Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will not seek re-election

Like a thunderbolt, the news was startling --- the day before the trial of the Chicago Police Officer, Jason Van Dyke, accused of shooting black teenager, Laquan McDonald, 16 times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced this Tuesday with his wife, Amy Rule, at his side, “ As much as I love this job and will always love this city and its residents, I have decided not to seek re-election.”

Many City Hall observers have said that the timing of the announcement was crucial, and that knowing that there would be planned demonstrations, all over the city, but especially in front of his office and also near the courthouse, that could have not only become unruly, but a violent protest against his alleged suppression that the infamous dashcam tape, might turn ugly, and in a coda to his stacking dollars in a campaign fund, it might not be enough if he faced the shame of being drummed out of office, in the 2019 election, but also an earlier public embarrassment on the national stage, before he could get in campaign gear.

Even fresh from being President Obama’s chief of staff, Emanuel held himself above the fray, not even committing to a hard core campaign for his first term, and mostly avoided the typical rush to shake hands at the subway stations, preferring instead to take an extended vacation with his family - a move that many thought of as presumptuous, even arrogant.

Elected with over 45 percent of the Black wards, and over a black candidate, Carol Moseley Braun, Emanuel took this as a mandate, but then, as critics noted, later closed over 50 schools in black neighborhoods, and a near equal measure of mental health clinics, for a population that could scarcely afford food, not to mention psychotherapy, that many saw as betrayal.

In his remarks the 58 year-old acknowledged the old Washington cliché, of “I am leaving to spend more time with my family,” an old canard that the late Meg Greenfield, columnist for the Washington Post and Newsweek, that evoked suspects of losing an important political fight, or a financial peccadillo.

What he did say was, after thanking Rule for being a “remarkable First Lady”, and that, “We’re blessed with three great children, and I owe them so much as well. Politicians always say they’re leaving office to spend more time with their family. My kids were smart enough to see that coming and scattered to the two coasts, so as of the other day we are now empty nesters.”

Humor, and love, aside Emanuel, despite raising millions for his campaign chest, was on thin ice, and after his last campaign, was forced into a run-off, against Cook County Commissioner, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a first in Chicago mayoral history, was perhaps no better illustrated than a picture of him running along an ice-covered street eager to talk to a tall, fashionably dressed black woman, head wrapped African style, who shot him a wary glance, as he tried to shake her hand with an almost heard plea of “Just let me go home, please!”

While he served the LGBT community well in a number of ways that they acknowledged: “". . . on behalf of the LGBTQ community, he secured funding and worked with the Chicago City Council to develop and complete the city’s first affordable housing complex for LGBTQ seniors. Mayor Emanuel partnered with former City Clerk Susana Mendoza and current City Clerk Anna Valencia to develop the municipal ID program that allows transgender and gender non-conforming individuals to select the marker of the gender with which they identify . . . “

But, for many black and brown people it was different, with many calling for his resignation, after a local judge ordered the release of the aforementioned tape, not to mention a teachers strike that had many women of color fighting for parity.

While some of supporters praised him for mandating a longer school day, the Chicago Teachers Union, took umbrage when he did not want to pay them more for a longer day.

Despite inheriting a financial mess, Emanuel’s efforts at improving the pension crisis, was mostly bungled with a series of regressive taxes, and a reluctance to look at best practices from other cities, he augured for more loans and at higher and higher interest rates; so much so that it appeared that Chicago had to borrow to pay the latter.

Test scores improved at the schools along with graduation rates, yet he played a cat and mouse game with closing some schools, only to reopen others, even as student enrollment dwindled, but was revealed to be a surreptitious plan when the surrounding neighborhood was being gentrified, depriving once again black and brown CPS students of a decent education.

Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement: after acknowledging the Mayor's unpopularity and resentment by many residents, said of  Emanuel’s reputation, “Maybe it’s different down in Emerald City, in the gleaming downtown, but out in the neighborhoods … in the working class parts of this city, this is not a popular mayor,” Sharkey said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that “Sharkey said the CTU would only back a candidate that supports an elected school board, is committed to raising revenue for schools and will work towards raising school standards across the city.”

Former police superintendent Garry McCarthy had to fall on his sword to appease the mayor’s critics over the McDonald issue, only to have to face a scathing Department of Justice appraisal and a consent decree to do better, and an equally scathing statement when he announced his mayoral candidacy, in an already crowded field.

Now that field that includes education leader Troy LaRaviere, City Clerk, Dorothy Brown, business man Willie Wilson, former CPS CEO, Paul Vallas and former police accountability board leader, Lori Lightfoot, are all under the spotlight, but the field remains open, and for many Chicago residents, who welcomed a change, they can put their sights on a new face to tackle the many challenges the city faces, rather than battle the maligned incumbent.