In my endless search for the bright side of life in Chicago, I think I found some good news in the recent Sun-Times story about, of all things, Mayor Rahm’s latest financing scheme.
Well, of course, there will be future tax hikes. Those pension bonds will have to be paid off with something—meaning, your taxes, Chicago. In short, it’s another election-eve gimmick that’s designed to make you think you’re getting something for nothing.
And Vallas is not alone. This election’s bringing us an abundance of much-needed alternative voices. What some insights on the ongoing privatization scams at the CPS? There’s Troy LaRaviere, who knows a thing or two or three about the games Rahm’s been playing with the schools, ’cause he was an elementary school principal before getting elected principal of the Chicago Principals & Adminstrators Association. (In many ways, LaRaviere is also the most consistent progressive in this race—a Bernie Sanders delegate, he may well have gotten fired as a principal because he openly supported Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s 2015 mayoral campaign.)
Oh, and let’s not forget former governor Pat Quinn. He’s not running for mayor. But he and his allies collected more than 86,000 signatures to put a mayoral term-limit referendum for voters on the November ballot. I have no doubt that Mayor Rahm will bring in his election lawyers to use every trick in the book to bounce Quinn’s referendum from the ballot.
