40th Ward: When Patrick O’Connor became this ward’s alderman, Ronald Reagan was president, the Dow Jones was at 1,258 and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” topped the charts. Thirty-six years later, O’Connor still runs the 40th, which includes parts of Lincoln Square, Edgewater, Andersonville and West Ridge. Now 64, O’Connor is Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s floor leader and one of his closest City Council allies. O’Connor knows the nuts and bolts of City Hall governance, and his ward has benefited from his stewardship. But he also helped sidetrack ordinances in 2014, 2015 and 2016 that would have ramped up scrutiny of the council by the city inspector general and the council’s one-time watchdog, Faisal Khan. In 2016, O’Connor talked of the ebb and flow of city politics, telling the Tribune, “Who knows what the crisis of the day is going to be a year from now or two years from now?” Now we know. The criminal charge against Ald. Ed Burke, along with the fallout of Ald. Danny Solis’ wire-wearing, have created an urgent need for meaningful reform at City Hall. If O’Connor’s alert to the moment, he’ll help enable those reforms instead of impeding them as he has at times. None of his opponents — Dianne Daleiden, Andre Vasquez, Ugo Okere and Maggie O’Keefe — impressed us enough to turn us against O’Connor. But our endorsement comes with a reminder: Voters want aldermen to embrace reform, not block it.