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* Alice Yin at the Tribune…
Speaking at a panel at the Hideout, the mayor again blasted state leaders and called upon them to give Chicago home rule authority to implement new levies because they aren’t “bold” enough to do it themselves. Then without naming him, Johnson appeared to take a shot at Pritzker by comparing the two-term governor and possible candidate in the 2028 presidential race to the governor’s political nemesis, Republican President Donald Trump.
“It is derelict of duty, quite frankly, to have all of this blue power and to make an excuse of why we can’t exercise our power. It’s no different than my complaint or quite frankly my frustration with the president,” Johnson said. “You have Democrats in this country or in Illinois who make excuses of why we can’t show up for working people, and then their cop out is, ‘Well, Mayor Brandon Johnson.’ This is the same mayor that went on a hunger strike.”
Johnson argued the reluctance from Springfield to move on his demand for Chicago Public Schools to receive $1.6 billion more — the mayor’s white whale goal, and one that few believe he can achieve soon given the lack of appetite in the Illinois General Assembly amid an austere budget — is not because of lack of funds. “The money is there,” Johnson countered before casting state leaders as tepid.
“They have supermajorities in both houses,” the mayor said about Illinois Democrats. “We occupy the governor’s mansion. Why are we so afraid to stand up for working people and poor people? It just doesn’t make any sense. It’s unconscionable.”
* One more from Alice…
Johnson again calls for another go at Bring Chicago Home: “This is the frustration that I have with leadership in our state, in our city. Just because you get knocked down and it doesn't go your way, you don't just give up. That's that to me, that's cowardly, quite frankly.”
— Alice Yin (@byaliceyin) September 5, 2025
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 11:45 am
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Well I’ll take it as a positive sign that Mayor Johnson is frustrated with the leadership in the city. I think the voters will do something about that in the not too distant future .
Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 11:56 am
“The money is there”
Before he became Mayor, that was what the CTU had constantly argued was the case with CPS. That CPS and City Hall were sitting on mounds of cash, but were just hoarding it for…reasons.
Now that CPS has hired multiple consultants who have told them that the money is in fact, not there, it appears their new theory is that Lori and Pedro must have filled a couple of dump trucks filled with cash and driven it down 55 for no other reason than to screw kids enrolled in CPS?
He says the money is there. The city of Chicago budget is primarily for police and fire. Yet he has not been willing to reduce spending on anything in his budget.
The state, by contrast, primarily spends its money on health care, human services, and education. So which of those three items would Mayor Johnson propose cutting for the purpose of sending more money to CPS.
(Setting aside the funds spent on pensions for both the City and State, of course.)
Comment by Juice Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:00 pm
By all means get those Bring Chicago Home referendum petitions back out on the street Mayor…2026 election is coming, you can still run that referendum back in front of Chicago voters without needing any Statehouse action….
Comment by ChicagoBars Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:16 pm
MBJ follows the template of his colleague SDG. All rhetoric, all complaints and yet no solutions. Is MBJ aware of the axiom “do more with less.”
If he were, MBJ should examine ways in which to function with existing funds rather than demand more. MBJ, the cupboard is bare.
Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:20 pm
Mayor Johnson is asking for more money and power for Chicago. Can’t say now isn’t the time. There are other big cities with a city income tax. Chicago does need new revenue for the coming deluge of city workers retiring with $100,000 a year pensions.
Comment by Steve Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:23 pm
Maybe Johnson can start by pointing out where the money only he can see is. Maybe reporters can start asking him that.
Comment by Nerd Herddddd Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:24 pm
====“It is derelict of duty, quite frankly, to have all of this blue power and to make an excuse of why we can’t exercise our power.=====
Well, someone should tell the mayor that not all us democrats are far left big thinkers like he is.
Probably a lot more than he thinks. If the dem party goes harder to the left we don’t stand a chance in DC and eventually our base in Springfield will erode.
Comment by Been There Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:27 pm
Yeah. This is why I chose to skip this Hideout event.
The next mayoral election can’t come soon enough.
