It's time for Brandon to switch gears
After one year we have seen enough
For a full year now, we have painfully watched Mayor Brandon Johnson stumble through what he often referred to as a progressive agenda. The mayor claimed all along it is “what the people of Chicago want.” That mantra was never buoyed by anything empirical or anyone in the private sector rushing to support Johnson. With the exception of two or three alderpersons, a spaghetti-spined city council has let Johnson have his way with spitballs and speeches masquerading as policy.
“Crain’s Chicago Business” recently released a poll it commissioned showing that Johnson needs a step ladder in order for his approval rating to reach 30 percent-an unprecedented low for a Chicago mayor. No doubt that if asked about it, Johnson would be dismissive of the poll and its results.
We have reached the point in Chicago history where the top elected official in city hall needs to face the hard truth. And that is people may like him as Brandon Johnson the person but consider him an utter flop as Brandon Johnson the mayor.
The other truth the mayor can no longer ignore is it is time for him to get dates on those undated resignations from his top people. We are way past the time for on-the-job-training for them. Personally, they may serve him well; but what they are doing for the citizenry remains a mystery.
The mayor can still try to run with his agenda, even if he puts someone with municipal government experience in the jobs currently being held by trainees. Johnson has made the same mistake so many political neophytes make when they get into office -friendship and loyalty supersede competence and ability. Johnson could turn to the Clinton-Gore team that ran the country for eight years. They were on different planes philosophically, but Gore knew and carried out his role. That is who the mayor needs around him—capable people to carry out his vision.
The perplexing problem and looming question is does the mayor have any real idea how to carry out his vision. In his speeches and news conferences he tells us he does but showing us has been the elusive part. Johnson touts among his “successes” legislation that removed a sub-minimum wage primarily for restaurant workers, and a robust summer youth employment program. What he won’t admit to himself is neither affects the majority of Chicagoans. And neither does anything to address the fiscal cliff the city will tumble off of next year.
Year two of the Johnson Administration
The start of his second year is the ideal time to begin to mend fences starting with Gov. JB Pritzker. Johnson would serve himself well to stop acting like a recalcitrant child when it comes to the governor. Johnson behaves as though the governor is trying to steal some thunder from the mayor’s office. It would be tremendously helpful to the mayor if he were to recognize we need to travel back in time to Richard J. Daley days when the mayor was more powerful and popular than the Governor of Illinois, regardless of who he was. Pritzker can be an enormous asset to Johnson, if only the mayor understood the respective roles better and behaved accordingly.
The key people in the city’s business community also should get a Mea culpa from the mayor. Even if it is not done publicly, Johnson at least needs to make some covert gestures to show he understands the vital role they play in the city; and how the institutional knowledge they bring can help him-particularly in terms of the budget and finances.
Other than refusing to talk about how he will dig Chicago out of the pending financial hole we will see in the next fiscal year; Johnson faces the unenviable task of having a Come to Jesus meeting with his prime benefactors-The Chicago Teachers Union. The 30,000-plus constituency is looking for Johnson to OK a sweetheart contract.
The hallmark demands the union is seeking are:
Nine percent annual budget increases until 2028
Abortions and fertility care coverage at 100 percent
Exactly $2,000 per child to migrant families to aid in resettlement
Refraining from obligating teachers to disclose a student’s gender identity to their parents.
The $50 billion price tag for these and other demands was established by the Illinois Policy Institute.
Johnson will have to walk the tightrope of detailing why the union’s demands are out of whack without losing its support in his bid for a second term. This has to be a plain English and not wrapped in obfuscation as is Johnson’s preferred way to communicate. Unless his policies and focus make a 180-degree turn, he has no chance of replacing CTU’s money and people power.
The union deployed thousands of workers to knock on doors as well as bankrolled Johnson’s campaign to the tune of $3 million. Now, he must tell its leadership there is absolutely no way Chicago can afford the $50 billion ask in the new contract. Discussions on that contract begin early next month. Undoubtedly, CTU higher ups believed that putting Johnson in office would give them virtually a guarantee to get whatever they wanted in a new contract. That is the micro version and only works in a perfect world.
The macro and realistic version of this scenario is that the city and CPS are staring down significant budget deficits next year now that the COVID-related federal relief money is exhausted. An increase in taxes or employee cuts are the only two options the city and CPS face to right their respective ships. Johnson has been adamant about no property tax increase-but that is likely to have to change. The mayor is mulling a tax on professional services, which is a dead issue before it leaves the gate.
It is likely that the mayor, early in year two will face the unprecedented challenge of having to stave off a recall effort. Chicagoans are being asked to approve a measure that will allow them to recall this or any future Chicago mayor. By the end of August, after it is determined if there are the 54,000 legitimate signatures to advance the proposal, we will know if it will appear on the November ballot.
Johnson will need every penny of the $3 million in his campaign coffers to fight the recall. Unlike a campaign, a recall drive can make as many scurrilous accusations against the mayor as the proponents wish, without having to prove a thing.
Johnson will be required to assemble a campaign team as though he is running for election. Throughout the recall effort he will be on the defensive. The petition organizers have the support of the Fraternal Order of Police. Given Johnson’s contentious relationship with the local Lodge 7, they are motivated to work extra hard to remove him from office.
The FOP also has the increased benefit of being able to call up its colleagues in other cities to bolster efforts with additional bodies to work on the recall here, as well as contribute financially.
Addressing the migrant issue will continue to be a conundrum for the mayor the next year. It will remain so until he can find a implement something other than the past Band-Aid solutions he’ resorted to. Until that happens, he will be at odds with a substantial portion of the city’s Black voting bloc, which can prove detrimental for him if there is a recall election.