On November 7, a week after the "Halloween Miracle" of the Illinois General Assembly passing a robust transit reform/funding bill in the wee hours of October 31, SBC had a fun conversation with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
We offered him the opportunity to take a victory lap for his role in lobbying state legislators to address the the looming Chicagoland transit fiscal cliff, and praised his decision to buy and rehab our city's intercity bus terminal. But we also asked a tricky question: Did he plan on picking Acting CTA President Nora Leehrsen, who's held the position since February and is popular with many transit advocates, to be the permanent agency chief?
"I believe that as an interim [president] in this moment, [Leerhsen has demonstrated] a strong response and recognition around how we provide a safer and better experience for workers, as well as for riders," Johnson responded. "I have not made a determination just yet where I will land in choosing and determining who will ultimately lead our transit system."
After we ran the interview, respected suburban transit guru Star:Line Chicago wondered out loud whether, given the the restructuring of the the CTA board that is dictated by the new legislation, Johnson even has that power anymore. "The City will no longer control a majority of the CTA board, so I don’t think it’s actually MBJ’s decision to make any more," he posted on Bluesky.
"More specifically, the CTA Board chooses [the new CTA chief] and NITA will have to sign off on it, unless MBJ forces someone through before June 1," Star:Line added.
He cited Section 27 of SB 2111, the final transit bill that passed, located on page 93 of its 1,044-page document. "The [CTA] Board may appoint an Executive Director [aka the transit agency's president, head, or chief] with the advice and consent of the Board of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority."
Star:Line concluded, "Nora has done a pretty good job so far, in my opinion."
One of Star:Line's followers replied, "On the one hand: Forcing someone thru before June 1 would be totally on brand for Brandon." He added, "On the other hand: Completely missing his window to appoint someone and then complaining about it would also be on brand for Brandon."
I responded, "Is it really 'forcing someone through' for a permanent job position if they've being doing that role on an interim basis for [checks notes] up to 17 months?'" But I promised to ask the authorities exactly what the story is.
Spokespeople for the transit bill's three main architects, Sen. Ram Villivalam, Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, and Rep. Kam Buckner didn't get back to me by press time.
A CTA spokesperson did get in touch. "A reading of the bill strongly indicates that the current process for appointing the CTA president is in place until June 1," they said. "The mayor of Chicago nominates a candidate to the CTA board, and the board approves it."
The spokesperson referred me to language from Section 27 of the currently-in-effect Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, originally passed in 1945, regarding the procedure for appointing the head of the CTA. "The [CTA] Board may appoint an Executive Director [president/head/chief] who shall be a person of recognized ability and experience in the operation of transportation systems to hold office during the pleasure of the Board."
I wrote back to the CTA spokesperson to double check how things currently work. "So as it stands, the mayor of Chicago appoints four of the seven CTA board members," I said. "Technically, the mayor doesn’t have control of whom the board appoints as the executive director of the CTA. However, the mayor can recommend a candidate. Whether or not a board member who was appointed by the mayor, who chooses not to follow the mayor’s recommendation, is a 'backbiting snake' Is a matter of opinion."
I was referring to a pure-Chicago-politics incident happened last May, after it was reported that Johnson was planning to tap John Roberson, the City's chief operating officer, to run the CTA. Roberson was previously chief of staff for Ald. David Moore (7th), who showed up to a transit agency board meetings to exhort the directors, "Work with the mayor that put you here – don’t be a backbiting snake" by not voting for his pick. (Ironically, Johnson had only appointed two of the seven current board members.) After that debacle, Roberson took a job with the Obama Foundation.
"No need to opine on that!" I told the CTA spokesperson. "Please just let me know if there’s anything factually incorrect about my summary. Thanks!"
"Nothing factually inaccurate with your summary," the spokesperson emailed back, presumably with a straight face.
All right, so it's almost certain that Johnson does have the right to recommend a candidate, such as Leehrsen, to the CTA board before June 1. And since, as it stands, most of the directors were appointed by him or his predecessor Lori Lightfoot, unless something (else) weird happens, it's likely the board will vote for that person.
Moreover, a close reading of the new transit bill doesn't indicate that a CTA chief approved by the current board before June would be relieved of their duties by the new CTA board. That is, until such a time as the new board feels a changing of the guard is warranted. But, unless the CTA president reaches a Dorval Carter-style level of disapproval, that seems like an unlikely scenario.
So fans of Leerhsen's vision for the system, frequent bus initiative, plan for 24-hour Orange Line service, apparent heavy transit ridership, newsletter, podcast, comedy show appearance, etc., should keep their fingers crossed.
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– John Greenfield, editor
