Do you want the children of Chicago to get a better education?
Despite school funding currently being at record-high levels, student aptitude has been falling in Chicago Public Schools for years. Enrollment in CPS schools has suffered as a result.
The same people responsible for this disservice to Chicago’s children are behind Brandon Johnson’s campaign. The Chicago Teachers Union (aka CTU), along with their colleagues at the American Federation of Teachers (aka AFT), the Illinois Federation of Teachers (aka IFT), along with SEIU, have funded 95% of his campaign.
Do you really think conditions at CPS will improve if CTU’s hand-picked candidate wins the election, effectively allowing them to negotiate with themselves for their next contract in 2024?
Do you want safe neighborhoods?
The hard-left has been championing law enforcement policies and tactics that have contributed to spikes in crime in cities across America, including the ‘defund the police’ movement. This is a two-part problem: law enforcement and criminal prosecution.
Criminal prosecution in Chicago is typically handled by the Cook County State Attorney, under the direction of Kim Foxx. Foxx has fully embraced the criminal prosecution tactics favored by the hard-left, which prioritize reducing prison populations over keeping communities safe. While the intention was to reduce social injustice, the reality is that Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods have remained dangerous while neighborhoods previously considered to be safe are currently seeing increases in crime. Cook County has been averaging almost one murder a week committed by criminals that were already out on bond for a previous crime- people that used to be incarcerated pending trial.
Law enforcement is ultimately the domain of City Hall, as the Chicago Police Department Superintendent reports to the mayor’s office. While Lori Lightfoot didn’t blindly adopt the hard-left’s preferred tactics the way Kim Foxx has, many of her tactics are similar, such as policies restricting the chasing of suspects and the handling of large groups. Ultimately, her tactics as a whole have been a failure, which is why safety is far and away the top issue in this election.
Brandon Johnson’s plan is to double down on the same tactics and policies favored by the hard-left that have been failing nationwide. Rather than fixing what made Lightfoot’s approach wrong, it double-downs on what makes Foxx’s approach wrong: actual de-funding of the police, going even lighter on criminals, focusing entirely on long-term strategies with no emphasis on the short-term, and contributing to the further erosion of morale and performance within the police department.
Accountability and performance in law enforcement are not opposing goals. An organization in need of reform needs resources to accomplish it. Johnson and his supporters don’t seem to understand that.
Do you want to live in a city that fosters opportunity for all people to better themselves and the lives of their families?
Both Johnson and Vallas have stated they intend to continue supporting Invest South/West, City Hall’s program of fostering investment and improvements in under-served communities on the South and West Sides of the city. This program started near the end of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s tenure and grew both in size and exposure under Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Johnson has proposed a variety of initiatives intended to increase opportunity for poor neighborhoods and people of color who are struggling to make ends meet. However he intends to bankroll these initiatives by putting unprecedented financial pressure on the downtown central business district using a variety of highly questionable tactics, some of which aren’t even legal. All of this is coming at a time when the CBD is essentially on life support due to workers preferring to remain remote, a position further reinforced by the crime rate mentioned above.
Why do we consider his tactics questionable? Because he doesn’t have the backing of a single notable economist or government watchdog to validate them. But plenty have spoken against them.
Do you believe city government can function better, with more accountability to the people?
Lori Lightfoot ran her first mayoral campaign in 2019 on a platform of change and accountability, with an emphasis on stamping out Machine Politics once and for all. This resoundingly beat Toni Preckwinkle, a product of the original Chicago Machine and an ally of the current Socialist-led movement that backs Brandon Johnson. This movement has evolved into what some have called “a machine” of its own: with “a moral code involving utter fealty to those above you in the hierarchy, a willingness to reward or repay those faithful to you, an obligation never to question or undermine the party as a whole and to keep your nose out of intermural fights that [are] not your business.”
Unfortuantely, like on matters of public safety, Lightfoot failed to deliver. Johnson, however, represents a return to the Machine Politics of old, which always left the public out in the cold despite their claims to the contrary.
Do you feel that political candidates should not be bought and paid for by special interests?
If a mayoral candidate was a manager at a construction company that intended to bid on O’Hare construction contracts, would you trust that person to negotiate in good faith on the city’s behalf once they got elected? Or would they essentially be negotiating with themselves?
If you later found out that this candidate’s campaign was almost exclusively bankrolled by that construction company, would you trust that person to actually be an independent voice and stand on their own two feet while in office? Or would they just tow the same line?
If that candidate was questioned during a debate to cite just one example of when they disagreed with their backer, and they couldn’t do it, would you expect them to ever do so?
If such a candidate was actually in this race, you’d be hearing supporters from groups like CTU, Chicago Working Families, and other various political groups screaming from the rooftops. And yet that’s exactly what they are doing with Brandon Johnson. Apparently what’s good for the goose isn’t so good for the gander?
Do you believe that Chicago needs to solve its financial problems with feasible solutions?
Chicago has educational institutions known around the world for their programs, research, and innovation in the field of economics. In fact the University of Chicago leads the world in producing Nobel laureates in economic sciences. If Brandon Johnson’s economic ideas are so great, why can’t he get a single one of these economic experts to endorse them?
Johnson believes in taxing our way out of our current fiscal mess and that soaking the rich will accomplish it. Again, allow us to point out that not a single economic expert has agreed with this approach! The reality is that Johnson has never been responsible for a budget anywhere near the size of the city’s. Those who watched the run-off debate on March 8th were reminded of this when pressed by moderator Mary Ann Ahern to back up his ideas for generating revenue: he simply said it was ‘a living document’.
In other words: Johnson doesn’t know.
Then, no. Brandon is not better.
And now you’re going to find out the hard way, Chicago.