Chicago has seen its share of incompetent, crooked politicians. But it's never seen anyone quite like the current mayor, Brandon Johnson.
Johnson has the distinction of having the lowest approval rating of any mayor in Chicago's history. It wouldn't be so catastrophic for the city if he actually had a clue of what he was doing.
Case in point: Last year, Chicago was inundated by illegal aliens sent north by Texas Governor Greg Abbot. There was literally no place to put them. So Johnson decided to build two temporary shelters to house up to 2,000 illegals.
He found what he thought was a suitable place and then tried to get the state government to sign off on it. However, the state, after testing the soil, discovered unacceptable levels of toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic, lead, manganese, and a chemical used in PVC.
Johnson claimed that the chemicals weren't at dangerous levels, and besides, the city had removed most of them. He said that even if the site contained poisons at levels that required toxic waste cleanup, he was right to try to put migrants on the polluted land since the state never specifically said that the poisonous ground was hazardous to human health.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker was aghast. “While the city might be comfortable placing asylum seekers on a site where toxins are present without a full understanding of whether it is safe, the state is not,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement.
Johnson blamed the incompetence on aides and accused the governor of racism. This is part of a pattern that has Chicagoans tuning out Johnson and his entire clown car administration.
Now, Johnson is trying to close a billion-dollar budget hole. He needs to do this because his employer, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), is negotiating a new contract, and they want a $10-14 billion raise.
He tried to force Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez to take out dangerously high-interest loans. When Johnson tried to force school board members to defy Martinez, they resigned en masse.
Throughout the 2023 mayoral campaign, Johnson was adamant about not raising property taxes. Chicago already has one of the highest property tax rates in the country; businesses have been fleeing the city to avoid them. Johnson's promise was broken in near-record time.
Johnson proposed a property tax increase of $300 million. And the city council, after months of insults, turmoil, and confused incompetence, finally said no more. The city council voted unanimously to ax Johnson's tax increase.
The unanimous vote was largely symbolic. Negotiations to reduce or eliminate the property tax increase and replace it with a mix of new revenue and reprogrammed federal pandemic relief funds began last weekend.
But mayoral allies and critics alike nevertheless seized the opportunity to score political points with angry constituents struggling to hold on to their homes and businesses after reassessment increases and two straight years of up-to-the-limit property tax hikes to bankroll Chicago Public Schools.
Thursday’s vote also was perhaps the strongest sign yet that Johnson’s anemic public approval ratings have emboldened the Council to stop taking its marching orders from the mayor’s office.
“This is a defeat of epic proportions,” Southwest Side Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) told the Sun-Times...
“The mayor can spin it and portray himself as Mayor Collaborator all he wants,” Quinn added. “But in reality, within a week’s time, his budget will have been voted down. That is hugely significant for a City Council that is growing more independent. It can’t be understated.”
Johnson lives in a fantasyland where everyone who opposes him is either corrupt or racist. It's worrisome at times because one wonders if he still has a connection to reality.
The vote was largely symbolic, because negotiations are underway to close that billion-dollar budget gap with alternative measures. But there was no debate, just an up-or-down vote.
Am I exaggerating his disconnect from reality?
His aides insist they made no attempt to block Thursday’s vote and do not view it as an embarrassment. In fact, Johnson told reporters on Tuesday, he was never serious about the $300 million property tax increase. He made it a centerpiece of his $17.3 billion budget simply to shock the Council into proposing serious revenue-raising alternatives, he said.
A madman is running the city of Chicago.
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