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:27 pm
Steve…
Serious question: Even if the Statehouse could be persuaded to allow Chicago to pass a municipal income tax…wouldn’t State law ALSO need to be changed to allow retirement income to be taxed by the City of Chicago?
https://tax.illinois.gov/questionsandanswers/answer.99.html
Snarky question…how many votes are there going to be in the Statehouse to go on record in favor of taxing retirement income anywhere in Illinois for any reason?
Comment by ChicagoBars Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:29 pm
=== Why are we so afraid to stand up for working people and poor people? It just doesn’t make any sense. It’s unconscionable.===
This pretty much describes the trend over the last few decades for the Democratic Party and why the Democratic Party has lost a lot of the working class voters that they used to be able to reliably vote on.
The statement might not apply to the current topic that the Mayor is speaking to, but it is a sentiment that a lot of us feel day to day.
Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:36 pm
== from Springfield to move on his demand for Chicago Public Schools ==
Assuming the quote is accurate, the use of the word *demand* is a clear indication Brandon doesn’t have what it takes to play politics with the big boys.
Comment by RNUG Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:37 pm
State law would need to be changed for retirement income to be taxed. Answer to the snarky question:
There are more votes to for increasing taxes than cutting back on public sector pensions. The revenue has to come from somewhere to pay for Illinois sized government. I’m no fan of Mayor Johnson, but bills have to be paid and pensions aren’t going to be cut. Instituting a city income tax is more viable than cutting pensions.
Comment by Steve Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:39 pm
=“It is derelict of duty, quite frankly, to have all of this blue power and to make an excuse of why we can’t exercise our power.=
Real dereliction is creating a problem and then failing to solve it yourself.
And it isn’t “blue power”.
=ust because you get knocked down and it doesn’t go your way, you don’t just give up. That’s that to me, that’s cowardly, quite frankly.=
Such a self own. When did he run a property tax increase referendum? When did he put the issue back to the city council. The guy is not a grown up and he is a prime example of the failure of CTU at leading.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:40 pm
===Instituting a city income tax is more viable than cutting pensions.===
Having lived in Chicago under several different mayors, what makes you think the city would impose an income tax and still not pay the pensions? Are you new here?
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:55 pm
To what end do Brandon and SD-G use this supercharged rhetoric? Is it to: a) shame and intimidate the General Assembly into taking action; or b) to simply shift the blame to Springfield. I wanna say the answer is b, but I’m not sure they think that rationally. They might actually think, against all evidence, that the bomb throwing works.
Comment by Telly Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:57 pm
Is he saying state funding for a Bears stadium isn’t his top priority anymore? Because I seem to remember a news conference where the mayor put on quite a performance.
Comment by Casper the Ghost Bus Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 12:59 pm
Brandon Johnson is on a crusade to use his platform to blame everyone else for his failures. His allies spend more time alienating people with lefty word jumbled instead of finding ways to move their issues. Bring Chicago Home is the perfect example. It didn’t fail because of business interests. It failed because it was an arrogant, poorly conceived, poorly staffed, poorly run, weirdly angry campaign that set back advocates.
Comment by pragmatist Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:03 pm
“They have supermajorities in both houses”
The mayor was in politics when state Democrats passed the Fair Tax, what’s he talking about? The voters rejected it, but it still did much better in Chicago than Johnson’s tax.
Let the mayor and CTU build the statewide support for their legislative desires. Put the 60 and 30 on the board in Springfield. Or is it much easier to be like the Freedom Caucus, shouting emptily from the sidelines.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:05 pm
As is frequently the case, I would like to second JS Mill’s comment.
Comment by Leslie K Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:28 pm
Brandon Johnson is no Dale Carnegie.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:33 pm
=== Let the mayor and CTU build the statewide support for their legislative desires. ===
There is no shortage of support among the Illinois General Asssembly for increasing the funding for public education, as long as it benefits school districts across the state and not just Chicago.
Including a tax increase.
As I think has been pointed out previously, no Democrat has ever lost re-election to the statehouse because they voted for a tax hike.
But neither legislative leader is going to put a tax increase on the floor for a vote if they know that it is going to be vetoed by the Governor.
Pritzker has put a brick on new revenue.
Just watch how quckly they pass a tax hike for the Bears once the governor gets behind a plan, which he seems much more willing to do now that The Bears have hired one of his former staffers as a lobbyist.
