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.