Patrick J. O'Connor (born June 21, 1955) is a former Chicago politician. He is the former alderman in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

representing the 40th ward on the North Side of the city. He was first elected in 1983 at age 28, and was re-elected eight times before losing to

Andre Vasquez Andre Vasquez (born May 21, 1979) is a Chicago politician, community organizer, and former rapper. He is currently serving in the Chicago City Council as alderperson for the 40th ward, which includes parts of Lincoln Square, West Ridge, and E ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. O'Connor was an unsuccessful candidate in the Democratic Party primary election for Illinois's 5th congressional district special election, 2009.

Early life

O'Connor is the son of a Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Streets and Sanitation, Bureau of Equipment Services, under Chicago Mayor

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...

. O'Connor graduated from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1979. Fresh from law school, O'Connor successfully sued the city for back pay for his father after Mayor

Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...

fired him.

Chicago City Council (1983–2019)

O'Connor was first elected alderman for the 40th ward in 1983. He was subsequently reelected eight times, in 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. In

, he was denied a tenth term on the City Council, being unseated by challenger Andre Vasquez.

Council Wars

During the tenure of Mayor

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st mayor of Chicago. In April 1983, Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city’s mayor at the age of ...

, who was

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, O'Connor, who is

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 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.

Investigations and controversies

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 ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

" was a popular name for O'Connor's hiring practices, and O'Connor became known as the "City Hall

Santa Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christma ...

". O'Connor compared his hiring practices to those of

Britain's royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is conside ...

. When asked at a City Hall news conference if the practice amounted to

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

, O'Connor said: "Absolutely. I think nepotism is a system that has been around a long time. It has worked very well in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. I don't think it's been much more of a problem here." 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 The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), originally known as the Sanitary District of Chicago, is a special-purpose district chartered to operate in Cook County, Illinois, since 1889. Although its name may imply oth ...

. In May 2013, O'Connor suggested that the Catholic Church and other religious institutions and not for profit organizations should pay property taxes and be billed for water provided by the City of Chicago. O'Connor's comments were in support of a plan by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to charge such organizations for water which had traditionally been provided without charge to not for profit organizations. “The silliest things can be said and people latch onto it.” O’Connor said. “For Chrissake, we sell everybody water! And now all of a sudden because we’re a church, we’re not supposed to sell them water? At some point, i think what’s gonna happen is someone’s gonna say how about looking at property taxes? We’ll give ya free water. How about paying for the property you own.” O'Connor further suggested that the Catholic Church should not criticize the plan to bill it for water use, but ought to address its clerical abuse scandals. O'Connor is married to Barbara O'Connor, a

real estate broker Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

. In the last decade Barbara has built a successful business selling houses and

condos A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

, many of which could not have been built without

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

changes enacted by the city council. Barbara sold more than $22 million worth of houses and condos in the 40th ward after the projects were enabled by Alderman O'Connor.

Unsuccessful campaigns for other offices

In 1990, O'Connor was defeated by

Cecil Partee Cecil Armillo Partee (April 10, 1921 – August 17, 1994) was an American attorney and politician. He was the first African American to serve as president of the Illinois Senate and the first to serve as Cook County State's Attorney. He serve ...

in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination for Cook County State's Attorney in the Democratic primary on March 20, 1990, with Partee garnering 49% of the vote to O'Connor's 37.5%. O'Connor was defeated in his challenge to Republican incumbent Jack O'Malley in a campaign for Cook County State's Attorney in the general election of November 3, 1992, with O'Malley garnering 62% of the vote to O'Connor's 38%. O'Connor lost to O'Malley in O'Connor's own ward, 8,516 to 9,363. On Tuesday, March 3, 2009, O'Connor finished fifth in a 12-way race in the

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

for the Democratic Party nomination for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

called to replace US Rep.

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

in Illinois's 5th congressional district.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Patrick J. Living people Chicago City Council members 1955 births 21st-century Illinois politicians