A feisty Bridget Gainer considers a run for Chicago mayor

Despite the perils of what may be the least enviable job in America, being mayor of Chicago, America's third largest city, is very much on the mind of a field of contenders, from all manner of professions:  educators, business people, school administrators, and perhaps even more as we write.

Waiting on the sidelines is Cook County Board Commissioner, Bridget Gainer, the flame-haired, and outspoken scion of a working class Southside family, whose forthrightness seems a shoo-in for this city of strong shoulders, and even stronger opinions.

“Who else is in the race is irrelevant . . . It’s not about who is in the field and who is not in the field in this incredibly growing field. Pretty soon, we’ll have to rent a bus if the candidates have to go anywhere but it’s a big field. That’s not the reason. The reason is the motivation to have an impact,” Gainer told the Chicago Tribune, proving that she comes by that red hair honestly.

Taking on the top job means handling an economic crisis - albeit inherited -  that has at its basis, meeting mandated pensions, and a public school system, mired in debt, and where both the pensions, and the budget hole, have been met by borrowed funds, ensuing thousands of dollars in interest payments.

Take the added weight of a long legacy of racial intolerance, and segregation (some say the most in the nation) is often the source of some of the city’s more glaring problems with equity.

An example is the huge gap of distrust between the police force and many of the black communities Taken together, the die is set for a job that most would shun, as even tackling one problem creates another one, much like the proverbial Russian stacking dolls.

The incumbent, Rahm Emanuel, has been seen as out of touch with most residents, especially in the aftermath of the shooting of a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times, by a white police officer, who said he was fearful of being attacked.

The video showed the exact opposite but, only after it was ordered released by a local judge, which caused a public uproar and demands for his resignation, and the defeat of the states attorney.

In a revealing interview with Chicago magazine last year, as rumors began to swirl about her interest in becoming mayor, Gainer, seemed to set the stage as a scrapper, when she said: “I’ve thought about it. It’s something I’ll continue to think about. It’s still a couple of years in the future, but I love the city, I grew up here and I’m going to live here until I die, so I want to be a part of whatever is going to make it better.”

No one ever said that redheads are not feisty, and this note of spice may be just what the city needs, and also seems to be consistent with the recent entry of more women in state and local races; which some attribute to the #Me too movement, and to others the well augered defeat of Hillary Clinton for the White House.

The fact that Jeanne Ives came within three points of defeating incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner, for the GOP nomination, speaks volumes for the strength of female candidates.

With a resume that includes work in New York City as a community organizer it seems that alone might be a ticket for admission, considering another famous Chicagoan who had this on his resume.

That work led to intensive boots-on-the-ground labor, getting schools to be open later for low income people of color for much needed activites, and as she noted, “I did a year of volunteer work with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I made $400 a month, lived with five other people in a rectory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. One of the people I worked for was Geoffrey Canada, who has gone on to do the Harlem Children’s Zone and Waiting for Superman. I was trained in Alinsky-style organization.”

As was Hillary Clinton.

For a white woman from the Southside, this may give her some cred in the black communities, whose need is just as great, right here in Chicago. Gainer has also showed some creativity as she adapted a program for abandoned properties to be sold for reuse in these same communities.

“So I’m reading through stuff one day, and I found this example of the land bank, started by a man in Flint, Michigan, when he was the county treasurer. I found money in my budget and I asked him to consult on how to create a land bank in Cook County,” as she described how the Cook County Land Bank was created.

Using examples from the land bank she said, in the interview, that she gained a lot from working with African Americans on bread and butter issues, and “from sitting together looking at neighborhood maps and determining how many young people we could employ if we bought 20 houses and used them as job sites. People and communities have most of what they need to help themselves. The role of government is to challenge the things that get in their way—whether it’s government, the court system, or the free market.”

Helpful also is her Catholicism, in a town where the Roman Catholic Church has long held power in politics, and her open admiration for Pope Francis gives her points with progressive Catholic liberals with whom she self-identifies.

“As a woman who’s a progressive, the Catholic church can test your faith sometimes. I am pro choice. At mass at the Vatican, I looked around and thought, we have a really universal church. Every corner of the world is represented, and the pope is up there, and he has done and said wonderful things. . . .I don’t talk about my faith a lot, but when you think we have this call to mission, to serve the poor, you realize we’re part of something that has lasted for centuries.”

