Alderman Blasts Ethics Board For Accusing Husband Of Illegal Lobbying
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A South Side alderman criticized the city's Board of Ethics on Wednesday, after the panel ruled her husband had illegally lobbied Mayor Rahm Emanuel through his personal email account.
Ald. Sophia King (4th) said she can't do it, because of a conflict of interests, but someone should try to change the law the board used to accuse her husband of breaking ethics rules to influence the mayor.
Her husband, house music disc jockey Alan King, sent a private email to Emanuel, asking for help brokering a solution after construction near Jackson Park threatened a picnic he and other DJs planned to hold in Jackson Park in 2015.
The Ethics Board said Alan King failed to register as a lobbyist as required, and he faces a fine of up to $1,000 a day for every day he failed to register – or upwards of $750,000.
Ald. King said her husband was just trying to get a fence moved, and said people like her husband shouldn't have to register as lobbyists.
"People who are trying to literally right wrongs, I mean what are they supposed to do? Who are they supposed to appeal to? People come to my office every day about fences, about all kinds of things that they want to get done or right wrongs, and I think that that's the right place to go. You go to your elected officials," she said.
Sophia King noted she was not an alderman at the time her husband contacted Emanuel. She was appointed to her seat in April 2016, after former Ald. Will Burns resigned. She won a special election for the seat earlier this year.