Nicholas Sposato
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Nick Sposato
|image = Alderman Sposato.jpg
|office = Member of the Chicago City Council
from the 38th ward
|term_start = May 18, 2015
|term_end =
|predecessor = Timothy Cullerton
|successor =
|office1 = Member of the Chicago City Council
from the 36th ward
|term_start1 = May 16, 2011
|term_end1 = May 18, 2015
|predecessor1 = John Rice
|successor1 = Gilbert Villegas
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|10|7}}
|birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
|death_date =
|death_place =
|party = Democratic (Before 2017)
Independent (2017–present)
|website = {{URL|aldermansposato.com/38th-Ward.html|Official website}}
}}
Nicholas Sposato (born October 7, 1958) is an American politician who serves on the Chicago City Council as alderman of the 38th Ward of the City of Chicago on the city's Far Northwest Side. Sposato was elected as alderman for the 36th ward in 2011 in an election against incumbent John Rice, who was endorsed by then Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel.{{cite web|url=http://www.wbez.org/story/john-rice/chicago-firefighter-upseat-incumbent-alderman-ward-organization-84800 |title=Chicago firefighter upsets incumbent alderman, ward organization |publisher=Wbez.org |date=2011-04-06 |accessdate=2013-07-22}} After City Council wards were re-districted, Sposato was re-elected as alderman for the 38th ward in 2015, 2019,{{cite web |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171010/dunning/nicholas-sposato-democrat-38th-ward-democratic-commiteeman-robert-martwick |title='Independent' Sposato To Step Down As Dem Committeeman, Stay On As Alderman |publisher=DNAinfo.com |date=2017-10-10 |accessdate=2018-01-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127004433/https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171010/dunning/nicholas-sposato-democrat-38th-ward-democratic-commiteeman-robert-martwick |archivedate=2018-01-27}} and 2023.
Background
Nicholas Sposato was born October 7, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois.
Before being elected to City Council, Sposato was a firefighter for 18 years and served on the Local School Council of Sayre Language Academy and president of the Trinity High School Father's Club.{{cite web |url=http://aldermansposato.com/alderman-sposato/ |title=Alderman Nicholas Sposato - Chicago's 38th Ward |publisher=Alderman Sposato |accessdate=2013-07-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727024616/http://aldermansposato.com/alderman-sposato/ |archivedate=2013-07-27 }}
Sposato has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair.{{Cite web |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171010/dunning/nicholas-sposato-democrat-38th-ward-democratic-commiteeman-robert-martwick/ |title='Independent' Sposato To Step Down As Dem Committeeman, Stay On As Alderman |access-date=2019-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403063411/https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171010/dunning/nicholas-sposato-democrat-38th-ward-democratic-commiteeman-robert-martwick/ |archive-date=2019-04-03 |url-status=dead }}
Aldermanic career
In 2011, Sposato was elected the serve as the 36th ward alderman, unseating incumbent John Rice. In the 2015, he was redistricted and won election in 38th ward. He won reelection in 2019.
Ald. Sposato serves on six City Council committees: Public Safety, Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Special Events, License and Consumer Protection, Housing and Real Estate, and Committees, Rules and Ethics.
