FOX Chicago News ran a story on 2/10 regarding Aldermanic offices’ response time to phone calls. FOX Punk’d the 50 Aldermanic offices with three fake phone calls, calling ward offices after hours, pretending to be citizens with concerns, leaving a name and telephone number.

We obtained telephone records from AT&T, and FOX did not call our office as every call that was left on our answering machine for the days in question were calls that we could account for and responded to.

In fact, these records were for all of the telephone calls received in our office, whether they were calls placed during normal business hours where the caller would have spoken directly to a staff member, or calls placed after hours when our answering machine would have been turned on. These records from AT&T showed the originating telephone number where the call was placed from, the time of day the call was made, and the length of the call. Every telephone number listed was a call that we could account for and responded to.

We shared this information with FOX Chicago News and while they did make mention in their report of the records from AT&T that we obtained, they failed to say that they were given copies of these records and when asked if they could verify if any of the phone numbers listed were theirs, they were unable to do so.

Your telephone calls and concerns are of the utmost importance to our office and we value the input of the residents and businesses of the entire 40th Ward community. Our office works with the various city departments on a daily basis, and we strive to serve the needs and requests of all of you. This is our number one goal as we continue to serve you.

“Anyone who resides in our community or who has called our ward office knows that the hallmark of my time in office is the pride I take in our responsiveness. Constituent services are what makes or breaks an aldermanic office and we strive to be the best in providing those services. Thank you for allowing me to serve you,” stated Ald. O’Connor.