Way back in the early clinic-and-school closing days of Rahm’s mayoral reign, I had a friendly debate or two with a leftie I’ll call Chris over whether our mayor truly believed all the trickle-down nonsense he was spewing, or whether he was only spewing it ’cause he thought it might advance his political career.
Just as he’s done with gay rights, immigration, and even the legalization of marijuana—if you recall, in 2014, Rahm declared he would always resist any attempt to legalize reefer.
Punch two—Mayor Rahm’s rushing through the City Council an $800 million (at least) TIF handout to help Sterling Bay underwrite its the Lincoln Yards development.
Instead, he acts as though he’s this courageous reformer who’s doing us all a big favor by going after fat-cat pensioners. Consider this quote from the first draft of his December 12 pension address to the City Council: “What kind of progressive, sustainable system guarantees retirees 3 percent annual compounded pay increase, when inflation has been at basically zero and current employees have at times been furloughed, laid off or received 1 percent raises? The mantle of progressivity must not just be more taxes on the wealthy, it must be more respect for our workers’ paychecks.”
As I said, this bill passed in 2010, a year before Rahm took office. For better or worse, he had nothing to do with it. And now here he is trying to pretend he’s the only courageous politician in the state.
All right, folks, let’s consider that in the context of his Lincoln Yards handout and his proposed pension cuts.