Lest this all sound too perfect, Gainer has had to take it on the chin for missing a lot of Cook County Board meetings, and after some initial sparky comments, such as this one in January: “Have I missed some meetings? Sure,” Gainer said. “I’ve missed some of my kids’ games, too. And that bothers me more.”

She later tempered them - somewhat -  in an interview published in the Chicago Sun-Times, ““Being a working mother is part of who I am. Like starting the land bank is part of who I am. Just like encouraging women to run for office is part of who I am. I don’t think it’s something to hide behind,” and also added, “Sometimes, I have commitments in the neighborhood with constituents doing what I think to be a lot of work of the county board. As far as attendance goes, everyone can always do better. I can do better.”

Another sticking point: her admiration for the Daley's, père et fils, may cost her some votes, should she run, as many residents blame them for the pension holidays and parking meter privatization deal that cost the city millions of revenue that could have stayed locally, rather than in the coffers of New York bankers.

As we saw in the recent primary money means a lot, in modern political races, and as the Tribune reported, “If Gainer enters the Feb. 26 race, she will have a leg up on the competition. She has $804,142 in her campaign fund, second only to Emanuel’s revised total of $3.8 million after a flood of contributions reported Friday.”

Let’s wait and see what the lady decides.

After weeks of speculation and hopes, the last Saturday in July, Gainer decided to not enter the mayoral race, despite high hopes that in the year of the woman,  she would get those votes, "as well as residents of both the Northwest and Southwest sides," noted the Sun-Times, as well as the cash that she had, $843,265, second only to Emanuel's Midas Fortune of $7.56 million.

She will continue her focus on the Aon's Chicago Apprenticeship Network for young adults, as well as the Cook County Land Bank. She has told the media that "no deals were made to get her to drop out," the Sun-Times also reported.

Updated 30 July 2018 at 7:19 p.m. (CSDT)

Troy LaRaviere's passionate run to be Chicago mayor

If someone could determine the three ills facing Chicago, then they would be: crime, city finances, and the public schools. For the latter, it has become the cause that most residents want to see change the most; from fixing a bad physical plant (what Gov. Bruce Rauner described as “crumbling prisons”), to underfunded pensions, first, negotiated in good faith, and later subject to being de facto state government piñatas, to competition with charter schools, to mandated testing, to provisions for opting out of them.

Within this maelstrom, there was one central figure that famously battled the system, as principal, and community hero, and that was ousted Blaine Elementary School principal Troy LaRaviere, who has recently announced his candidacy for mayor in 2019.

During his tenure he took what was once a lackluster North side Elementary school and increased test scores, and worked tirelessly on behalf of students, as well, as parents to give students an equal footing with their suburban cohorts.

With an enrollment just under 900, Blaine was recognized by Chicago Magazine in 2010 as the 16th best elementary school in the city, and also the 6th best “neighborhood school.” But there were obstacles he said that prevented it from reaching the number one slot. And, in this struggle, public enemy number one, at least according to him, was Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose tenure has been marked by what he has often failed to do: keep city schools open in neighborhoods that need them and shore up the finances and the physical plant required for daily instruction.

When he resigned, or some say, was forced to resign, LaRaviere was the one to publicly condemn those he felt were responsible for not allowing the school to earn even higher accolades.

In his open letter of resignation, posted on his personal blog, he cited politics as his nemesis as he turned around Blaine during his five year tenure; LaRaviere also noted, in his resignation, the fingerprints of the mayor, when he said ,“In a word, the biggest obstacle to Blaine becoming the #1 neighborhood school in Chicago was politics. And while many people contributed to this problem, nobody in our great city is more responsible for that political obstruction than you.” 

Taking the mayor head on, with a pointed figure, albeit a virtual one made him, a leader in many quarters outside of City Hall. And, as we wrote, then: “While the mayor has touted charter schools as having the best test scores, the opposite has been true, and the former principal  has “published research that revealed public schools produced significantly more academic growth in students than charter schools; exposed filthy conditions in Chicago schools that were the result of botched custodial privatization deal; and uncovered the manipulation of charter school test score data by CPS officials.”

