Pot, meet kettle
Friday, Mar 13, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the twitters…
* From Rahn Emanuel campaign spokesman Steve Mayberry…
“After four months of studying for the final exam, Chuy Garcia is telling Chicago voters he will hand in his homework after graduation. Today’s stonewalling says zero about what Chuy would do to fund pensions and the budget, or where he would find new revenue. Chicagoans demand an honest framework to balance budgets and secure our workers’ pensions, not an empty promise to appoint a commission on April 8. Chicagoans want a mayor who leads through us through tough times, not a politician who promises $1.9 billion in big spending and big borrowing but hides how will sock it to taxpayers later.”
* The Emanuel campaign also sent this today…
Mayor Emanuel Lays Out Fiscal Framework
Rahm’s plan follows the reform and revenue roadmap that helped balance last four city budgets and led to three landmark pension deals
Chicago – As the public waits anxiously for Chuy Garcia’s much-hyped plan to pay for more than $1.5 billion in new spending promises while balancing the budget’s $350 million deficit, Mayor Rahm Emanuel today outlined his framework to continue on the progress of the last four years.
“Chicago has come a far way in four short years, and now is not the time to risk that progress on empty promises. My budget and pension framework builds on our accomplishments of the last four years – four balanced budgets and three pension agreements with organized labor,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Chicagoans have a clear choice: our honest budget that couples reform with revenue and creates a strong climate for job growth, or Chuy’s promise to take us backward with $2 billion in promises that would wreck our finances, hike property taxes or force drastic cuts.”
But go check out the actual “plan.” It’s almost laughable. There are a few small doable things, but for the most part it’s a bunch of pie in the sky stuff or “stay the course” rhetoric.
- Under Further Review - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:15 am:
Didn’t Rahm recently promise to create tax-exempt business enterprise zones on the West Side? How much will that cost the city treasury? Pandering at its best/worst.
- Not Rich - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:16 am:
I thought the secret cabal behind Chuy would have put forth a better plan..
- Pot calling kettle - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:21 am:
Vague plans win elections…said Gov Rauner and many other successful candidates.
- Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:23 am:
Mayberry brought his A Game with that “homework after graduation” quote. Nice.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:24 am:
OK, both of these guys are going to have to raise property taxes and neither wants to admit it. That’s politics. We get it.
But Chuy might have blown the whole campaign today by continuing to duck the question. All of Rahm’s current anti-Garcia advertising was just reinforced and amplified by none other than Chuy Garcia himself. A colossal blunder.
Chuy had a chance to seize the high ground, knock the mayor legs from under him and have an honest conversation with the voters. Instead, he punted. He doesn’t deserve to win.
- A guy - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:29 am:
Call St. Anthony. Chuy is lost. Has been from day one.
- Just My Thoughts - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:30 am:
I don’t think it was real smart for the Rahm camp to put out a plan today. Little upside and plenty of room for downside. They should have just left Chuy’s ‘plan’ to twist in the wind for a few days.
- Precinct Captain - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:31 am:
Rahm’s own pension changes so far are being litigated in court. All the while he criticizes a potential property tax hike under Chuy when the mayor tried to backdoor one through the state legislature. Now his chief council budget allies are guaranteeing a Rahm property tax hike after the election. Furthermore, he runs around saying the city has a $350m deficit, but with the pension obligations, it’s really $900m. Few outlets have been willing to call Rahm out in his lack of realistic plans. Why is it all on Chuy to provide some?
- 47th Ward - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:34 am:
===Why is it all on Chuy to provide some?===
Because he wants Rahm’s job. The burden is on him to convince voters that change is needed. He hasn’t made an effective case so far.
- Under Further Review - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:36 am:
Homework after graduation? It seems perfectly appropriate since Rahm’s friends at the City Colleges of Chicago scheduled the citywide graduation ceremony to take place BEFORE final examination grades are posted!LOL
- crazybleedingheart - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:37 am:
===Why is it all on Chuy to provide some?===
==Because he wants Rahm’s job.==
It’s not Rahm’s job.
It’s MY job and I’ll decide which candidate to hire.
- Anonymous - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:37 am:
How many of the 1,000 cops Chuy has promised will be sent to rid 26th Street of the gangs and violence so close to his family and his residence?
- Niles Township - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:40 am:
I’m not a huge fan of Rahm the person, but I am a little bit of a fan of Rahm the mayor. Between Chuy and Rahm, if I still lived in the city I’d be running to vote for Rahm. I worry about what would happen of Chuy wins.
- anonymous - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:41 am:
Chicago media lost their credibility when they endorsed rauner and demanded no plan for illinois. How can we trust you after that? The media is desperate to save rahm.
- Very Fed Up - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:42 am:
It is pretty clear what Chuy’s plan will be. He is being bankrolled by the Karen Lewis and the Chicago Teachers Union. Will provide a blank check to them in upcoming contract and need to raise revenues from multiple sources.
