Pritzker has to be the grown-up when it comes to the DNC
Brandon must ask for a role when the international spotlight hits Chicago in August
Chicagoans have heard and told countless stories about Mayor Richard J Daley’s political clout and acumen; one of the more endearing one is that the old man was responsible for the John F. Kennedy becoming the President of the United States in 1960. The fact that the country was coming out of a Republican led depression is often overlooked as the key to Kennedy’s success.
One Daley story that is well documented is a reporter asking him if he planned to run for governor in the early 1960s. Without hesitating Hizzoner shot back “I am mayor of Chicago. Why would I want to be governor?”
Of course, he would want to remain mayor. He was orchestrating a comeback for Chicago that pushed it into the much ballyhooed “world class city” designation. And as Chicago went, so went Illinois. He became the darling of the business community as the city experienced an explosive growth-much of that growth involved public dollars that translated to jobs and despite racial tensions Daley’s programs mitigated some of the disdain as Black people had as they were put to work on those projects; and they unabashedly voted to return him to office-five more times.
Conversely, Mayor Brandon Johnson is swimming in the lowest approval rating of any modern day mayor; he foolishly announced he will be Chicago’s longest-serving mayor which would amount 25 years . Besides the basement-level approval rating he has a strained relationship with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. That is of his own doing, and needs to be repaired post-haste.
Johnson, who is long on ego and short on political finesse owes it to the city and himself to bury his recalcitrant attitude toward the governor. The chief reason among the many is August of this year when thousands of visitors from around the world will show up in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention.
Typically, mayors have no role in landing one of these conventions every four years. A package of elements help the city wrest the convention from NYC and Atlanta. Pritzker swayed the committee leadership saying he would ante up some of his personal fortune to help underwrite the event. Secondly, Democratic governors in neighboring Michigan (Gretchen Whitmer) and Wisconsin (Tony Evers) represent states viewed as helping push President Joe Biden into the winner’s circle in 2020.
Johnson would serve himself well if seen, even tangentially as a protege of the Illinois governor for the few days the convention is here. However, he needs to find a way to make amends with Pritzker for the trail of mis-steps since May.
As much as the mayor will want to say this is his city; it will be Pritzker who decides where and how loudly Johnson can proclaim such.
Get over it Brandon
There was another flare up this week that once again can be attributed to the mayor’s ego and undefined reluctance to cede to the governor’s authority. Johnson has repeatedly, since the migration crisis started, pushed for more state funding. JB’s response was show us, the state, your plan for how you will stand it. Faiing to receive a plan, and hearing that the mayor met with groups of alderpersons to tell them he was pulling the plug on building additional shelters; Pritzker sprinkled about $17 million among suburban cities who apparently have agreed to house some asylum-seekers,
The governor said “ the city has not told the state where they would like us to put our resources to build new shelters. So we can’t help if they don’t identify those locations.” So, it is past time for Johnson to decide if his priority is to assist the migrants or engage in a battle with the highest eleted offical in the state. The latter is not winnabe.
Many may see Pritzker ‘s stance as the wrong one; however, it is one he can take because he holds the purse strings and that is how politics are played. The mayor should also take note that voters will saddle him with problems in dealing with the migrants and not JB.
If Pritzker is correct and Chicago doesn’t have a plan, it is incumbent on the mayor to recruit from anywhere he can and get that plan developed yesterday,