LaRaviere’s support for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cost him dearly, with Mayor Emanuel, and the Illinois School Board of Education, who felt that these activities were an ethics violation. But, his true sin may have been giving voice to many that the “emperor has no clothes.”

To put the mayor on a path of accountability, many have wanted an elected school board and two years ago local lawmakers held a series of town hall style meetings to address the concerns, and the mounting debt that had cost many schools, staff reductions and program cuts, and what was thought to be at least $8.7 million in looming cuts.

Chicago Teachers Union Kurt Hilgendorf, noted at one of those meetings, which in an earlier advisory referendum 37 wards voted for an elected school board, “more than for Rahm Emanuel [to remain in office].” He also noted that Chicago’s appointed board had been in place since 1995, and that it “is bad for policy making,” and “has limited participation for parents,” but is ultimately “bad for policy making,” especially with “the rapid decline in neighborhood school enrollment,” which are being drained by the charter schools favored by the board.

There are certainly those that want a board, but in a perfect storm, it would not offer as much shelter as thought, and probably not provide much needed debt relief, if any, despite the great need. But, those that feel that Emanuel’s dictatorial hold on the board and his disastrous chiefs, the now felon, Barbara Byrd Bennett, and the disgraced Forrest Claypool as two examples.

Adding to the mix is a racial component that has a system that is mostly African American and Hispanic, and an elected board could tip heavily in favor of whites, and disenfranchise students of color; but some are leaning towards a proposed district election rather than a citywide.

Fast forward to now and LaRaviere is still bashing the mayor, not only for incompetence, but his cosy relations with wealthy individuals and corporations. As the Chicago Tribune noted, “LaRaviere, who is president of the Chicago principals association, also charged that Emanuel's office is "corrupt" because "wealthy investors, bankers and corporations have seized control of city government to make it work for the few at the expense of the masses." LaRaviere pointed to a pair of Chicago Tribune reports from 2015 and 2017 that found that up to 70 percent of the mayor's top donors have benefited from actions at City Hall, from contracts and zoning approvals to appointments and personal endorsements from the mayor.”

All things being equal it became a showdown between the two and “In April 2016, the Emanuel-controlled Chicago Public Schools removed LaRaviere as principal of Lakeview’s Blaine Elementary amid allegations of insubordination for opposing a standardized test and ignoring warnings about engaging in on-the-job "political activity."

“LaRaviere insisted his firing was "politically motivated," and the move drew a rebuke from then-U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who slammed Emanuel for having an "unhealthy obsession with taking revenge." The mayor said he had nothing to do with the decision.”

With most of the city in the red, in the not too distant past, Emanuel borrowed heavily, despite a historically huge property tax, in the city’s history, plus a trail of regressive taxes, and “LaRaviere also takes aim at Emanuel’s financial management of the city, pointing to a Tribune report from March 2017 that found that the mayor’s short-term budget solutions would cost the city $1 billion in interest, much of it coming due after the 2019 election. On his website, LaRaviere predicts Chicagoans will pay for the debt with increased property taxes, dubbing it “Rahm’s Debt-Tax.”

“As mayor, I will be upfront about the cost of good government, end the practice of indebting taxpayers to big banks and raise enough revenue to adequately fund city services,” LaRaviere says on his website. He did not specify, however, what taxes he would raise or institute to come up with enough money to wipe out such debt, bringing a stinging rebuke from Emanuel’s office that he had no plan.

It may be too late for interest relief payment, but tax burdened Chicagoans could use an advocate for better fiscal oversight, and at the very least, find creative solutions, that stay within the strictures of the state constitution; and some ideas flouted have ignored that.

Long burdened by racial divisions, the school system is a symptom of that legacy, and racial equity, a plank in LaRaviere’s platform is a much needed effort to hit it head on.

He will have a harder time, as a person of color, in battling the machine, and the tenure of Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington is indicative of the courage, and vitality needed to cross that hurdle. The powers that be will not move easily, as all who remember the Council Wars can attest.

