Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan (D2) has agreed to pay Sylvia Lopez for her work on the Councilwoman’s campaign earlier this year, Lopez said.
“I don’t want any more negativity,” Lopez told the Rivard Report on Monday. “I just want this to end in a good way.”
Lopez, a blockwalker coordinator, said she was owed $4,200 for her services. Andrews-Sullivan told the Rivard Report last week that she paid Lopez the amount owed, but that checks were flagged by her bank as possible forgeries because of suspicious signatures.
Campaign fundraiser and coordinator Veronica Gonzalez said she was authorized to sign checks on behalf of Andrews-Sullivan and did so for Lopez and other vendors many other times. The Councilwoman denies that.
The Councilwoman, who won a tough June runoff over a former interim Council member, told Lopez earlier this month she wanted to see detailed invoices before paying the full amount.
Lou Miller, Andrews-Sullivan’s chief of staff who served as her campaign treasurer, said they are still waiting to see invoices, but wrote a $2,000 check to Lopez on Saturday “to show her good faith.” Lopez and Gonzalez said they already have submitted invoices.
Lopez is confident the entire matter will be cleared up and she’ll pick up another $2,000 check on Tuesday.
“I hope that she still stays in office,” Lopez said of Andrews-Sullivan. “As far as me [working for her in the future], I think we’ll leave it where it’s at. I hope she does a good job in office. … My job is to get people hired. Not to get people fired.”
Lopez has worked for campaigns for 34 years and hasn’t had any problems like this before, she said.
Andrews-Sullivan was not available to comment Monday, but Miller said he’s looking forward to putting the issue behind them.
“It appears all newly elected officials have go through some kind of baptism,” he said. “I wish it wasn’t that way … we’ve got enough problems getting people to run” in District 2.
District 2 has had five representatives on City Council, both interim and elected, during the past five years.
“When you have this kind of controversy it makes people of good character not willing to run for office,” he said.
Payment problems aren’t the only thing that has plagued Andrews-Sullivan during her first months on the job. She also recently denied allegations that she does not live in District 2 and that she is romantically involved with someone on her staff.
During the month of July, Andrews-Sullivan said she took a “staycation” at a nearby Comfort Inn, which may have led to the rumors she was no longer living with her mother. As for her hiring of Eartis Eaglin, a former business partner, as a Council aide, she said he was a good friend and nothing more.
