Oh, c’mon.
Everyone is being so mean, beating up on poor Lori Lightfoot for trying to pressure Chicago Public School children into joining her mayoral campaign. The same campaign that sent an email prodding CPS teachers to enlist their charges to spend 12 hours a week working for free for a Chicago mayor sunk to a nadir of unpopularity not seen since Levi Boone closed the city saloons on Sundays.
It isn’t like this is the most questionable gambit to gin up mayoral campaign support in the city’s history. There have been worse.
Remember Joe Gardner? Mild-mannered water reclamation district commissioner. Round glasses. Threw his hat into the ring against Mayor Richard M. Daley in the 1995 primary.
I was sent to attend Gardner’s announcement rally.
Here’s how I later described the event:
I started to notice something strange about the crowd. They seemed a lot more hostile than you would expect from a campaign kick-off crowd, which is normally a pretty cheery bunch. A lot of young, angry guys milling around. I commented to a savvy photographer that I didn’t realize so many young men in baseball caps and oversized pants took such a passionate interest in politics.I had the presence of mind to ask Gardner if he intended on making a policy of recruiting gangs into his campaign.
”They’re Gangster Disciples,” the photographer said. While I didn’t check for membership cards, it certainly seemed to me that Gardner was padding his crowd with gang members.
”I don’t separate people on the basis of gang membership or non-gang membership as long as members and leadership are engaged in positive things,” Gardner replied, before rhapsodizing gangs as an unappreciated force for good, a brand of starry-eyed cluelessness I thought was the exclusive domain of Hyde Park liberals circa 1969.
Daley beat him like a drum, almost 2 to 1.
So give Lightfoot credit. At least she hasn’t reached out to Chicago street gangs. Not yet anyway. And the unwise email to CPS should be a passing embarrassment.
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What makes me question Lightfoot's leadership was her casual decision to throw an underling under the bus. I wished her the best, but her inability to take responsibility is disheartening, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteI saw a newer tv ad of hers last night in which she's bragging about lowered crime in the city.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a flat out lie.
She's also going on about how she's improved the police force. Except yesterday, CWB Chicago published the figures that shows that the city is down 12% in the number of cops since she started, that all but one police district has fewer cops assigned to it & major crimes are up 41%.
https://cwbchicago.com/2023/01/with-major-crime-reports-up-41-chicagos-mayor-says-her-crime-plan-is-working.html
One element of this misguided initiative that has been mentioned but not analyzed is this: "Mayor Lori Lightfoot is facing fierce backlash after her campaign emailed Chicago Public Schools teachers asking them to recruit students to volunteer for her campaign in exchange for class credit." Since when does the Mayor get to hand out "class credit"? Course credit is not TIF money or holiday punch to be ladled out by the Fifth Floor when the mood strikes them.
ReplyDeleteI hope Chicago gets a new Mayor.
ReplyDeleteSame here. She's a mess. Condolences from Cleveland...to the city of my birth.
DeleteOne like Rahm or Daley ? who is this mythical. " good mayor" we've never had? While I understand the objections to Lori , do we think Chuy, Vallas, or any of the other 9 candidates will do a better job? Dont look it up . Can anyone even name them all? Is it that we just want someone different to complain about?
DeleteLoris done a good job on several fronts. A second term is usually more effective. less of a learning curve. She's not corrupt and certainly has the interests of some long neglected areas of the city front of mind.
I thought we'd all agreed that Harold was the mythical good mayor!
DeleteAre you on her campaign staff, Franco? ; ) This is about the third or fourth bit of LL propaganda that I've noticed from you. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I agree to the extent that chanting "anybody but Lori" is a simpler proposition than committing to just who that "anybody" should be.
While she may not be corrupt, she's had to trot out the "Not gonna do that again. Period." formulation too many times for my liking. Will one of the other candidates be better? Well, we don't know right now, do we? She's had her chance, and a whole term of a learning curve, and look what happened just this week.
I haven't paid much attention, so you're right, I don't know the 9 candidates. I'll know more by the time I cast my ballot. I'm not ruling her out, necessarily, but I've been pretty disappointed, having voted for her twice last time, and I'm certainly not as inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt as you are.
I agree a mass mailing to teachers from the mayors office requesting they recommend to their students campaigning for the incumbent mayor didn't even occur to the folks thats wrote the Shakman decree. Encouraging young people to be active in politics even using the incentive of community service credit hours is a reasonable idea. Saying what she did was ill conceived would be being too kind.
DeleteIve never actively campaigned for a politician. From a standpoint of intersectionality I could imagine myself voting for her a second time. She wasn't my first choice last time.
Harold is certainly my favorite mayor but his tenure was short on accomplishments
Yet another pleasant benefit of living in the leafy suburban paradise -- you don't have to decide which one of these candidates to actually vote for.
ReplyDelete