His test, as the campaign heats up will be for details on how he can effect transformation, as well, and how he can make the transition from educator to politician and we will be watching, and waiting to see how he fares.

Contenders to replace Chicago Mayor Emanuel, say he's a disaster

With the Illinois Primary behind us, all eyes have turned to the announcements of the mayoral challenges to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in 2019, and many feel that after his increased unpopularity after the 2012 teachers strike, and the closing of most of the city’s mental health clinics plus over 50 schools that served primarily black, or brown, students, that it’s time to give him a shove from the top job.

Chicago has struggled to meet pension obligations ($36 billion during Emanuel’s first term) for teachers, firefighters, and other public servants, and Emanuel’s response was a series of property taxes, the first was the highest in the city’s history, coupled with a litany of regressive taxes that were disguised as necessary maneuvers, such as a shopping bag tax, that most have worked around, by bringing their own; often those eponymously labeled cloth bags for sale, from stores, like the locally owned Jewel Supermarket.

Next up is the violence that has become known nationwide, in predominantly two areas of the city, but also that has spread, often, to others, much like the story of a woman that was recently stabbed on a city bus, leaving pricey Michigan Avenue, by an unknown assailant, to an increase in robbery along that same area; frequented by tourists and residents alike.

There was good news this quarter where there was a significant decrease in violent shootings, with the aid of technology; yet the fear is still there with the inevitable rise in both crime and shootings with the arrival of warmer weather.

Emanuel faced fierce criticism in another area of concern: police overreach and abuse that has historically been directed at mostly black men (such as that of the notorious John Burge), but has also extended to Latino men, creating a disheartening legacy; but one that has seen justice with the recent release of many black men accused of crimes, they did not commit, (often by forced confessions), aided by advances in DNA and other diagnostic evidence.

The mayor sailed into office in 2011 with the support of many black wards, but now with the aforementioned school closings, especially, but mostly, with the suppression of the video tape of 16-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot walking away from police, when police said he was armed and coming towards them. But, the tape  showed otherwise, and the outcry from that community resulted in demands for his resignation, with the support of many non-blacks.

With a hand-in-glove act, the then State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, who most say helped to suppress the tape - it was an election year -- the die was soon cast for accusations of a cover-up.

According to the archives of the Tribune, “The mayor has emphatically denied keeping the shooting video under wraps to get past the election. But he acknowledged he “added to the suspicion and distrust” by blindly following the city’s long-standing practice of withholding shooting videos to avoid compromising criminal investigations.”

Police abuse, and demands for accountability, reached a peak after a decades old pile ups for a Department of Justice investigation in late 2016, that resulted in a blistering report by then Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and a recommendation for a consent decree; but with the incoming administration of President Trump, and his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, that call was not supported.

Now, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has issued a lawsuit, to have the decree, to force reform, a slow burning wick, especially, for communities of color.

Since then, nothing has been quite the same for the 58- year- old mayor, and being forced into a runoff, in his effort for a second term, he broke history, with a first for Chicago.

Added to the heady mix in this morass, is poor city financing, and violent crime, there is the public school system, tainted by scandal, and the sentencing, and jailing, of former school superintendent, Barbara Byrd Bennett -- who was found guilty of a kickback scheme, with her former employer, in a scheme that also involved questionable training for school principals.

Her successor, Forrest Claypool, a longtime “go-to” guy for previous mayors, resulted in an ethics scandal and a tainted reputation, not only for the city as corrupt, but also for its leading officials.

The school system, increasingly debt-ridden, and facing pubic revelations such as a recent sanitation neglect, in a blitz inspection, mostly in black schools, it has underscored like the city’s long legacy of racial segregation, which has forced generations of blacks into inferior schools, along with  substandard housing, creating a maelstrom of its own design.

Coupled with economic disinvestment and crippling crime, which has led to a downward cycle that has blighted these neighborhoods. and now their residents are a force to be reckoned with, in the voting booth.

The Corporation for Enterprise and Development, in a report released last year, noted that “about 65 percent of African-American, Latino and Asian households in Chicago have so little savings and other assets that a sudden job loss, medical emergency or other income disruption would throw them into poverty within three months.”

