Chicago Megathread: With CTU on strike, Lightfoot lays out her budget

[PSOL]

Analysis of Periwinkle by Jacobinmag
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/09/toni-preckwinkle-chicago-mayor-cook-county
Well she seems like a much better candidate than Emmanuel and the machine backed candidates, but who has a cleaner record.

[PSOL]

Willie Wilson was endorsed by the Cook County GOP.

Still think he's not going to get the most Republican support, sjoyce?

Yes? the Cook County GOP is mostly run by cranks, not sure why you think they matter

Oddly, Willie Wilson was also endorsed by Progressive Caucus and DSA member Congressman Danny K. Davis. To someone out of the loop, can someone tell me what’s Willie Wilson’s platform for mayor? Because all of these contradictory endorsements along with no ad presence makes it very confusing to know the appeal and niche one has to be polling 10%.

[PSOL]

Why isn't McCarthy doing well in the polls?

there are reasons, but explaining them would shatter your entire worldview, so

No, it won't. Explain to me. Please.

Chicagoans won’t vote for someone part of an organization that tries to hide the murder of young black men. That’s part of the reason why Rahm Emmanuel declined to go another term.

[PSOL]

Who is the progressive option in the race? Asking for a friend.

Lori Lightfoot at this point, as Toni Preckwincle is too tied to the machine and Amara Eniya May have sketchy tax returns in the lieu of Trump. If any of these three make it to the runoff by themselves, don’t however vote for the machine and vote for them.

[PSOL]

Just cast my vote for the BIG D!  Lets hope we get a Daley/Burke two-fer tonight - can’t let Chicago go the way of Detroit.

Any fault the city has is in part due to the corrupt Daley clan. A Rahm-lite candidate would be disastrous for the city considering the emigration of those with the means to the suburbs and sun belt, like in the aftermath of the Teacher Strike a few years ago.

[PSOL]

Guys, who else is giddy in here! I sure know I am.

[PSOL]

After a surprising first round, the race becomes a slow burner with Lori Lightfoot just gathering endorsement after endorsement. The best thing that makes up for an easy race is that Mayor Lightfoot will have a very smooth transition to power, having the people’s support over the remaining dump of the local machine. I’m still at awe how something like this could be possible, especially with historically terrible turnout across the board.

[PSOL]

I’m still at awe how something like this could be possible, especially with historically terrible turnout across the board.

wouldn't you think low turnout would favor the candidate preferred by the groups with the highest turnout rates (ie white liberals)?

I guess, I thought that Conservatives would push it to be a Lightfoot v.s. Daley race.

[PSOL]

This race got muddied real fast. Lightfoot got busted for accepting cash from a‘Dark Money’ group. Who is the actual progressive in this race?

[PSOL]

Is this purporting that the painters are progressive because they endorsed Susana Mendoza?

Don't be a dummy. The plumbers union (and their close relationship with the Daleys) is the reason Chicago has more lead service lines than any other city in the country. Paul Vallas is Paul Vallas. Nothing to do with the painters, they're fairly benign.

Anyway, today Lightfoot said she will retain police superintendent Eddie Johnson, saying she refuses to "pander to the crowds that want him gone.” "The crowds" want Johnson gone because of his history of justifying police misconduct. She also said she opposes the proposal for a new police academy (the $95 million contract just passed City Council today) because she wants a much larger police academy similar to NYC's $750 million center, which would also be used to train state-level officers. She also said she wants more training locations, proposing to turn 38 of the schools Rahm closed into police training facilities.

Wow, love this! 

Why are you a Democrat again? I would expect you’d be more at home with the blue fascists that protect you position than be a Democrat, at least nationally?

[PSOL]

This race got muddied real fast. Lightfoot got busted for accepting cash from a‘Dark Money’ group. Who is the actual progressive in this race?

This is a manufactured issue. Preckwinkle would’ve taken every dime of it if it had gone her way. It says nothing about Lightfoot’s stance on money in politics, not that she’ll be in a position to make decisions on the laws around that anyway.

It’s ironic that the Preckwinkle folks would be critical of it, too, considering she has raked in millions upon millions more in high dollar contributions than Lightfoot has.

