Mayor Brandon Johnson reportedly hires former 45th Ward Alderman John Arena as city’s liaison in Springfield

by BRIAN NADIG

The city of Chicago reportedly is hiring former 45th Ward Alderman John Arena — controversial at times — to help organize the city’s lobbying efforts in Springfield.

In 2022, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign contributed about $7,000 to Arena’s campaign, although some of it may have been in-kind services. Arena served as alderman from 2011 to 2019, when he lost to the ward’s current alderman, James Gardiner (45th). Arena has not run for office since 2019. Most recently, Citizens to Elect John Arena donated $500 in 2023 to Friends of Brandon Johnson. Arena’s political action committee is no longer active, according to the Reform for Illinois’ Sunshine database.

In 2019 then-mayor Lori Lightfoot hired Arena to an approximately $130,000 per year job in the planning department, but he was forced out within a few months. Arena reportedly is about 1.5 years shy of a partial city pension.

Arena told Crain’s Chicago Business, which broke the story first, that his role would be about building relationships.

“My role will not be be, first and foremost, lobbying. We have lobbyists that are contracted to do that work. My job is to building an effective team,” Arena told Crain’s reporter Justin Laurence. Arena will report to Kennedy Bartley, who works in the mayor’s office as managing deputy for external relations, according to Crain’s. Arena told Crain’s he worked with many people in the City Council and some didn’t appreciate his politics and some did.

“Looking back isn’t going to do anybody any good,” Arena told Crain’s.

While working for the Lightfoot administration, Arena attended a community meeting on a development proposal in the ward. He was seen collecting petition signatures for a candidate outside the meeting, and Gardiner later claimed that Arena made an obscene gesture toward him during the meeting. There are conflicting reports of whether that meeting had anything to do with Arena’s leaving his position, but several sources said at the time that Lightfoot’s team sought Arena’s departure.

“I have questioned many decisions by the Johnson Administration, but this one is beyond stupid. However, I imagine not many people are willing to jump on a sinking ship,” Gardiner said this week.

When Arena lost in 2019, he reportedly offered his campaign office and backing to Lightfoot, who was opposed by the Chicago Teachers Union. Johnson has worked for the union. The Chicago Teachers Union PAC donated a total of $101,615.89 to Arena’s campaign through 2019.

Nadig Newspapers received multiple reports about three weeks ago that Johnson was planning to hire Arena, but the mayor’s office and Arena could not be reached for comment.

One alderman said earlier this month that Arena may not be the best candidate for a lobbying position given the temperament he sometimes displayed to constituents while working as an alderman. Arena would say that he’s passionate about the city and his job and that he would fight for the things he believed were best for the city.

Arena brought a mixed-income housing building to Jefferson Park, and some political observers have pointed to that as his political downfall. Arena received about 36 percent of the vote in his 2019 aldermanic race, missing out on a runoff. It’s unusual for incumbent aldermen to lose without making it to a runoff election.

During the time the 5150 N. Northwest Highway housing project was causing controversy in the neighborhood, Arena’s office kept a spreadsheet on about 70 government workers who reportedly made online comments against the housing proposal, according to city documents released from a Freedom of Information Act request at the time.

Arena reportedly filed complaints against officers with the police civilian oversight agency, COPA, as well as complaints against firemen who opposed the project regarding their “racially charged” comments online.

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