Before becoming Alderman Levar worked as an assistant to the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County from 1974 until 1987.
[2] Levar remains widely despised[citation needed] in the district he represented, largely due to his unethical behavior and shakedown of area businesses for free products in exchange for favorable treatment.
[3] Alderman Levar was Chairman of the Committee on Aviation of the Chicago City Council.
Levar was chairman of the Aviation Committee since the early 1990s, while his brother Michael was a top city official in charge of O'Hare International Airport construction contracts until Michael retired from his city job in 2004.
[4] Levar unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County in 2000.