Sun-Times: Mayor Johnson takes aim at Rahm Emanuel, ex-mayor's 'neoliberal agenda'

Rahm Emanuel

Does Mayor Brandon Johnson view his predecessor as a threat? It sure seems that way if you believe this report from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Johnson’s barbs directed at Emanuel came when he was asked during his weekly City Hall news conference whether the school funding increase he plans to seek next week during a lobbying trip to Springfield would be enough to avert a stalled, $300 million, high-interest loan at the Chicago Public Schools.

Instead of answering the question directly, Johnson unleashed a tirade against Emanuel, whom he has attacked before, though never so aggressively.

The mayor said he was watching an interview with Emanuel recently and was “incredibly bothered by his temerity.” Johnson said there has been a “long, sustained movement” in Chicago to push back against the “neoliberal agenda” that Emanuel championed to “set up austere budgets” targeting African-Americans and the “public accommodations” that support them.

“The playbook that Donald Trump is running is a playbook that Emanuel executed in this city,” Johnson said.

“We didn’t get here because we just happen to have a tyrant in the White House. We got here because someone gave him the script… The shutting of schools. The firing of Black women. Privatizing our public education system is why the system is as jacked up as it is today.”

Johnson said Emanuel, who famously closed nearly 50 public schools in 2013 in one fell swoop, had “immense disdain for public education and particularly Black, Brown and poor children, and he was vocal about it.”

“He told one of my heroes — sheroes — that 25% of children won’t become anything. Those are his words directly to Karen Lewis,” Johnson said of the late Chicago Teachers Union president whose planned 2015 mayoral campaign against Emanuel was derailed when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“And now, he’s prancing around this country asking people to reconsider him,” Johnson said. “It is not just frustrating. It is beyond offensive.”

I've commented a lot about the prospect of a future third term for Rahm Emanuel and there is speculation on him running for either Governor next year, mayor in '27, or even President in '28.

The reason why he had forgone a third term in '19 was because of his standing among city voters. It was clear he was unpopular and think about it, he had to deal with a runoff in '15.

In considering the last two mayors we had, we know what we were getting. We might have an issue with what happened with Laquan McDonald and that was a tragedy, however, the last two mayors didn't know what they were doing.

What are your thoughts on the former Mayor Emanuel possibly running for another term as Mayor? You see anyone else who you'd think would be a better candidate?

Do you support recalling a Chicago Mayor?

 This recent post by CapFax talks about the current movement to recall a Chicago Mayor and the history of such a movement.

FOX News - Chicago city council meeting EXPLODES: 'We're turning red'

 

[VIDEO] I think turning Chicago "red" isn't realistic if we primarily judge by the last mayoral election.

I haven't read into too many of these clips I've seen on YouTube in recent months leading up to this month's presidential election. There are clips out there of Chicago residents going to City Hall declaring they're going to turn Chicago red and they often wear red baseball caps - though not necessarily MAGA hats.

Whether or not Chicago will turn red in the future remains to be seen. We know that the presidential race in this state was remarkably close. The margin of victory for Vice President Kamala Harris in this state was not millions of votes but at least 600K votes. An opportunity statewide for Republicans in the future but it remains to be seen if they could capitalize.

I'm sure many of you who are on X/Twitter have seen maps of which precincts in Chicago voted for President-elect Trump and some of those areas are no surprise. Especially if those areas primarily contain first responders (police & fire).

Of course one thing we can glean from comments of "turning Chicago red" is that people aren't very happy with what's going on with the city right now.

CapFax: (state senate president) Harmon still waiting for “clear direction” from mayor on elected school board

What's going on with that fully-elected schoolboard & what is that Chicago Teacher Union activist Mayor's position on this issue? Why won't he make a clear position on an elected schoolboard?

Harmon still waiting for “clear direction” from mayor on elected school board https://t.co/cWftLG4IqJ

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) January 17, 2024

 

CapFax: MAA grills the mayor on the CTU, CPD and Arwady

 NBC Chicago's Mary Ann Ahern speaks with Mayor Johnson and when you click through to the Capitol Fax blog be prepared for the evasive answers.

MAA grills the mayor on the CTU, CPD and Arwady https://t.co/5Y493Eyegf

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) August 22, 2023

WGN: Many becoming impatient with Mayor Johnson's approach of getting to root of crime in Chicago

 

[VIDEO] Well, do you think Brandon Johnson in addition to wanting to hire more police detectives could instead hire more police officers? More people on a beat? Just as it seems the city council has, have you grown impatient with Mayor Johnson's "mulit-tiered" approach to the crime issue?

Lori Lightfoot says she's done with electoral politics #ChiMayor23

 

[VIDEO] In her interview with ABC 7 since her first round loss in February in her re-election bid for mayor she brushes aside her combative style as why she lost in the first round. Though she does admit there are many things she could've done differently. She even stated if she could get 4000 votes across Black Chicago she'd still be mayor.

Now I saw some speculation on Twitter about her possibly running for Cook County State's Attorney and Lightfoot was a federal prosecutor. Some might say she was a better prosecutor than mayor - which well that's the truth. Some might say she might go back to the Justice Department perhaps even become Chicago's US Attorney although I don't know if there is a vacancy there.

Regardless she did state that she's done with electoral politics. Is it safe to say she won't run for office ever again?

BTW, I forgot to note in reference to the State's Attorney that last week Kim Foxx stated that she will not run for re-election next year. So that position is now an "open seat"! 

Chicago will host the 2024 DNC

 Well next year the Windy City will be host to the Democrat Nat'l Convention. This is hitting the wires today.

It has been in the news that Gov. Pritzker, Sen. Duckworth, and outgoing Mayor Lightfoot had been working on a bid to get the 2024 Democrat convention here in Chicago. It seems their work has been successful and perhaps it will be incoming Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson big opportunity to showcase the city he will soon be set to lead for the next four years.

CNBC:

The Democratic Party has chosen Chicago as the site of its 2024 convention.

President Joe Biden called Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to tell him about Chicago’s selection Tuesday morning before leaving for Ireland.

“Chicago is a great choice to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” Biden said in a statement. “Democrats will gather to showcase our historic progress including building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down.”

The City of Big Shoulders last hosted a convention in 1996, when then-President Bill Clinton ran for re-election and Democrats helped make famous the “Macarena” dance.

...

“The last Chicago convention was a huge success. It makes sense to put the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 2024. Every facility where it will be located will be a union facility. Every hotel is a union hotel,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth told NBC News Thursday. “We are a state that guaranteed in multiple ways the right of women to have reproductive choice. And in fact, we are a beacon of hope and security for women’s health care from all of the states around us.”

Chicago was first viewed as a leading contender more than a year ago. But the DNC has a more troubled history in the city, when police brutality was on display at the 1968 Democratic convention. Thousands of Vietnam War protesters descended on the city in a wide-scale rebuke of the war. Police tear-gassed, dragged and beat demonstrators — images that were captured on television. That moment gave birth to a chant, “the whole world is watching,” signifying activism in the face of abusive authority.

The decision to choose Chicago came after deliberations and site visits from Democratic National Committee members. In recent months, the DNC viewed Chicago and Atlanta as the front-runners, with New York City remaining in the mix.

Part of me wishes the convention could be held at House of Hope in Pullman. Well one day there will be a major convention there with connections to the action in downtown. It's logical that the DNC will hold their convention at the United Center aka the Madhouse on Madison.

For those of you who are Republican or those Republicans who still exist in our great city, the GOP will host their nat'l convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It seems there will be focus on these Great Lake states (really Wisconsin, Michigan & Pennsylvania) which proved very pivotal in 2016 & 2020.