Perhaps the thing to do is to provide any additional revenue does not kick in for CPS until after a fully-elected school board is seated, since animus with the current mayor is a political sticking point. Or maybe CPS just needs to knuckle down and hire lobbyists that have a working relationship with Pritzker.
But lets not pretend that Pritzker is not the most powerful Democrat in Illinois, and that it is somehow possible to do an end-run around him politically. All Johnson can do is try to torpedo Pritzker’s presidential ambitions at this point, and he is halfway there. It will be almost impossible for JB to get the coveted AFL-CIO endorsement if the CTU opposes him.
The AFL-CIO has its first woman President,. Its VP is the highest ranking Black leader in the history of the AFL and grew up on Chicago’s Southside. Two American Federation of Teachers’ leaders on its Executive Board.
I do not think Pritzker can oppose the CTU and win the Democratic nomination for President. More important, I do not think Stacy Davis Gates believes he can oppose the CTU and win the Democratic nomination.
CTU has always played the long game. They beat Rahm. Food for thought.
Comment by Rumple Stiltskin Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:39 pm
=They might actually think, against all evidence, that the bomb throwing works.=
I don’t think that either Stacy Gates or Brandon Johnson are serious about solving the problem. They simply want somebody else to take care of it for them. And neither of them like being told what to do. They don’t want to make up the shortfall from Chicago taxpayers and they take an approach that all but guarantees they won’t be getting the revenue from Illinois taxpayers.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:45 pm
Brandon is quickly running out of runway to get anything done. Even if Springfield gives Chicago more taxing power, it would take time to pass both Springfield and Chicago. And if it does pass, it won’t start in time for Brandon to do anything with that revenue prior to Chicago primary season. If anything, his replacement will benefit.
Brandon put all his eggs in the Bring Chicago Home basket and lost. Now he’s doubling down on the blame game because that’s all he’s got left. He truly never understood the job. The organizer couldn’t organize.
Comment by City Zen Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:47 pm
Rumple Stiltskin- you make fine points but things have changed for CTU since the pandemic. They are not as popular and being as far left as they are has turned people off. Parents still remember their attempts to stay remote well beyond reason.
At the height of their popularity, they had a great foil: Rahm. Plus a narrative of fighting the power. Today, they are the power and have failed miserably to wield it.
Regarding Pritzker’s presidential ambitions: I don’t think CTU is all that popular with their fellow public unions or trades here in Chicago/IL. They are still formidable. I wouldn’t count them out. But I do expect them to do dumb things so they count themselves out of the conversation. Remember JB didn’t need CTU to win in 2018 and being a billionaire certainly helps. My two $$
Comment by pragmatist Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:54 pm
==It will be almost impossible for JB to get the coveted AFL-CIO endorsement if the CTU opposes him.==
If history is any indicator, AFL-CIO will withhold their endorsement until well into the Democratic primaries then endorse whoever Dem is in the lead.
THe WRA passed under JB. To think he wouldn’t get the union nomination due a tiff with a dysfunctional affilalte is silly.
Comment by City Zen Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 1:57 pm
=Just watch how quckly they pass a tax hike for the Bears once the governor gets behind a plan, which he seems much more willing to do now that The Bears have hired one of his former staffers as a lobbyist.=
All evidence to the contrary.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 2:18 pm
== why the Democratic Party has lost a lot of the working class voters ==
From minimum wage, to progressive taxation, to union protections, to probably a dozen other issues, the Democratic Party is inarguably infinitely better to working class folks than the GOP. Yet the migration of voters toward the GOP continues. I think that has more to do with the Dem Party being out of step with working class folks on social and cultural issues than it has to do with the party not pushing hard enough on economic issues.
Comment by TNR Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 2:36 pm
= things have changed for CTU since the pandemic.=
They’ve also taken their fight from the Mayor’s office to the Governor’s office. It’s a fight they aren’t prepared for and the tactics that work within the city are far less effective outside of it.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 2:55 pm
The Mayor is right. There is money to pay off all this pension debt. It’s called raising property taxes. And the amazing thing is that he can propose to do so and the Council can vote to do so. And he doesn’t need JB to do anything at all.
Comment by Ducky Friday, Sep 5, 25 @ 2:56 pm