* Mariah Woelfel at WBEZ has a very well-written story about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s trip to Springfield. The whole thing is worth a read, but let’s zoom in on this bit…
[Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s] push for a head tax last fall is what ignited Council opposition led by a group of business-backed, mostly conservative and moderate Council members who united to oppose Johnson’s budget. That coalition tweaked the mayor’s spending plan to exclude the head tax.
Johnson said he still sees the payroll tax as a viable option.
“There’s no secret that Michael Sacks has actively worked against challenging the ultra rich,” Johnson said, referring to the CEO of a private equity firm and Democratic billionaire who helped fund commercials criticizing tenets of Johnson’s spending plan. “Our effort to make sure that we’re working to protect working people, that will be the effort, regardless of those interests that try to stand in the way of it.”
In response, Sacks teed off on Johnson, accusing the mayor in a written statement of making false claims about him and saying he “never opposed the mayor’s head tax” and supports “smart progressive revenue.”
“He needs to look at himself and his senior staff to explain why 57% of Chicagoans say they are definitely voting to replace him. Lying about me isn’t going to help him,” said Sacks, who declined to say through a spokesperson whether he supports a payroll tax.
Way too many Chicago progressives are blaming Sacks for their own failures, much like the far-right has pinned blame on George Soros for their numerous national and international grievances. Anyone see anything in common between those two besides their money? I do. And all of this needs to stop.
- ElTacoBandito - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:16 am:
Yep the horseshoe effect in all its glory. There always has to be a conspiracy, neither of the far left or right can ever admit people just don’t agree with their self-righteousness.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:22 am:
THANK YOU RICH! Sincerely.
This has got to stop.
- Mark D - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:24 am:
It’s unclear to me why the headline here isn’t “Blaming wealthy people”. Is there evidence I’m missing of MBJ singling out Sacks on account of his religion?
- Shytown - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:39 am:
As usual, Rich nails it. And this line of attacks is getting so so old.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:45 am:
“There’s no secret that [Ken Griffin] has actively worked against challenging the ultra rich/Our effort to make sure that we’re working to protect working people, that will be the effort, regardless of those interests that try to stand in the way of it.” <– this would have been a pretty mild statement about the defeat of the Fair Tax.
- queenies - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:48 am:
In general progressives blame the wealthy for most of the woes of the world, and they definitely put more emphasis on blaming those who also happen to be Jewish. The irony is that guys like JB Pritzker and Michael Sacks have been funding their party and some of their main initiatives for years.
- Flapdoodle - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 9:52 am:
Rich — I agree with you and admire your forthrightness.
- Juice - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:01 am:
Not only has Sacks put millions of dollars behind Democrats, many of them solid progressives.
The evidence based funding changes, which has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of additional state funding for CPS, would not have happened without Sacks being at the negotiating table.
I get that there are certain policies he supports that the CTU doesn’t love, but its not like he has ever advocated (to my knowledge) of totaling blowing up public education in the way that Rauner/Griffin did. Making him the bogeyman is a real odd choice other than what Rich has emphasized here.
(Plus, not sure how making it more expensive for employers to hire each individual worker is a progressive idea. But if Johnson and the CTU want to hold up Rich Daley as a champion of progressive revenue ideas, so be it.)
- low level - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:04 am:
I guess the mayor forgot that his own handpicked Finance Committee chairperson lead the fight against the head tax. Does anyone know how to play this game on the 5th floor?
- Amalia - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:07 am:
Four days ago Mayor Johnson put out a tweet -companies recognize that Chicago is open for business, we’re just not for sale. It’s video of him walking with Hasan Piker. Using Piker to talk about businesses is more of this strain of anti Semitism. and he tweeted the video at Piker.
- CA-HOON! - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:08 am:
It seems to me Chicago progressives are more angry about the fact that Sacks is a billionaire CEO who uses his obscene wealth to meddle with public opinion, same reasons why Chicago progressives hate Ken Griffin or Dick Uhlein (both notably not Jewish), or nationally with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (also not Jewish).
While I concede that Brandon Johnson is absolutely out-of-touch and wrong to blame anyone else for his failures of leadership, wake me up when he starts using anti-Semitic dog-whistles or anything even approaching what the far-right does *every day* in this country.
Until then, this is nothing more than a false equivalence.
- Steve - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:14 am:
Professor Stephen H. Norwood ’s book from Cambridge University Press is worth reading in times like this.
https://www.amazon.com/Antisemitism-American-Left-Stephen-Norwood/dp/1107657008
- Larry Bowa Jr - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:18 am:
“Talking to people who don’t excuse anything Israel does is anti semitic!”