In the runoff of the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, Sposato joined Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, to which he belonged, in endorsing Lori Lightfoot.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/elections/ct-met-lightfoot-fire-department-union-endorsement-20190307-story.html |title=Lori Lightfoot gets endorsement from Chicago's Firefighters Union Local 2 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |accessdate=April 2, 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Kapos |first1=Shia |last2=Hurst |first2=Adrienne |title=CHUY's choice — Debate TAKEAWAYS — WILSON likes change — PRITZKER tax rates revealed |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2019/03/08/chuy-emerges-debate-takeaways-wilson-likes-change-pritzker-tax-rates-revealed-406348 |website=Politico |accessdate=March 8, 2019 |date=March 8, 2019}}
Sposato's politics have shifted to the political right over the course of his aldermanic tenure.{{Cite web |last=Dumke |first=Mick |title=During Tuesday's Illinois Primary, Chicago Alderman and Former Firefighter Nicholas Sposato Delivered Pizzas at the Polls as His Ward Office Remained Open |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-primary-chicago-alderman-nicholas-sposato-39th-ward-coronavirus-covid-19-concerns?token=eTpwPifrhJ40sUgjOF2Sbw_hxlA2B8W1 |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=ProPublica |date=18 March 2020 |language=en}} Sposato was a member of the Chicago City Council Progressive Reform Caucus, but left the group in December 2016.{{Cite web |last=Spielman |first=Fran |date=2016-12-15 |title=Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) drops out of Progressive Caucus |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/12/15/18404426/ald-nick-sposato-38th-drops-out-of-progressive-caucus |access-date=2019-05-27 |website=Chicago Sun-Times}} By 2020, he was declaring his support for Republican President Donald Trump and describing himself as a "rightie".{{Cite web |date=2022-04-08 |title=Mayor Lightfoot's monuments panel recommends permanently sidelining 3 Columbus statues, removing Balbo monument |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2022/4/8/23016657/chicago-columbus-statues-balbo-lightfoot-monuments-project-committee |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Howell |first=John |date=15 April 2022 |title=John Howell Show WLS 890-AM |url=https://post.futurimedia.com/wlsam/playlist/listen-11902.html |access-date=17 August 2022 |website=Futurimedia.com -- WLS-AM Radio archive}}
Sposato says he didn't leave the Democratic Party but that the party has moved too far to the left. Tension had also been building within the caucus due to Sposato's refusal to support police-accountability measures. Sposato worries about socialists and "Commies" having too much influence in society. At a hearing about the fate of a Christopher Columbus statue in Chicago's Grant Park, Sposato said, "It's getting a little frustrating because we're letting the Commies win."{{Cite web |title=A year after Christopher Columbus statues were removed by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, city review of monuments is still ongoing |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-lightfoot-chicago-columbus-statues-review-20210723-r46abgdfdjf25hgja42eg5qxm4-story.html |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=Chicago Tribune|date=23 July 2021 }}
Sposato is a social conservative when it comes to race and LGBTQ issues, and has faced criticisms for remarks on these subjects. When it was reported that people of color were issued more tickets in Chicago than white Chicagoans, Sposato offered an alternative explanation to counter arguments that others had made that the concepts of white privilege and institutional racism offered explanations for this racial discrepancy, with Sposato being quoted as remarking that, "White people just know how to talk their way out of a ticket."{{Cite web |last=Sabino |first=Pascal |date=2021-10-27 |title=Cops Rarely Pull Over Drivers In Their Own Neighborhoods, Data Shows. Motorists In Black Neighborhoods Aren't So Lucky |url=https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/10/27/drivers-police-firefighter-neighborhoods-least-likely-pulled-over-traffic-stops-black-white-disparity/ |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=Block Club Chicago |language=en}} Sposato raised the ire of Black aldermen during a committee hearing when he questioned why people from a predominantly Black area of the city had traveled to the Northwest Side of the city, which is predominantly white.{{Cite web |date=2022-02-17 |title=Committee OKs $1.67M Brickyard settlement after racially charged debate |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2022/2/17/22939652/brickyard-mall-police-lawsuit-settlement-city-council-committee-approved-mia-wright-sposato |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}} Sposato came under criticism from the LGBTQ community for misusing the term "identifying as."{{Cite web |last=Browning |first=Bil |title=Chicago alderman says he "identifies as a vaccinated person" |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/08/chicago-alderman-says-identifies-vaccinated-person/ |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=LGBTQ Nation|date=19 August 2021 }} This arose when, amid COVID-19 pandemic local media asked Chicago aldermen about their COVID vaccination status, leading Sposato to offer a response that quipped, "You can identify as whatever you want these days, can't you? I identify as a vaccinated person."{{Cite web |date=2021-08-19 |title=Most Of Chicago Aldermen Report Being Vaccinated As City's COVID-19 Cases Keep Rising |url=https://www.wbez.org/stories/is-my-chicago-alderman-vaccinated-against-covid-19/77ecb14d-d9a0-4458-9bc6-536b3e66acf6 |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=WBEZ Chicago |language=en}} LGBTNation responded to this by saying, "This is part of a long pattern of people misconstruing the concept of gender identity as simply stating that a person is whatever they want to be – often just to win an argument or get some material benefit – instead of expressing a deep sense of one's own reality and living as a person's authentic self."
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://aldermansposato.com Sposato website]
{{Chicago City Council}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sposato, Nicholas}}
Category:21st-century Illinois politicians
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:American politicians with disabilities
Category:Chicago City Council members
Category:Illinois independents