Robert Shaw (July 31, 1937 – July 22, 2021) was an American politician. He served as a City of Chicago Alderman in the 9th ward for four terms, first in 1979 through 1983 and again from 1987 until 1998. Shaw also served as commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review from 1998 until 2004.
For more than a quarter century, Shaw and his identical twin brother William were dominant political "kingmakers" of Chicago's far South Side and southern suburbs. However, their influence dissipated greatly in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, with Jesse Jackson Jr. largely beating them out to become the new kingmaker in what had been their territory. Both Shaw and his twin brother were controversial figures. After losing reelection to the Cook County Board of Review in 2004, Shaw became a perennial candidate.
Early life and education Shaw and his identical twin brother, William, were born on July 31, 1937, in Fulton, Arkansas. His parents were sharecroppers. Shaw is black. He grew up for a number of his early years in nearby Hope, Arkansas. In Hope, he was neighbours with future U.S. president Bill Clinton. He and his family next moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1952, Shaw's family relocated to Chicago, Illinois, settling on the city's West Side.
Shaw studied liberal arts at Kennedy–King College.
Early political career Shaw and his brother learned politics from working in the 24th Ward Regular Democratic organization run by Arthur X. Elrod on the city's west side. He got his start at seventeen by working for an assistant precinct captain in the 24th ward. He later worked as a precinct captain for Benjamin F. Lewis, prior to Lewis' 1963 murder. He worked on Lewis' successful campaign for the Chicago City Council.
Shaw and his twin brother became involved in the African American civil rights movement. In 1969, Shaw moved to the South Side of Chicago, settling in the Roseland neighborhood. The Shaw brothers both moved to the far South Side of the city, believing it to be the best location to establish an African American-led Democratic Party organization. In the late-1970s, he moved to the city's 9th ward, on the South Side. From 1975 through 1978, Shaw was employed as an affirmative action and workers compensation executive at the Illinois Department of Labor.
Chicago City Council Shaw served two tenures as the alderman from Chicago's ninth ward. In 1975, Shaw ran his first campaign for the Chicago City Council, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent 9th ward alderman Alexander Adduci.
First tenure (1979–1983) Shaw was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1979, this time defeating Adducci. Shaw used racially charged rhetoric during the campaign. Adducci filed a lawsuit accusing supporters of Shaw's campaign of forging a letter that made Adducci (who was white) appear racist. In 1979, the Illinois Board of Elections investigated allegations that Shaw had violated the state's Campaign Disclosure Act during his aldermanic campaign.
Shaw rose to prominence as a main African American community ally of Mayor Jane Byrne. He received criticism from Black independents when he voted in favor of Byrne's redistricting map for the city's wards, which a federal court would subsequently rule as being unfair to African Americans and Latinos. When Black protesters showed up at the City Council chamber to protest Byrne's firing of Black members of the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Housing Authority Board, Shaw called for the removal of the protesters and stood in support of Byrne and Chicago Housing Authority chairman Charles Swibel. A January 1981 article by F. Richard Ciccone of the Chicago Tribune described Shaw as "no stranger to city council controversy, though only a freshman alderman".
In 1981, Shaw introduced legislation that would have stripped the city's personnel code by drastically increasing the number of patronage hires, taking 15,000 civil service jobs away from having job security and merit-based testing as a hiring practice. He partnered with Edward Vrdolyak on this legislation. He would tell the media, "I asked my friends, Ed Vrdolyak and Fred Roti to help me out, and they did". Shaw also credited City Council floor leader Wilson Frost with assisting in redrafting the proposal on the City Council floor. The legislation was overwhelmingly approved in a city council vote. Shaw and Wilson Frost both argued that eliminating the personnel code, and its testing requirements, would be beneficial to Black job applicants. The legislation was ultimately vetoed by mayor Byrne, after facing strong opposition from Chicagoans (a Chicago Tribune poll found 76% of Chicagoans opposed removing the personnel code).
In its obituary for Shaw, the Chicago Crusader credited him with supporting hundreds of ordinances in his two stints as an alderman that had the impact of providing more opportunities for black-owned businesses to do business with the city government.
In 1981, Shaw introduced legislation that would require gas stations to have public restrooms. This was quickly shot down by the City Council. In 1982, Shaw voted against the handgun ban ordinance championed by mayor Byrne. The legislation passed without his support. In 1982, Shaw also introduced an ordinance that would have increased the salary of aldermen from $27,600 to $46,350. After this, Mayor Byrne publicly declared she would veto any pay raise for Chicago aldermen.
Shaw lost reelection to Perry H. Hutchison in 1983.Chicago Tribune, April 14, 1983 Shaw's loss was attributed to his choice to endorse incumbent mayor Byrne over Harold Washington in the Democratic primary for the coinciding mayoral election. Washington won 80% of the vote in the 9th ward during the Democratic mayoral primary. Shaw was seen as having been disloyal to the black community for supporting Byrne over Washington (who was African American). Ahead of his city council runoff election, which coincided with the general election for the Chicago mayoral election, Shaw tried to align himself as a supporter of Washington's campaign. Hutchison, however, had supported Washington against Byrne in the mayoral primary. During the runoff campaign, Hutchison complained of a pamphlet that was being distributed in the ward in support of Shaw's campaign that implied that Hutchison had been involved in drug trafficking.
