William Singer

William Singer is an American lawyer, politician, consultant, and lobbyist who formerly served as a Chicago alderman, representing the 44th and 43rd wards during his aldermanic career.

While on the Chicago City Council, Singer was an independent reformer tied to the lakefront liberals. He was an opponent of the political machine that was led by Richard J. Daley. He partnered with Jesse Jackson to successfully have Daley and his slate of delegates unseated as delegates to the 1972 Democratic National Convention and replaced by a slate of delegates backed by Singer and Jackson. This was the biggest political defeat Daley ever endured. In 1975, Singer forwent running for a third term on the City Council and instead, unsuccessfully, challenged Daley in the Democratic Party primary of the 1975 Chicago mayoral election. He has not run for political office since.

After his career in electoral politics, Singer joined the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, where he became a partner. Singer, who had been an outsider of establishment politics, developed a new role as a political insider and a power broker. He formed an alliance with Alderman Ed Vrdolyak, a member of the political establishment, even working with Vrdolyak on drafting ordinances. Singer also aligned himself with Mayor Jane Byrne during her mayoralty. After Richard M. Daley (son of Richard J. Daley) became mayor in 1989, Singer was appointed by him to the interim Chicago Board of Education. Serving as the interim board's vice president, Singer negotiated an historic contract with the city's teachers that promised higher teacher salaries and reforms to the city's school system structure. However, Singer failed to deliver the promised wage increases for teachers.

Early life and education He was educated at Chicago's Horace Mann Elementary School and South Shore High School before attending Brandeis University and Columbia Law School. After his election, Singer was regarded as a leader in the lakefront liberal movement. His election was seen as ushering in an era of prominence for the lakefront liberal voting bloc. Singer was a significant member of the Chicago City Council's small but lively minority opposition bloc that opposed the political machine on various matters.

1975 mayoral campaign

Forgoing seeking another term on the Chicago City Council, in 1975, Singer unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic Party primary for mayor against Richard J. Daley. If elected mayor, Singer would have been the city's first Jewish mayor. Rahm Emanuel wound up being the city's first Jewish mayor.

Singer ran on a "reform" platform and campaigned heartily for sixteen months, Metcalfe, a one-time ally of Daley, had become critical of what he alleged was racism and brutality in the Chicago Police Department.

Singer focused his campaign on the addressing the poor state of the public schools in the city. Singer pledged that, as mayor, he would visit each and every one of the city's 584 public schools. Singer laid blame on Daley for the loss of 200,000 jobs in the city, and pledged that as mayor he would bring jobs back to the city.

Singer was joined in challenging Daley in the Democratic primary by two other candidates. One was State Senator Richard H. Newhouse Jr. Newhouse was the first Black person to run as a candidate for mayor of Chicago. The other was Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan. Singer underperformed in his geographic base area. Despite the expectation that the independent voters in lakefront area would vote heavily for Singer out of to distaste for scandals plaguing Daley's mayoral administration, Singer actually very narrowly trailed in the six lakefront ward 46.5% to 46.4%. Singer placed second in the city's ten black-majority wards, with Daley receiving 47%, Singer receiving 31.%, and Newhouse receiving 19.9% in those wards. however Singer did not challenge the machine-backed successor to Daley, Michael A. Bilandic, in the 1977 or 1979 elections. When Mayor Byrne, who had campaigned as a reformer, partnered with members of the political establishment, Singer jumped to defend her, saying, "I just view it as dealing with reality, with the fact that you can't change everything overnight". However, Singer ultimately failed to deliver the teachers the promised three years worth of 7% wage increases.

Singer was put under government surveillance as a target of the investigation into the scheme that led to the convictions of businessmen Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko. However, Singer was ultimately not charged with any wrongdoing. In the 2008 criminal trial of Rezko, Levine testified to having taken secret recordings of conversations with Singer while cooperating with federal investigators.

In 2009, Edward Vrdolyak was convicted for a 2003 real estate scheme involving Smithfield Properties, for whom Singer worked as a lobbyist and consultant. Singer was tied to this matter, having consulted on the deal central to the conviction, and his involvement looked into by federal investigators. However, Singer was never charged with any criminal conduct.

In 2017, Singer agreed to pay a $25,000 fine after he lobbied Mayor Rahm Emanuel by email without registering as a lobbyist.

In the 2024 United States presidential election, Singer gave his support to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.