Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is accusing Illinois governor Bruce Rauner of trying to balance the state’s budget on the backs of Chicago’s working families.
Everything from kids to cops, technology to transit could be impacted by state budget cuts, according to Mayor Emanuel.
“I’ve been very clear to all the leaders and to the governor,” Emanuel said on Wednesday. “This budget will not stand. It’s wrong for Chicago and I believe it’s wrong for Illinois.”
The City forecasts Rauner’s proposed budget would mean 1,000 fewer cops, $130 million in cuts to the CTA and 60,000 kids losing subsidized daycare.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel offered up a double serving of political theater Wednesday, attacking his friend Gov. Bruce Rauner’s attempt to slash state spending and airing a TV ad in which the mayor appeared contrite about his first term but didn’t specify what he got wrong. […]
Emanuel’s castigation of Rauner’s budget blueprint represented a time-tested way for a Chicago mayor to score quick political points by attacking whoever is in the governor’s mansion. […]
Emanuel’s criticism of Rauner also served the political purpose of attempting to distance himself from a Republican private equity specialist he once did business with during a brief stint as an investment banker that made the mayor personally wealthy.
On Wednesday, Emanuel set out to prove that he is, indeed, fighting for everyday Chicagoans and does not deserve the “Mayor 1 percent” label that his challenger has used to define him.
“You ran for office saying, ‘Here are the challenges.’ I get it. [But] I don’t think you did the hard work of saying, ‘Early childhood is important. Here’s how we’re gonna do it different.’ They just said cut. And the brunt of the cuts are the hundreds of families and parents that rely on a qualified, healthy environment for their kids.”
Instead of wielding the budget ax in a way that would deprive Chicago of “hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said Rauner should zero in on “corporate loopholes” like the ones the mayor closed in Chicago.
Implied, but not stated, was Emanuel’s claim that he had the guts to take on the corporate donors who filled his campaign fund with $15 million.
He also said the governor’s proposed cuts gave new meaning to the phrase “Women and children first.”
“These are just random cuts. There are no reforms to asking a core question: If this is an essential service, how do we do it? How do we do it better? Are we the best to do it?” Emanuel said of Rauner’s budget. “This budget is wrong. It’s wrong for Illinois, it’s fundamentally wrong for Chicago, and it will not stand.”
“The mayor should go to Springfield and sit with Rauner. Maybe open up one of those expensive bottles [of wine] and figure out how he’s going to really fight for the people of Chicago when his buddy is the person who’s bringing on the bad news that will spare no one, especially the most vulnerable people,” Garcia said.
“Governor Rauner had to make some hard decisions to balance a $6 billion budget shortfall caused by years of fiscal neglect and bad practices. The amount of money transferred to local governments has ballooned by more than 40 percent in the last decade and the reduction to local governments proposed in the budget puts Illinois in line with neighboring states. In Governor Rauner’s budget proposal, Chicago’s overall revenues are reduced by less than 2.5 percent. Through the local government task force, Governor Rauner is committed to working with local communities to reduce costs and give them increased flexibility. Additionally, as part of his Turnaround Agenda, the governor proposed empowering local residents with tools to control costs at the local level and get more value for their tax dollars.”
[Mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia] has declined for months to say what he would do about the financial crisis confronting Chicago, even as he criticizes moves the mayor has made.
Since December, Garcia has said only that he is “studying” the budget crisis.
“What I’m telling you is that I’m consulting with experts on financial matters of the city. I will not be pressured by his time frame,” Garcia said. “We’re going to be releasing some of those positions shortly.”
Garcia’s been ducking questions about Chicago’s budget crisis since he filed to run for mayor last fall. He told FOX 32 News he does not “foresee” any tax increases, but won’t say what he would cut or how he would pay with more than a billion dollars needed for police, fire and teacher pensions next year.
Mayor Emanuel has now used a Garcia quote against him in an ad posted on socialmedia.
* Garcia is so far taking the Bruce Rauner approach, as is Emanuel, for that matter.
It’s hugely important for candidates to discuss what they plan to do after the election, but the Chicago media mostly gave Rauner a pass last year when he promised details for months and never provided them.
Candidates always learn from the success of other candidates. The city’s two newspaper editorial boards rewarded a candidate with endorsements last year who stayed mostly silent about his plans. This was a horrible precedent, particularly by the Tribune, which brushed off their own reporters’ pointed questions to the would-be governor as unnecessary.
* So, like Emanuel, I’d love to see Garcia go into some detail. But I don’t really blame Garcia after what happened last November. The guy who ran on a promise to renew a tax hike lost, and the guy who refused to say just about anything won. It’s truly frustrating.
