Comments on: Million dollars spent on Emanuel TV ad

by: Jimbo

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:12:36 +0000

It’s the “Chicago Way”. Common sense and reason have nothing to do with this situation.Either you do it “Our Way” or you don’t do it.Period.

by: Emily Booth

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:11:07 +0000

Rahm sends his 2 girls to Lab. Tuition is $25K a year for each child.

Charter schools: the new profiteers.

by: ydia

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 23:23:55 +0000

Those insidious ads are still not as vile as the ones running before and during the strike by the same charter school profiteer group. Those ads said teachers were against the longer day and claimed we had a great deal on the table at the exact same time that CPS was stonewalling us. Those had to cost multi-millions that could have been spent on the students. Rahm is the Grinch that stole education.

by: Will Caskey

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:28:36 +0000

YDD, purely out of the assumption that exuberance and despair both have a tendency towards inaccuracy- with an ad buy that size and considering it doesn’t seem defensive, one could reasonably assume it was going to happen regardless of outcome, yes?

It just seems to me to be part of a drive to win on the issues in a mid- to long-term sense, especially considering the contract will probably come up again in 2015.

by: Yellow Dog Democrat

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:06:26 +0000

Caskey -

I think voters realize there are two sides. They’ve been hearing both sides for months upon months. Rahm campaigned on a longer school day, and has been talking about it non-stop.

In the Rahm v. Teachers debate, the voters simply sided with the teachers. Now, Rahm’s fighting a battle he’s already lost. As my grandpa would say: “Quit while you’re behind.”

By inserting Rahm into the ad, they’re making the “school reform” all about Rahm again. Bad choice for the issue, so why is the there?

Simple. Damage control. To show he feels our pain, and he’s on our side.

I think Rahm’s been a better mayor than his predecessor. But he botched this one badly. That said, I think he’ll not only recover but hope he will be an even better mayor for this experience.

by: the Other Anonymous

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:08:01 +0000

What makes this even more unseemly is that Education Reform Now is a 501(c)(3) organization. That means it cannot dabble directly in politics, and I would suggest to the good folks at the IRS that they look closely at this (and their other expenditures). This isn’t just using a Citizens United loophole; it violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the tax laws.

by: Esquire

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:52:26 +0000

It would be embarrassing except for the fact that Emanuel has no shame.

by: Will Caskey

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:37:38 +0000

YDD I don’t think this is damage control so much as showing that there are two sides here, one of which’s main avenue of communication is hilariously bad press releases and the other of which drops like 1500 points on broadcast to just chat about things.

Frankly it makes me all tingly about 2015 as a campaign mercenary.

by: wordslinger

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:36:07 +0000

In the coming years, it seems pretty clear that Emanuel hopes to close X number of current public schools that have union staffs and open more charter schools.

As the fight over the money shifts intensifies, it will be interesting to see the role played by the Archdiocese of Chicago and voucher supporters.

They’ve been interested for quite some time in public money walking into their long-established schools in the city. I’d be curious as to their thoughts on the new guys coming in and getting public money for privately managed startup schools.

by: Loop Lady

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:35:45 +0000

I’m thinkin’ reading this blog that Rahm doesn’t want a second term….Mayor Bloomberg is one of the ten richest people in America and is worth 25 billion…why can’t the superich do something beneficial for society instead of accumulating ever more wealth and power? Sickening. The race to the bottom brought to you by the superich.

by: walkinfool

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:24:56 +0000

Well, at least it’s a little “redistribution of wealth” to US workers in the ad and media fields.

by: Crime Fighter

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:48:18 +0000

Hang on to your wallet when your people crying out for “Reform”. “Reform” in public education and pensions is a code word for decimation.

The is an ever increasing body of evidence that shows whenever rich folks and their subjects want to destroy something and cash in, they call it “reform”.