. He also playing a major leading role in bringing Northside College Prep. High School, a leading national public high school into his ward. With a focus on expanding the quality of Chicago public schools, he has played an integral role in expanding numerous local neighborhood grade and high schools, including Peterson and Hayt. He is also a founding member of the National Institute on Youth Education and Families of the National League of Cities which promotes best practices for municipal officials, publishes action kit material and provides on-site assistance to cities.

O'Connor is married to Barbara O'Connor, a real estate broker. In the last decade Barbara has built a thriving business selling houses and condos, many of which couldn't have been built without zoning changes the developers sought from her husband, Alderman Patrick O'Connor. Barbara O'Connor has sold more than $22 million worth of houses and condos in the O'Connors' home ward after the projects first got a thumbs up from her husband, Alderman Patrick O'Connor.