Aldermen advanced Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pick to lead Chicago’s cultural efforts Thursday over objections tied to a whistleblower lawsuit against her.
Kenya Merritt, Johnson’s nominee, has served as interim commissioner at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events since her predecessor, Clinee Hedspeth, resigned six months ago amid formal complaints alleging she created a hostile workplace.
Black Caucus aldermen overwhelmingly supported Merritt as the City Council’s Special Events Committee sent her appointment to the full council in a 12-4 vote. But others argued the employee mistreatment complaints from Hedspeth’s tenure linger under Merritt’s leadership.
The aldermen opposing her cited a whistleblower lawsuit filed last month by former DCASE first deputy Rosalyn Kimberly Grigsby, who alleged she was iced out of work and fired after making formal complaints against Merritt.
Grigsby, who was hired by Hedspeth last year and fired in February, amended her lawsuit Tuesday to further allege Merritt defamed her in conversations with aldermen as Merritt lobbied to be named commissioner.
“These are serious concerns and speak directly to whether employees feel safe speaking up. And importantly, these concerns are directly tied to Ms. Merritt and the environment she has helped to oversee at this department,” Ald. Samantha Nugent, 39th, said before voting against the nomination.
Other aldermen who voted against Merritt repeatedly asked questions about the lawsuit, but did not receive direct answers as Merritt and city attorneys said they were unable to comment on pending litigation.
“It’s got to be on the record that we have a serious problem here,” Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, said after a series of failed attempts.
But Merritt argued she has gradually shifted the department’s culture to prioritize “communication, accountability and team development.” She highlighted efforts to ramp up human resources training and hold regular department-wide meetings.
“We’re building a department where people feel like they can express themselves, where there is this culture where people can share while also doing a great job,” she said. “I recognize that it’s not going to happen overnight, but there is a sense of urgency with me.”
Merritt said her office is focused on making the arts an “economic engine” for the city by recruiting film production, holding special events like the recent nationally televised New Year’s Eve celebration and supporting neighborhood-based arts organizations.
“Arts and culture are not ancillary to Chicago’s future, they are essential,” she said. “They are the driver of our economy, a cornerstone of our neighborhoods and a defining part of our local, national, as well as our global identity.”
She touted her 26 years of experience with the city, including as the department’s finance leader and recently as Johnson’s deputy mayor of business, economic and neighborhood development. That past work won high praise from several aldermen.
“I love your approach. Your approach has always been hands-on,” Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, said. “You’ve never wavered from coming out to our different wards to speak with us and to see where your expertise can help us to build a better ward, and in turn, build a better city.”
Ald. Stephanie Coleman, 16th, said Merritt as interim commissioner has proactively called her office nearly every week “to just check in to right the wrongs of just a bad season for the ‘happy’ department.”
“You are the best woman for this role to restore the integrity, to restore the confidence,” said Coleman, chair of the Black Caucus.
Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, argued Merritt has been “caught in a vortex” from the department’s past scandal, but is “the right person for the job.”
“I don’t think you should wear a jacket that somebody else painted,” Dowell said. “You’ve been making your own jacket for 26 years, and that jacket fits you, and it fits the city of Chicago. You’ve done great work.”
Merritt also won support from an array of arts leaders who spoke during the meeting’s public comment portion, including the heads of the Auditorium Theatre and Goodman Theatre.
But while many workers inside the department have been “optimistic” about Merritt’s appointment, they still see ongoing misuse of human resources powers, said Sonia Lopez, chief steward of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2912 union that represents many DCASE workers.
“HR has power, and instead of using it to protect employees, it is being used against them. When rules are weaponized, it creates fear, not accountability,” Lopez said during public comment.
Asked by Waguespack if the human resources leader employed during Hedspeth’s tenure still works for the department, Merritt said only Grigsby had been fired and added that her managers are “aligned in our values of making sure that we are creating a department that supports our team members.”
Aldermen are expected to take a final vote on Merritt’s appointment next week.
Aldermen also advanced a plan to spend $280,000 to support the Chicago Torture Justice Memorial in Washington Park, a soon-to-be built memorial dedicated to the experience of Chicagoans tortured by police.
Ald. Nick Sposato, the committee’s chair, said after the vote that the near-unanimous approval was “in no way an indictment on the Chicago Police Department.
“It’s about a bad individual who did really bad things to people,” Sposato, 38th, said.
The alderman, a former firefighter, was referring to disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
Burge oversaw detectives believed to have tortured over 100 people, sparking dozens of lawsuits alleging he and other police teams systematically extracted false confessions that in many cases sent people to prison for decades, costing Chicago taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, marked himself as a lone “no” vote. The former police officer said he did not oppose the project, but argued memorials to the tens of thousands of Chicagoans who have been shot in recent years should also be built.
“Those victims that seem to always be passed over, those victims that I’ve never talked about, except for the day that they’re in the media, and then it’s gone the next day,” he said.