With accusations in the recent primary that Emanuel had intentionally led a disinvestment of black communities, by gubernatorial candidate, Chris Kennedy, to lead a wholesale gentrification of the city, coupled with even more closings, this time in the poverty ridden Englewood, race will be a considerable factor in the 2019 mayoral election.

Most observers have designated out of a crowded field, three leading contenders, among them Paul Vallas, a financial guru, and a former CEO of the schools, who has also had considerable support among black residents, when he held that position.

Saying that he is in it to win, Vallas, as well as one of the better known of the contenders has also faced a number of withering criticism from the Emanuel camp, and among them was this, after the former criticized his handling of the $36 billion pension crisis:  ““This is a person who is the architect of kicking the can down the road  – from skipping pension payments, eliminating direct-line revenue support for teachers pensions to Chicago’s corporate account . . . It took the city seven long, hard years to fix what he broke,” Emanuel said.

Of Chicago’s foremost ills, the economic challenges are the most headline grabbing and have garnered the tax increases, bemoaned by many.

Vallas said, criticized Emanuel’s actions, in a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, “You had Quinn as governor for four years. You had a veto-proof House and Senate. You could have addressed the pension issue. You could have addressed school funding reform. You could have passed a permanent increase in the income tax.”

“They punted for four years and, after the election, suddenly the sword of Damocles comes crashing down. What’s gonna happen in the next four years? The long-term structural problems . . . have not yet been addressed. They’re talking about major post-election tax increases . . . Who are you gonna trust to navigate the city through those troubled financial waters?”

Rounding the bend is former top cop, Garry McCarthy, who Emanuel fired after the McDonald scandal, who told the Chicago Tribune, in an interview, that he wanted to save “a great American city,” but who lacks the cash, and the will to fund raise, and lacks personal wealth (seemingly a given now, in Illinois) in order to donate to his run,

“Between the taxes, our economy, the schools and the crime rate here, we’re a laughingstock in America,” McCarthy said. “The prevailing thought about Chicago is we’re on our way down in all those areas, and they all infect each other, and nobody seems to get that. It’s almost like a ‘Wake up, Chicago’ moment.”

Getting to that point may take more than good intentions, as the road to being at least nominated is now fueled by cold, hard cash; and at last report, in 2017, Emanuel had over $1.6 million, as seed money to make a third term.

McCarthy’s Achilles heel is that he “will have to address the Laquan McDonald police shooting scandal that occurred on his watch,” but also face his lack of experience “on issues outside of crime and. Plus, his entree into politics will be for one of the toughest public jobs in America against one of the country’s most seasoned politicians.”

In the third spot, as of now, is millionaire businessman, Willie Wilson, whose deep pockets allowed him to donate $100,000 to his own campaign chest to fight Emanuel, who he has said, is “the worst mayor the city has ever seen,” and who wants to shore up city finances, and get money flowing to the neighborhoods, not just downtown.

Most notably, in a nod to fairness, the businessman has crusaded on the issue of bail reform for misdemeanors and low level crimes, that impact the city’s black residents, disproportionately, but also a national one, and in January, he said: “This is a moral issue for our country, when we can take away people's freedoms because they are unable to post bail for nonviolent crimes and misdemeanors.”

The legislation is being sponsored by U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.)

Looking at the spotty legacy, that Emanuel has left, and even his deep pockets, Wilson says: “But all the money he has ain’t gonna do him no good. He’s done so wrong for the citizens of Chicago. He doesn’t have the base that he used to have. He closed down schools. He’s been unfair with contracts. He’s raised taxes eight times in the past few years. People have lost their homes. And Laquan McDonald is a major issue. He covered up that situation.”

“In Round One of the 2015 mayoral race, Wilson got 25 percent of the black vote — 10.6 percent overall. That helped force Emanuel into Chicago’s first mayoral runoff,” noted the Trib, and it’s important to keep that number in mind, when looking at the contenders, and that Emanuel ponied up $24 million to leap over the fence to stay.

It’s also notable that these men are playing hardball and Wilson invited both Vallas and McCarthy to establish a gentlemen's agreement that they would lay off each other, and spend their time to force Emanuel, into another runoff.

Next time, we take a look at the other contenders, for it’s not over yet, even one year out.