- MrJM - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:43 am:
If “concerned” suburbanites could vote for Chicago’s mayor, Rahm would have won in the first round. Those pesky Chicago voters should learn to listen to people smart enough to live elsewhere!
– MrJM
- 47th Ward - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:44 am:
===It’s MY job and I’ll decide which candidate to hire.===
Your screen name suits you.
- walker - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:44 am:
Wow! Steve Mayberry’s channeling Wordslinger.
Next he’ll be saying “in crayon” and ” on the schoolbus.”
- Chris - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:56 am:
“Why is it all on Chuy to provide some?”
Because we’ve seen Rahm’s plan over the past 4 years. It may not be great, but it’s concrete.
Chuy has offered up 1,000 cops, and a revenue cut that offsets any savings from CPD OT reduction. That’s it–*NOTHING* else.
He claims that Rahm is on the wrong track, but can’t identify where. So, perhaps he listens to everyone and … stay’s the course.
- Loop Lady - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:59 am:
Game, set, match: Emanuel…nice try Chuy and Friends…grow your organization and influence and keep at it…
- siriusly - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:01 pm:
Cook County supports itself by using federal Medicaid money to turn the hospital system into a profit center. Chuy has not had to make any hard budget decisions at the County level.
Not surprising to most that he doesn’t even have an answer to the City’s fiscal problems.
- Precinct Captain - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:03 pm:
==- 47th Ward - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:34 am:==
==- Chris - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 11:56 am:==
So it is all on the challenger to provide plans for the job they want, but there is no obligation for the incumbent to provide plans for the job they have and want to keep? What is Rahm’s plan to eliminate the $900 million deficit (the real number)? The “blog” link Rich posted has no solutions for this number.
- Hacksaw Jim - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:06 pm:
=== Not surprising to most that he doesn’t even have an answer to the City’s fiscal problems ===
Sure he does, and so does Rahm. Its just that neither of them want to say it. Property taxes need to be raised.
- CLJ - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:08 pm:
=Those pesky Chicago voters should learn to listen to people smart enough to live elsewhere!=
That’s what I’ve been singing since leaving town and the state two years ago. Even the Obama’s don’t plan on coming back.
- Carhartt Representative - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:09 pm:
=Chuy has not had to make any hard budget decisions at the County level.
Not surprising to most that he doesn’t even have an answer to the City’s fiscal problems.=
Harold Washington helped to get the city’s financial house in order int he 80s largely through the property tax increase that Rahm blamed Chuy for. Cook County was left in horrible shape by Todd son of John and Chuy gets some credit for straightening it out. That’s a lot more experience than Rahm frankly.
- Amalia - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:18 pm:
dear Chuy and co., what you announced today is not even warmed over Woods Bowman work. was he asleep for the final launch? it’s thin and lacking vision. combine that approach with the Karen Lewis vision supporting you in the piece in Crains….tax the rich, feed the teachers….and the hyperbolic fears of the Detroiting of Chicago don’t sound so far fetched.
- Chris - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:21 pm:
“What is Rahm’s plan to eliminate the $900 million deficit (the real number)?”
I understand in what way Rahm is being misleading.
No one can tell me in what way Chuy is being misleading. I see 2 things from Chuy: More Cops. No Traffic Cameras. That’s it. Is there something else there? What’s Chuy hiding?
Crazy conspiracy theory: Chuy is actually a Rahm plant. What else explains how horribly Chuy is campaigning? [NB: No, I don’t actually think that, but it’s amusing]
- Mokenavince - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:25 pm:
Chuy should pray to St. Jude the saint of hopeless cases. The guy has been a back bencher and no clue on how to run a city.
- Chicago PR Guy - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:31 pm:
I clicked on the link, read the plan and thought it was crap. And then I realized i was reading Rahm’s plan. I found Chuy’s plan at his campaign website.
Might be a dumb question but do the commenters know whose plan they are commenting on? It seems to this non financial person that Chuy’s plan had more detail than Rahm’s.
- Carhartt Representative - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:41 pm:
=It is pretty clear what Chuy’s plan will be. He is being bankrolled by the Karen Lewis and the Chicago Teachers Union. Will provide a blank check to them in upcoming contract and need to raise revenues from multiple sources.=
If Chuy does find that $250k? that Karen Lewis gives him is so valuable that he’s willing to give away the store at contract negotiations what would that cost the city? An extra 5% raise for 30,000 employees? Rahm gives more than that away to his donors everyday. He’s taking hundreds of thousands form Griffin alone and he has a very impressive track record of never passing on a pay to play opportunity.
- Chris - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:48 pm:
“It seems to this non financial person that Chuy’s plan had more detail than Rahm’s.”
They’re both very light on details.
The striking thing about Chuy’s plan is that it implies that the 4 Chicago governments (City, Schools, Parks, Colleges) should be *more* integrated (something I would *strongly* support) at the same time as he is on record as wanting an elected school board, which would make such integration much harder.
