Brandon Johnson must shift his focus
It is time for him to start being mayor and stop playing ambassador of Chicago
The apparent defeat of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s homeless referendum - Bring Home Chicago (BHC) -should be a clarion call to the first-term city CEO to start focusing on the government; and put the political path he has been pursuing on the back burner.
Without a doubt, the ability to sit and converse with multi-millionaires, have access to places he’s only read about, share thoughts with the CEOs of major sports teams and corporations all had to be exhilarating to Johnson, or anyone who has never traveled in such circles. Throw in the near constant presence of television news camera and it is easy to see how the mayor lost sight of the mission of government and confused himself as a celebrity of sorts.
BHC was Johnson’s first citywide attempt to flex his political muscle and despite an avalanche of door-knocking, texting and phone-calling by supporters the measure came up short. To date, the mayor’s successes have been through executive orders or city council votes. None have had a citywide impact. This was the first time all Chicago voters had the opportunity to decide on whether they wanted one of Johnson’s pet proposals.
Since taking office in May, Johnson has ignored the nuts and bolts of running the city, such as underfunded pensions, or a budget deficit Chicago will face next year, all in favor of chasing photo ops. He has been consumed with the unprecedented migrant crisis; however, it is not likely anyone will give him a passing grade on how he has handled it. His in the cellar approval rating of 28 percent essentially meant him being the face of this campaign wasn’t a good look.
Early on his administration, Johnson appointed 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett vice mayor. Traditionally that job has been largely ceremonial. However, the fact that the mayor allocated $400,000 for the vice mayor’s budget and a four-person staff, the role was supposed to break tradition. Burnett hasn’t taken on a high visibility role That should change now as Johnson’s focus needs to shift to less public-facing work.
BHC was the North Star in Johnson’s campaign where he pledged to raise $800 million to fund his so-called progressive agenda laden with social service projects. At the outset the package was viewed as flawed because the former commissioner failed to check in with city council or state legislators to measure their temperatures for the plans, especially since some required council or general assembly approval. It is an arrogance he has displayed throughout his tenure has been marked with repeated displays of omnipotence.
Due to his track record of preferring glad-handing constituents to poring over spreadsheets and the upcoming budget-which is already in the red, there is some question whether the mayor has the ability to reverse course and participate in boring but essential meetings on fixing the budget, right sizing the police force, and finally developing a viable migrant strategy.
The mayor also needs to spend a lot of time charting his plans. He has tossed out several ideas that proved to be red herrings, including a city-owned grocery store. It is imperative moving forward that his ideas must be much more tempered as it is obvious Chicagoans don’t have a taste for experiments. Now that it is clear his administration will not raise the desired $800 million, he deemed necessary for the Johnson Plan at the beginning of his term, the rest of that package is essentially in limbo at best, but realistically buried under boulders-not to be resurrected.
Who knows how long the mayor will be licking his wounds over the results, but there is a step he must take immediately and that is to regroup. Normally, in government administrations at all levels there are firings and voluntary exits at the mid-point. That is a luxury Johnson can’t afford. He has to tell several key staffers it is time to sign their undated letters of resignation and wish them luck. Their replacements shouldn’t be new to government.
Realistically, Johnson has no experience with anything that remotely prepared him for this job. And in the last 10 months he has not shown he has a full grasp of the nuances of this job. Part of that is due to the migrant crisis which qualifies as more than a distraction. The other part is he has ignored the nuts and bolts of running a municipal government. Now, almost a year in, he still doesn’t have all key department heads in place. He fired the health commissioner and left that job vacant for months. Savvy mayors always know who the replacement is before a firing occurs. He will benefit tremendously by starting to reach beyond his inner circle and find real expertise on major matters the city is grappling with.
Johnson likely feels those on board have served him to the best of their abilities, but staffers and advisors with stronger abilities and much, much better knowledge of how local government works,