It was always going to end up getting this absurd. Get a grip on yourselves. You live in a country where anti-Semites have been platformed on the primary Republican information source for the last 35 years. I’m old enough to remember when they even put them on abc Sunday mornings!
Ooops looks like they still do! Wait until all the journalists find out.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:19 am:
One other item, this mayor still refuses to implement the report recommendations on antisemitism the Chicago Commission on Human Relations was authorized by the council to create, his commissioner, Nancy Andrade resigned over it and then claimed it was racist when called on it and all lives matter.
He has a horrible blind spot when it comes to the Jewish community and WILL NOT LEARN.
- Candy Dogood - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:24 am:
We will probably see more of this as rhetoric against billionaires in general will likely continue to be put in place. I just now looked this up, but in 2025 Forbes reported that there are 163 billionaires in the United States that are Jewish out of again, what I just looked up, 989 billionaires in the US.
I think this could wind up being a tight needle to thread for a lot of progressives as rhetoric against billionaires continues to be successful at connecting to large blocks of voters.
- Horse’s Shoo - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:42 am:
Didn’t Saks also donate a decent amount of money to Kim Foxx?
The progressives in The Mayor’s corner do an amazing job of replicating the Right’s mental gymnastics concerning things like January 6.
If these similarities didn’t keep me from getting back to sleep in the middle of the night they’d be truly impressive.
- Demoralized - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:55 am:
==He has a horrible blind spot==
All evidence points to the fact that Mayor Johnson really only cares about one group. To say he has a blind spot is an understatement.
- Not Rich - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:57 am:
This is what happens when the unprepared dog catches the car. Socialists like the Mayor are great stone throwers but pathetically bad at actually governing
- Shooter McGavin - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 10:58 am:
Part of my point is that the antisemitic notion of a monolithic, global Jewish conspiracy is so obviously false just in Chicago.
Failing to recognize that blinds Johnson and progressives to opportunities to advance their agenda.
Coalitions based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, geography and partisanship are inevitable but almost never monolithic. Unless you do the work for them of uniting the group that is.
- JS Mill - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 11:03 am:
I think Rich is correct about the antisemitism. I think it is a real problem for progressives that I am not sure I understand other than it may be linked to anti-Israel (government) sentiment that is often conflated with anti-semitism (and some support for palestinians that gets conflated with support for terrorist orgs).
But it is a real issue. Maybe Johnsons words don’t outright indicate it but some of his actions do.
I think it is much more related to his CTU pedigree and the bottomless money needs that CTU constantly expresses. The same goes with his reaction to getting denied access to more and more money. Attack when denied is what he does and what CTU does and I think that finally, politically, CTU is losing or starting to lose political muscle/clout as a result of their approach.
=The evidence based funding changes, which has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of additional state funding for CPS, would not have happened without Sacks being at the negotiating table.=
This is also true but ignored by Johnson and CTU.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 11:07 am:
In addition to the anti-Semitic tropes, Mayor Johnson’s administration targets journalists for reporting baseline, elemental facts about the people’s government. It is like Soviet Russia.
https://x.com/paschutz/status/2052589693384937822
- King Louis XVI - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 11:20 am:
–He has a horrible blind spot when it comes to the Jewish community ..–
Oh, it’s not blind. He sees clearly enough. He’s no fool. He knows how the anti-Semitic dog whistle gets blown.
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 11:33 am:
Stephanie, if this was the first time he’s mentioned Sacks, there’s no way I would’ve said anything. People aren’t ever above criticism. But this has become a quite regular scapegoating by Johnson/SDG and I’m done.
But my main point is stop blaming others for your own failures.
- Chicago Blue - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 11:41 am:
This feels like a stretch. Is Michael Sacks anti-black because he said he’s for “smart progressive revenue” in the same article?
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 11:44 am:
===Is Michael Sacks anti-black because===
The post is about blaming wealthy Jews for his failure. And he does do that. Your response makes zero sense.
- Who else - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 12:15 pm:
==The progressives in The Mayor’s corner==
I’m not sure it’s the actual progressives, or that there are any still in his corner. This kind of rhetoric sounds an awful lot like things PR folks like Maze Jackson have said, and Maze has been doing an awful lot of social media about his involvement with both the Mayor and the Speaker recently. Agree with Rich– this needs to stop before it bleeds over to the narrative under the dome.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 12:23 pm:
It’s already under the dome. And it is within the Progressive caucus.
The Anti BDS law has been a flash point for so many in the Jewish communnity and that is the starting point. It is why if you look at the witness slips, so many members of the Illinois Jewish community have spoken up. We feel under threat and progressives DO NOT TAKE IT seriously at all.