So, I must ask: What’s Chuy’s *actual* plan for control of CPS?
- Chris - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:51 pm:
“Rahm gives more than that away to his donors everyday.”
A 5% raise to CPS would be about $100m. You’re asserting that Rahm gives away more than the entire *state* budget every year to his donors?
- From the 'Dale to HP - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 12:58 pm:
@Very Fed Up,
Rahm ended up giving CTU a blank check, so not sure what your point is.
I think people have forgotten how badly Rahm got rolled by the CTU in 2012. It was a total blow out.
- Juice - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:27 pm:
I have to agree with Dale. For all of his bluster, Rahm is simply not an effective leader. He’ll come in and yell and scream and make demands, but has not actual plan to get other actors to go along with his plans. He could get away with that kind of behavior in DC where nobody has a spine, but after he got rolled by the CTU, it became pretty clear he was more bark than bite.
I’m still not sure who I will be supporting, because I would really like to see more out of Chuy in terms of what he will actually do as Mayor, but as others have said, it’s not like Rahm has provided much of a satisfying answer either.
- Chris - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:28 pm:
“Rahm ended up giving CTU a blank check”
Not that I totally disagree, but:
CTU asked for a 24% *first year* raise, and more thereafter, and got 17% over 4 years–how is that a “blank check”? CTU insisted they were entitled to the 24% simply bc of the added work time of the longer day/longer year, so it wasn’t just a ‘we want a big number to embarrass you’ ask.
- pundent - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:30 pm:
@ From the ‘Dale to HP - And then Rahm turned around and closed 50 schools. At best I’d call it a draw.
- Carhartt Representative - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:43 pm:
=A 5% raise to CPS would be about $100m. You’re asserting that Rahm gives away more than the entire *state* budget every year to his donors?=
A 5% raise is closer to $75,000,000 and remember an extra 5% is pretty extreme. However, that’s exactly what I’m saying
A 5% raise to CPS would be closer to $75,000,000 and that’s a bit of an extreme difference in negotiation. However, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
http://pando.com/2014/04/04/revealed-rahm-emanuel-cuts-public-pensions-diverts-money-to-benefit-campaign-donors/
- Carl Nyberg - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:43 pm:
Fioretti had specifics.
How many of these Corporate Media tools supported him? Gave him credit for having a plan?
BTW, what’s the track record of Chicago media demanding plans from Bruce Rauner? Rahm Emanuel? Richie Daley?
White male candidates aligned with 1%ers… Chicago media doesn’t ask them for specific plans.
But if a progressive Mexican-American gets close, all of a sudden, he needs to provide details that won’t satisfy them until they get something they can attack.
Dear Chicago media, you were negligent when the White guys were screwing-up state and city finances.
It’s a little hard to take you seriously as the police of government budgets.
But you do a good job looking like a bunch of racist hacks for the Establishment.
- Carhartt Representative - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:45 pm:
=The striking thing about Chuy’s plan is that it implies that the 4 Chicago governments (City, Schools, Parks, Colleges) should be *more* integrated (something I would *strongly* support) at the same time as he is on record as wanting an elected school board, which would make such integration much harder.
So, I must ask: What’s Chuy’s *actual* plan for control of CPS?=
A lot of the elected school board plans I’ve seen would have regional districts and that would help make things a bit more integrated.
- anon - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:48 pm:
Remember, Rahm’s idea of a fiscal plan was to beg the legislature for more pension holidays.
- anon - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 1:54 pm:
Looks like part of Rahm’s plan is for pension cuts not yet approved by the legislature and almost certain to be held unconstitutional if they were implemented. https://preaprez.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/city-of-chicago-employees-and-retirees-rahms-budget-will-cost-you-plenty/
- Responsa - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 2:36 pm:
Chuy may be likable, but he labors against a high and rough tide where many mayoral voters seriously worry that he may not have the chops or experience or skills or connections to effectively govern the nation’s 3rd largest city. That is why it was so important for him to be both expansive and specific about his plans and be able to confidently speak about them in a way that could convince Chicagoans that he has both the necessary competency and a full understanding of the issues.
- ChiTownSeven - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 3:00 pm:
Chuy got suckered by the Tribbies and Rahm. They were pressing him for his financial plan to distract him from his stronger argument, which is that Rahm has made a mess of city finances and someone else is needed to clean it up. This approach could have been easily packaged along the thematic and implicit lines of: “A spoiled rich boy made this mess and it will take a real working man who knows the truth of working-class life to clean it up.”
- ChiTownSeven - Friday, Mar 13, 15 @ 3:49 pm:
No one could have reasonably expected that Chuy’s finance package would be rich in details. Where his team blew it was in not taking the opportunity to present some thematic standards to his generalized parameters, such as: fairness; greater opportunity; tax policy tied to the CPI; etc.