Look at it this way, if she was misleading people on this, she could be on other major planks. Just look at how she supported the continuation of a pro-cop official and the support for that police academy. I’m just saying this race has become incredibly nuanced over who is better than who.

[PSOL]

Is this purporting that the painters are progressive because they endorsed Susana Mendoza?

Don't be a dummy. The plumbers union (and their close relationship with the Daleys) is the reason Chicago has more lead service lines than any other city in the country. Paul Vallas is Paul Vallas. Nothing to do with the painters, they're fairly benign.

Anyway, today Lightfoot said she will retain police superintendent Eddie Johnson, saying she refuses to "pander to the crowds that want him gone.” "The crowds" want Johnson gone because of his history of justifying police misconduct. She also said she opposes the proposal for a new police academy (the $95 million contract just passed City Council today) because she wants a much larger police academy similar to NYC's $750 million center, which would also be used to train state-level officers. She also said she wants more training locations, proposing to turn 38 of the schools Rahm closed into police training facilities.

Wow, love this! 

Why are you a Democrat again? I would expect you’d be more at home with the blue fascists that protect you position than be a Democrat, at least nationally?

I support Democrats that believe in a system of law and order, just as the majority of Chicagoans do.  The people who are actually affected be violence, and don't live in a Hyde Park bubble, take these issues seriously.  This is why Lori is now shifting and why every mayor has in the past.  Cute slogans about punishing the police can only get you so far - its not your city.

The Academy isn’t going to impact jobs, education, nor infrastructure that the community knows fights crime. Instead money is wasted for something that the locals don’t want and know won’t be a positive for their community, just more money for contractors and those employed by patronage.

[PSOL]

100,000 member-strong union endorses Toni Preckwinkle for mayor

[PSOL]

I had a discussion over the candidates with a close friend, and he came up with several good points as to why Toni Preckwinkle is a safer choice for mayor. He says the coalesceing endorsements and anti-establishment sentiment around the Lightfoot campaign reminds him of Blagojevich’s early campaign for governor in 2002. Now I wasn’t aware much at the time, nor of the mood of the general situation, but the thought is a scary one. Perhaps sticking with the devil we all know is a safer bet, lest we end up with a wildcard mayoralship?

[PSOL]

I had a discussion over the candidates with a close friend, and he came up with several good points as to why Toni Preckwinkle is a safer choice for mayor. He says the coalesceing endorsements and anti-establishment sentiment around the Lightfoot campaign reminds him of Blagojevich’s early campaign for governor in 2002. Now I wasn’t aware much at the time, nor of the mood of the general situation, but the thought is a scary one. Perhaps sticking with the devil we all know is a safer bet, lest we end up with a wildcard mayoralship?

Certainly not defending Blagojevich’s actions, which were illegal and unethical, but your friend should know that Blago was just the idiot that got caught. Madigan, Burke, Vrdolyak, Berrios, etc etc, all of whom are closely allied with Toni Preckwinkle, have done just as much if not worse than Blago did. Blago did it without the smarts and the protection, so he went to prison.

They’ve all just barely skirted jail time due to technicalities and toeing the line. Thankfully it looks like Burke and Vrdolyak’s time are finally coming to roost, though Lord knows shaking down a Burger King is the least of Burke’s sins in his long career.

So while there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Lightfoot would engage in the corruption that Blago did, there is evidence that Preckwinkle could get away with it if she did, based on the people that she has surrounded herself with.

Not to mention the fact that she has no ethics reform plan available on her website and she does not favor limiting aldermanic privilege nor aldermanic and mayoral term limits. Lightfoot favors both and has a comprehensive ethics reform plan.

It does seem unlikely, yes. But there could also be a possibility for her to disregard her campaign promises and start aligning with Burke & Co. She didn’t disregard and deny the endorsements of Gery Chico and O’Shea, famed Machine politicians. I’m just saying be prepared for anything with her.

Meanwhile, on election news, Loghtfoot hit with liens for unpaid taxes. This could be extremely damaging for her anti-corruption image.