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 12:24 pm:
===The Anti BDS law===
Try to stay on topic here.
- levivoted4judy - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 12:27 pm:
I used to think my mayor was trying to prove his his CTU - progressive cred with regurgitating their “out there” statements like calling JB some mind boggling things. Now I realize he talks the talk and walks the walk on things like this Sacks characterization. His mindset is baked in regardless of what the facts or history of a person may show.
- Hmmmm - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 2:34 pm:
This feels like a stretch.
- Dotnonymous x - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 2:45 pm:
I agree with Rich…FWTW.
- Pundent - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 2:47 pm:
The mayor is an empty vessel. Some of his ideas have merit but he has no ability to sell them without offending the people he needs in his corner. It will be the hallmark of his tenure.
- Yikes - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 2:49 pm:
I’m not blind to the association, but a headline this strong would seem to need a little more support than one quote and a comment about repetition.
Sacks has been a significant opponent for some of the Mayor and CTU’s most progressive policies. Straight up accusing them of anti-semitism because they criticized their antagonist by name is a big step.
“Johnson and the far right have something in common: Blaming wealthy Jews for their own failures”
“this has become a quite regular scapegoating by Johnson/SDG”
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 2:52 pm:
===Straight up accusing them of anti-semitism===
I said they were blaming wealthy Jews for their failures. They are. Use the Google.
- Yikes - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 3:16 pm:
If we’re being picky about it, the example only shows MBJ / SDG blaming one wealthy Jew. The reference to the far right demonizing Soros makes two, so I guess I misunderstood where the plural was coming from.
It’s still a headline that could use more support. Sacks has made himself a fair target with his spending and work.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 3:24 pm:
Rich: yeah, I definitely haven’t been tracking the rest of this and don’t know the extent of the pattern.
Just want to make sure (for reasons similar to those Candy raises) the conclusions people draw are not that “picking on” billionaires by name (even when they are directly impacting policy) is somehow mean or unfair or proof of ugly bias.
That’s definitely not what you said, but is another idea also running around out there.
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 3:29 pm:
===It’s still a headline that could use more support===
Get your own blog.
- Am I missing something - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 3:50 pm:
I thought I would never ever defend the mayor. Nevertheless, I found nothing in the Sun-Times article referring to Jews. Am I missing something? I found the attack on Ken Griffin (who is not Jewish) by the New York City mayor equally inappropriate, but notanti-Semitic.
- Shytown - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 3:53 pm:
Is it that hard folks to see this for what it is? Is it that much of a stretch, really? I feel bad for my Jewish friends who are constant punching bags for the left - and then you come to a platform like this and a few of you double down and make excuses.
And also sacks is wealthy but are you paying attention to the fact that he helped fund some of our state’s most consequential democratic centered policies including marriage equality, an assault weapon ban and nearly every Personal Pac campaign? If y’all think every wealthy person is bad, then the problem is you.
- Cosgrove - Friday, May 8, 26 @ 4:32 pm:
Thank you Rich. I was raised as a Catholic in the neighborhoods of Skokie in the late 50s and early 60s where friends of mine had grandparents with numbers on their arms from being in Auschwitz. The pain and agony of antisemitism is no less real today. Michael (and Cari) Sacks have supported more pro-choice organizations and candidates than I could possibly know of. They worked behind the scenes and were largely responsible for HB 40 passing in 2017. They put their heart and soul into passing marriage equality by bringing together the business community to get on board as well as into passage of our gun violence laws. Their commitment to early child education is well known. I’ve worked in politics for over 50 years. Michael and Cari Sacks are two of the kindest people I know. They have never asked to be thanked for anything and have rejected accepting honors when offered saying “the activists who do the real work should be honored, not us.” Disagree on the merits of issues, but invoking any form of antisemitism is beyond reprehensible.
- Bellweather - Monday, May 11, 26 @ 12:40 pm:
@horse’s shoo, don’t know if Sacks contributed to Foxx, but another Jewish guy did- Michael Bloomberg!
- jackson potter - Tuesday, May 12, 26 @ 10:18 am:
Sacks never opposed the Mayor’s head tax? Billionaires trying to buy our elections and prevent progressive taxation has nothing to do with anti-semitism and everything to do with harming the most vulnerable communities. Repeating lies doesn’t make them true. https://x.com/royalpratt/status/2000254241831821450
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 12, 26 @ 10:58 am:
===Repeating lies doesn’t make them true.===
Correct, and you just did that exact thing. Nowhere in that ad you linked to is the head tax mentioned.
- Shytown - Tuesday, May 12, 26 @ 11:08 am:
Oh Jackson Potter. You just proved Rich’s point for him. Well done.