Bernard Schoenburg
The State Journal-Register
A Springfield City Council chamber packed with union members, an out-of-state developer who could bring an apartment complex to downtown, and an hourslong debate ending in a 9-0 vote against the project — for now.
Is there something wrong with this picture, or is this democracy at work?
Obviously, that might depend on whom you ask. But it is interesting that not long after the spring elections in which new Mayor JIM LANGFELDER thanked the local Laborers’ union for its help after both his primary and general election wins, the vote went the way Laborers and members of other unions wanted.
But aldermen, the mayor and others involved say the picture is far from black and white. Even the head of the local chamber of commerce says he’d like better assurances from the company that local workers — union or nonunion — would be involved.
At issue at the city council meeting Tuesday was a development agreement with a company called Bluffstone, based in Davenport, Iowa, which was seeking $700,000 in tax increment financing to help build a $10 million, five-story housing complex at Fourth and Madison streets that would have been marketed to University of Illinois Springfield graduate students.
BRAD SCHAIVE, business manager of Laborers’ Local 477, urged a vote against the project at this time. Schaive is also active in the Southern and Central Illinois Laborers’ District Council. That group and Local 477 have combined to give more than $21,000 to members of the city council within the past year, and $20,000, not counting volunteers, to Langfelder’s campaign.
Ward 7 Ald. JOE McMENAMIN, who eschews contributions from unions or other groups interested in city business, said union donations to council members do raise questions.
“If Bluffstone had paid every council member, let’s say, a contribution in the last half-year, I think the public would be concerned about it,” McMenamin said, “and I think the public should be equally concerned if the other party of interest has done the same thing.”
All aldermen but McMenamin have received money from unions. Only four of them show direct contributions from the Laborers’ union this year: DORIS TURNER of Ward 3, JOHN FULGENZI of Ward 4, ANDREW PROCTOR of Ward 5 and KRIS THEILEN of Ward 8. Ward 6 Ald. CORY JOBE got $2,500 from Local 477 in May 2014.
McMenamin said he voted against the proposal because amendments proposed by Langfelder didn’t get a vote. Those changes included calling for a good-faith preference for using local contractors and labor and for payment of TIF money only as the project progresses.
Schaive said the issue is one of local labor, but not necessarily union labor. And he said that if donations swayed elected officials, then there wouldn’t have been a need for 350 union members — including 180 from his local — to show up Tuesday.
Theilen said that if Bluffstone principal TIM BALDWIN had committed at the meeting to use local labor, there would have been six votes for the project. Of the $20,100 in labor donations Theilen received since November, $6,500 came from the Laborers.
CHRIS HEMBROUGH, president and CEO of The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, said discussions over a year with Bluffstone always included the need to use local contractors and labor. “Our sense was that the council gave them every opportunity to make a commitment to do so, and they wouldn’t make that commitment,” Hembrough said.
Jobe said there were “a lot of unanswered questions,” including problems the company has had on other projects, and he faulted the company’s communication with aldermen. Jobe also said 70 percent of the donations he gets are not from unions.
Proctor, who got $2,500 from Laborers in January, said he has “a diverse group of supporters from the business and labor community.”
Turner, who also chairs the Sangamon County Democratic Party, got $13,000 in labor donations to her campaign since August, including $10,000 from Laborers’ groups. She was unopposed for re-election in April.
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Langfelder, who got more than $60,000 in help overall from labor in his campaign, said donations don’t have influence, but people packing the council chamber do.
Baldwin said Friday that complaints about problems in other states are moot and had to do with problem contractors. He said land trusts are “very, very common,” and it’s not the trust that is getting TIF funds. He also said talking to all aldermen in a city in advance would be out of the ordinary.
“Springfield clearly does things differently than we’re used to,” Baldwin said, adding, “There’s plenty of places we can go that don’t throw up the kinds of roadblocks.”
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 