Public Housing Local Advisory Council Election Still in Dispute Eight Months Later

The results of a Chicago public housing local advisory council election conducted in January 2002 have been held up for the past eight months by a dispute over the election results.

Cora Moore, the incumbent Cabrini-Green local advisory council president, filed suit against the Chicago Housing Authority, or CHA, the independent agency overseeing the election; Citizens’ Information Service; and Carol Steele, her opponent.

The National Center on Poverty Law represents Steele, an outspoken critic of the plan for transformation of public housing in Chicago and across the country under HOPE VI, or Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere. While this election debacle may appear odd to outsiders, public housing residents rely heavily on local advisory council officers to act as their voice in the massive HOPE VI transformation of public housing. These elected officials can have great influence on the number of public housing units built back on site at a development and the number of current residents allowed to return.

On February 7 Moore filed in Cook County Circuit Court her lawsuit stating that “plans were afoot to declare Steele the winner” and asked the court to stop Citizens’ Information Service from moving forward until several election irregularities were resolved. Moore claimed that such problems as missing and uninitialed ballots and voters voting twice at certain polling places plagued the Cabrini election.

On February 13 Citizens’ Information Service declared Steele the winner by a vote of 261 to 214. Moore sought a temporary restraining  order to prohibit Steele from being seated as president. The CHA invoked federal arbitration pursuant to 24 C.F.R. § 964 to determine if the election was “fair.”

Steele then filed her own suit, asking for a temporary restraining order to prevent the CHA from invoking federal arbitration. On February 21 Circuit Court Judge Raymond L. Jagielski said that the election was in what he called “unchartered waters” since Citizens’ Information Service had no postelection rules on how to handle disputes and this was the first case he had seen involving a public housing election.

At the judge’s request, the parties agreed to enter into arbitration, with Barbara Goodman, the Northbrook-based election lawyer, acting as the arbitrator. On June 5 Goodman held an all-day hearing on the election. On August 1 Goodman issued her recommended decision, upholding Citizens’ Information Service’s declaration of Carol Steele as the winner of the Cabrini-Green local advisory council presidential race.

“I am pleased by the outcome of the arbitration. This was a fair election process, and I was rightfully declared the winner. I hope Cora Moore will continue working with me and the Local Advisory Council so we can get back to work with improving the community,” said Steele, a lifelong CHA resident.

“We applaud the ruling,” said William Wilen of the National Center on Poverty Law. “Upholding the decision of officials at Citizens’ Information Service to declare Carol Steele the winner of the Cabrini-Green election, Goodman based her decision on fairness and upheld the integrity of the election. Unfortunately, from the moment the polls closed on January 22, officials at CHA had seen this case as an opportunity to rid themselves of the single most vocal and persistent opponent of the Plan for Transformation, Carol Steele. We are pleased Goodman disregarded their pressures and saw fit to treat this election the same as other elections that took place in public housing communities in Chicago on January 22.”

On August 12 Moore filed a motion for reconsideration, challenging the arbitrator’s findings. The parties are currently waiting for a ruling on this motion from the arbitrator. Moore may then appeal to the Cook County Circuit Court from there.