Interregnum between tenures In 1984, Shaw and his brother took up the cause of calling for legislation to be passed to require black history to be taught in public schools.
In December 1986, Shaw and his brother held a press conference in which they alleged that people were being denied care by health maintenance organizations (HMOs) for life threatening conditions.
Second tenure (1987–1998) During the Washington and Sawyer mayoralties (1987–1989) In 1987, Shaw defeated Hutchison to regain his old seat on the Chicago City Council. Hutchison had been indicted for taking bribes in a federal sting operation ahead of the election. For this campaign, Shaw repositioned himself as a supporter of Harold Washington. Shaw was a strong advocate in support of pay raises for members of the City Council. Shaw clashed numerous times with civil rights and community leader Jesse Jackson, who called Shaw "a hack". Harold Washington derided Shaw as a "two-bit hustler". Shaw was regarded to be a somewhat amusing personality on the council, providing interesting quotes and antics for the media to report upon. In 1990, John Kass of the Chicago Tribune noted that Shaw had a penchant for basking in the media attention he received, despite the media largely regarding him as clownish.
In September 1987, Shaw and fellow alderman Allan Streeter introduced a bill to remove the image of a sailing ship from the 150-year old city seal, alleging that it represented "official government sanction of slavery". Their legislation would replace the ship on the seal with a depiction of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. City documents had once described the high-masted sailing ship on the seal as, "emblematic of the approach of white man's civilization and commerce". Shaw declared, "The ship represents institutionalized racism in this country." He also believed that it bore a resemblance to slave ships. Mayor Washington and a group of other black aldermen joined in support. Washington declared, speaking on the issue with the seal, "It's old, it's degrading, and it has historical baggage." It would have cost more than $1 million to replace the use of the seal. Shaw personally estimated that it would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. The push to change the seal received criticism from some City Council members, such as Bernard Stone, who called it, "ridiculous", and Edward M. Burke who called it, "preposterous". The debate was reported to largely fall upon racial lines, with black aldermen supporting the change and white aldermen standing against it. The seal, ultimately, remained unchanged. In September 1987, Shaw also introduced a proposed ordinance that would require the Chicago Transit Authority to open its bathrooms.
After Harold Washington's death in office, Shaw joined Edward M. Burke in stopping Timothy C. Evans' bid to be appointed his mayoral successor. Eugene Sawyer instead won the vote to be Washington's successor.RaceID=385719 Shaw also called for a more thorough investigation into Washington's cause of death. Shaw was a chief backer of Sawyer during his mayoralty.
Shaw had a tendency to make racially inflammatory statements. In 1988, Shaw was criticized for questioning witnesses at City Council hearings about their ethnic backgrounds, and was also accused of having made antisemitic remarks about "Washington Jews". In regards to the allegations of antisemitism, Shaw, who had received his early political training from Jewish political operatives in the 24th Ward, defended himself by writing, "I have enjoyed a long and happy relationship with the Jewish community," and that, "my many Jewish friends and I am personally hurt," by the accusations of antisemitism. In 1988, Shaw also opposed a measure that would aim to stop the use of racial, ethnic, and sexual insults at committee hearings. He argued that it would infringe on the right of the council to, "protect the public interest." That same year, he also told the Chicago Defender, "A white should not be mayor. When they were mayor, they did not treat blacks and other minorities fairly. They do not know how to be fair."
Shaw utilized "aldermanic prerogative", a practice whereby alderman were given deference on zoning decisions in their wards. In 1988, on his own initiative he successfully championed downzoning for large areas in his ward.
During the mayoralty of Richard M. Daley (1989–1998) During the mayoralty of Richard M. Daley, Shaw was a somewhat independent member of the council, giving criticism to the mayor and casting votes in opposition to his budgets. He was considered an adversary of Daley. In 1990, John Kass of the Chicago Tribune called him the, "only consistent critic of Richard Daley on the council floor." Daley and Shaw often argued with each other on the City Council Chamber floor. In one instance, Daley had Shaw's microphone turned-off, only for Shaw to continue yelling loudly at him. Shaw was reelected in 1991 and 1995.Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1991Chicago Tribune, May 18, 1993Chicago Tribune, February 3, 1995 His 1991 reelection saw him defeat Chicago Transit Authority bus driver Johnny J. O'Neal by a mere 37 votes. O'Neal would subsequently, in 1993, attempt to have the legitimacy of the vote count reinvestigated through litigation.
In 1989, Shaw opposed legislation championed by Daley to create a watchdog to oversee all of city government. The ordinance later passed, but with revisions that made aldermen exempt from the new inspector general's oversight.