Starting late

Chicago City Council meetings never started on time. They didn’t begin until the Mayor arrived to call them to order. A handful of Aldermen might loiter in the Council chamber during their wait, but most remained in their offices until told the Mayor was en route.

 A few were always late. 20th Ward Alderman Clifford Kelley usually arrived after meetings had begun. Many joked about his lack of punctuality, but others thought his tardiness was intentional, as he did not care to suffer through the invocation that preceded each meeting.

Once in a great while, anti-Administration Aldermen mustered enough votes to call a special meeting to discuss an issue the majority had refused to address.

At one of those meetings, 34th Ward Alderman Wilson Frost, the Council’s President Pro Tem, called the session to order in the absence of the Mayor, exactly on time. As a quorum was not present, the session was immediately adjourned.

Afterward, reporters asked him if he had told his Council allies not to attend. At that moment, shortly after the announced starting time, 48th Ward Alderman Marion Volini, one of the meeting’s conveners, arrived.

“Look,” Frost said smugly. “Alderman Volini is late. I didn’t tell her not to show up.”

Machine Aldermen did not have to be told not to attend. They knew that simply staying away would sabotage the meeting.