[PSOL]

Rep. Danny K. Davis endorsed Preckwinkle just recently on her being the most experienced candidate to run the city. In the endorsement he highlights that while Lightfoot isn’t a bad pick, she has never been elected to office, and doesn’t know how to properly handle the pension crisis.

[PSOL]

Is the African-American vote going to probably be in the Preckwinkle camp, or is it a tossup with Willie’s endorsement of Lightfoot?

[PSOL]

 

Is the African-American vote going to probably be in the Preckwinkle camp, or is it a tossup with Willie’s endorsement of Lightfoot?

I anticipate that Toni will still take the black wards, but that it will be closer due to Wilson's endorsement.

Indeed he did.

Even still, it will take Obama’s nomination to push Toni Preckwinkle’s campaign in her favor, much less a tossup. I’m just dying to see a poll if this all unravels this late in the race, what an epic climax from the boring middle-end.

[PSOL]

He does some sort of lobbying/law thing now? Theoretically has a speaking gig here fairly regularly, but I've never seen him. He is thoroughly out of politics.

Interesting, I was thinking his endorsement could make a difference.

Not directly -- Chicago is a city of organizations, not leaders. When someone like Chuy Garcia endorses, it's not a big deal because he's personally popular. It's a big deal because (or so we thought until recently) he has a group of supporters who can deliver a ton of votes. To the extent Rich Daley still has that, it's the 11th Ward RDO, which is for Preckwinkle, and various loosely connected elites, who are mostly for Lightfoot.

So who has the most potent and/or numerically superior support of questionable endorsements.

[PSOL]

Is one of the two the clear establishment candidate? And if so: who and why?

The President of the Cook County Democratic Party is probably the establishment candidate, especially after the whole bribery scandal with Berrios and secret donation from Burke to her campaign.

[PSOL]

You can make a pedantic argument about who has what titles, but one candidate is owned by the city's wealthy financial interests and the other is the candidate of working people. Seems fairly clear-cut to me.

That's not to say that Preckwinkle doesn't have some reasonably strong establishment links either.

I'm curious, what was the realization that caused your abrupt switch from Lightfoot to Toni?

I voted for Lightfoot in the primary because I believed she was capable of defeating Bill Daley in a runoff and Preckwinkle was not. I've always preferred Preckwinkle on policy, but guaranteeing Daley went down was more important than the policy differences between the two. Now that Bill's out of the picture, I'm free to vote for the candidate I agree with more.

This is just not true. Scroll back in this thread, and you’ll find that you said that Lightfoot’s shortcomings on policing are less concerning than Preckwinkle’s ties in the political establishment.

Something else caused the shift. Could be her endorsers, her donors, her statements on the cop academy, or something else. Doesn’t seem that it had to do with Daley, though.

I think Sjoyce can decide on his own what causes his support for candidates.

[PSOL]

I do apologize if I've been irritable in this thread lately. This election has been a chaotic mess of friends turning against friends and making it personal, and combined with craziness at work, has driven me a little crazy. I'm eagerly awaiting the end of this election.

It’s fine mate, just cool it when your coming in hot or you’ll burn the board to dust. Even though it’s hard, try it the same way in real life, you don’t want to kill off your social circle for two, admittedly different in several key aspects but nonetheless, reformist candidates

[PSOL]

Here’s hoping The aldermanic and treasurer races turn out ok. The energy the runoff opponents have, along with clean and strong credentials, give me hope for a better city.

For the mayoral races, it signifies a possible shift away from the old-school politics of the city. My support lies with Lori Lightfoot, but I wouldn’t be too sad with Toni Preckwinkle. In fact, I hope the final tally is a tight one, we need to earn our victory after all.

I also hope that young people are more mobilized than over here in the suburbs. I see more young people act as election judges and EMs proportionally than be voters, it’s sickening no matter how small the election is.

[PSOL]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChicagoElection/status/1113141725961314304
Turnout is horrible among young people, especially biting considering how fresh the candidates for all citywide races still going are. I’m considering making a pyre for offering Ahura Mazda’s good graces today.

[PSOL]

Continue-Ears is going to win. Well, time to focus on the aldermanic races.