Mayor Brandon Johnson’s nominee for the Regional Transportation Authority board, West Side pastor Rev. Ira Acree, withdrew himself from consideration Friday after activists and some aldermen argued he was unqualified for the position.
Acree, pastor of Austin’s Greater St. John Bible Church, is a close ally of Johnson’s and a civil rights activist. As his nomination advanced in the City Council’s Transportation Committee earlier this month, Acree struggled answering questions about the transit system and its looming financial challenges during a tense hearing.
Johnson pulled back a council vote Wednesday on the Acree pick, saying he wanted to “give people more time to have inquiry.”
The former nominee described the aldermen who resisted his nomination as “so-called allies” who are “enemies of African American advancement and empowerment” in an interview with the Tribune Friday.
“These people, they mince every word you say, everything you do. I don’t need that. I can find a better use of my time as a civil rights leader and as a pastor,” he said.
The RTA is responsible for oversight of Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority. Board positions generally pay $25,000 a year and require monthly board meetings.
Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, and Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, were the lone votes against Acree’s appointment in committee. They later cited the pastor’s lack of transportation experience to explain their opposition.
But Johnson appeared to stick by Acree as recently as Wednesday, when he said after the council meeting that he still supported the pastor’s nomination.
“All of my nominations, whether they are commissioners, other appointments, we are batting one thousand. We are,” Johnson said when asked about withdrawing the Acree nomination. “The best and brightest, the people who are most connected to the pain, who have solutions.”
Acree called Johnson Thursday night to inform him he would no longer pursue the nomination, but wholeheartedly supports the mayor’s administration, the pastor said. A Johnson spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked about Acree’s decision Friday morning.
Acree faced tough questions during his early May committee testimony, which he labeled an “interrogation.” During the questioning, he described himself as a community leader eager to bring more resources to disinvested neighborhoods on the South and West sides. But he also gave eyebrow-raising responses when presented with specific questions about transit.
When asked when he last rode Chicago Transit Authority buses and trains, Acree answered that he took them as a kid going to school.
“As a man, I don’t have to use CTA. I’m fortunate to have a car,” he said. “But I use the CTA often when I come downtown because, even though I am a working pastor, these prices, parking tickets are super high.”
Later, he was asked about the staggering $730 million budget shortfall facing the region’s transportation agencies, a well-publicized crisis approaching as federal COVID-19 relief funds start running out.
“Well, No. 1, this is my first time hearing about a $735 million shortfall, so I would not want to respond to that today without doing the research,” Acree said.
Acree said Friday that the answer was a misstatement that came long into his hearing, but admitted not knowing the exact number.
“I did not know the specific, I’ll give you that,” he said. “But there’s always a fiscal cliff with RTA.”
He argued that the pushback he received that ultimately led to his decision to not pursue the position has instead prevented the work of racial equity.
“I thought it’d be a golden opportunity for me to speak up to bring resources back to the South and West Side,” he said. “These people are supposed to be allies. It’s sad. You got to drain the swamp in a Democratic city.”
He added that few people on the various boards that govern Chicago would live up to the “unprecedented” scrutiny he faced as someone without transit experience.
“If this was the new standard, we’d have to vacate all of the boards — even the vaunted and sacred City Council.”
Vasquez on Friday said he showed Acree the questions he planned to ask an hour before the committee meeting where the nominee struggled with his responses. “It’s unfortunate that Rev. Acree was put in the position he was by the Johnson administration not prepping him for the committee hearing and then pulling his item off the agenda in the City Council meeting,” Vasquez said.
In a statement Friday, the RTA said it “defers to the appointing authorities” and “welcomes a diversity of opinion on the Board of Directors.”
Acree’s nomination and withdrawal came as public transit has faced significant challenges, including the looming budget cliff and frustrations about CTA’s ability to provide frequent, reliable, clean and safe service. The challenges have put a spotlight on the future of transit and its leadership, and lawmakers are weighing a proposal in Springfield that would merge the RTA with CTA, Metra and Pace, effectively eliminating the agencies as separate entities.
CTA President Dorval Carter has been in the hot seat as public officials including Gov. J.B. Pritzker have weighed in on his leadership.
In the City Council, a resolution authored by Vasquez calling for Carter to be fired gained support from 29 aldermen, a majority of the 50-member body. Opponents of the effort used a procedural maneuver to stall its progress, likely delaying a vote on it for months.
Ald. William Hall, 6th, said the CTA “needs a complete overhaul,” but said the resolution is a deeply unfair effort to scapegoat and embarrass Carter.
“I would never stand in line to see a public humiliation and a public lynching of someone who does nothing wrong,” he said.
jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
