Samantha Nugent
Alderperson, Ward 39, Chicago City CouncilRaised head tax and budget revenue at three meetings.
Also sits on 5 committees
Next City Council meeting: Mon, Nov 2, 10:00 am · Agenda
Two clips, newest first
“According to the management ordinance, we were supposed to have proposals February 15th. Now you guys put out an RFI on February 10th. So what that shows me is that whilst you were working towards a goal, it doesn’t appear that folks were in any hurry to move on something that was passed on December 29th.”
“And then I know we’ve talked about this, um, before, and I’m just trying to understand it. So procurement can enter contracts without council approval, is that— that’s correct? Right?”
Issues Nugent raised, by number of meetings
- Head tax and budget revenue3 meetings
Ward 39 on the current City Council map
Every roll call, and Nugent’s other bodies
Present at 19 of 20 roll calls at the City Council
- Committee on Budget and Government Operations: 2.0 min of speech a meeting, range 0.9–3.6. In the same range as 28 other members.
- Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight: talk time not compared. Seated for only 6 meetings in 12 months.
- Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation: talk time not compared. Seated for only 3 meetings in 12 months.
- Committee on Transportation and Public Way: talk time not compared. We could name only 21% of the speech they may have given; we compare members at 30%.
- Committee on Police and Fire: talk time not compared. Seated for only 6 meetings in 12 months.
- Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation: present at 2 of 2 roll calls. Official roll call, from the clerk
Nugent asked 77 questions at the 10 Committee on Budget and Government Operations meetings where we identified them
Of Nugent’s 62 questions to city departments at the Committee on Budget and Government Operations, 26 went to budget, finance and controller.
| Department | Share | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Budget, finance and controller | 2642% | |
| Administration, HR, contracts and facilities | 1219% | |
| Public health and mental health | 915% | |
| Libraries, arts and culture | 813% | |
| Human services, aging, youth | 46% | |
| 2 other departments | 35% |
Every meeting where we identified Nugent’s voice
- Sep 23, 2026City Council1.2 min3:16:58
- Sep 22, 2026Committee on Police and Fire0.6 min30:07
- Sep 9, 2026Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight1.0 min48:28
- Jul 22, 2026City Council1.1 min54:54
- Jul 16, 2026Committee on Budget and Government Operations5.0 min2:36:10
- Jul 15, 2026City Council1.3 min1:53:30
- Jul 8, 2026Committee on Transportation and Public Way1.1 min1:52:26
- May 19, 2026Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight4.8 min2:06:56
- Apr 27, 2026Committee on Budget and Government Operations6.9 min1:46:21
- Apr 15, 2026City Council1.6 min1:19:14
Show all 22Show fewer
- Apr 9, 2026Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation1.8 min1:15:51
- Mar 18, 2026City Council1.2 min4:36:24
- Mar 11, 2026Committee on Budget and Government Operations0.5 min50:38
- Jan 21, 2026City Council0.3 min2:06:06
- Dec 19, 2025City Council0.1 min1:33:20
- Dec 17, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations2.6 min5:56:06
- Nov 13, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations8.8 min7:08:11
- Nov 12, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations0.2 min5:17:06
- Nov 10, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations2.7 min3:05:47
- Nov 4, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations4.6 min10:02:11
- Oct 30, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations9.0 min1:50:04
- Oct 29, 2025Committee on Budget and Government Operations0.8 min1:20:58
How we identify who is speaking · blind check, pooled across five cities: of 410 council lines drawn, 352 right, 0 wrong, 1 unclear, 57 couldn’t be judged
We identified Nugent’s voice at 22 meetings across six bodies. A meeting missing here means we couldn’t attribute the voice, not that Nugent was absent. Claude and Gemini each read every transcript with that day’s roster. A voice gets Samantha Nugent’s name only when both agree and a code check finds the name said on, or just before, their turn. Voices our transcripts merge with someone else’s are never attributed, so every count here undercounts what Nugent said. For councils and their committees, of 410 lines drawn, 352 were right, 0 wrong and 1 unclear, and the checkers couldn’t judge 57. We have since removed the voices behind 110 of those lines (0 wrong, 1 unclear, the rest we had already held for other reasons). Of the 300 lines we still publish, the checkers could judge 268: all 268 right (90% lower bound 0.99). They couldn’t judge the other 32. The check is one sample pooled across the five cities, not of Nugent or of Chicago alone.