CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson took office as an outsider vowing to shake up the city’s notorious politics. But nearly two years into his term, he is increasingly isolated and alienating even some of his ideological allies as he fights to implement his progressive agenda.
The most notable recent example is the unfolding controversy over his powerful efforts to overhaul the city’s school board. Seven members resigned en masse after rejecting Johnson’s call to fire the school’s CEO after he refused his request to take out short-term, high-interest loans to address budget shortfalls.
Johnson vigorously defended his term in an interview with POLITICO on Friday in London, where he focused on economic development and attended a Chicago Bears game in the city.
“There may be some people who are a little concerned about how bold our vision is,” Johnson said, pointing to major investments in affordable housing among his list of accomplishments. “There are people who have a hard time adapting, but for the Chicago public, they are very aligned with the vision.”
The school committee uproar is just the latest drama unfolding on the fifth floor of City Hall. Before that, Johnson reorganized his intergovernmental affairs team, bringing in executives who worked closely with the Chicago Teachers Union, an influential group that helped get him elected mayor. He has repeatedly clashed with the City Council over efforts to eliminate the use of controversial gun detection technology. And he failed to get his first and second choices approved to chair the council’s powerful district committee.
All this comes before delaying the release of the mayor’s proposal to close the city’s most pressing problem: a $1 billion budget shortfall by 2025.
Many city council members support Johnson’s progressive agenda for the city but have reservations about how he has worked to achieve it. In particular, his unilateral moves to reorganize the school board drew hostility from city officials such as Alderman Bill Conway.
“I appreciate that Mayor Johnson is a man of principle, but he must also realize that city government is not set up to be a dictatorship,” Conway said.
Nearly two years ago, Johnson, a former social studies teacher and CTU organizer, won a surprising victory in Chicago’s mayoral election.
He rose through the ranks as an activist, even leading a hunger strike to keep Southside schools open. He became a county commissioner with the support of the teachers union, and a few years later the CTU nominated him for mayor.
But Johnson’s challenge began as soon as he took office, when Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending large numbers of immigrants to Chicago to draw attention to the national immigration problem.
Johnson embraced Chicago’s reputation as a welcoming place for immigrants and invested significant resources with the state and county to provide housing and other services to new arrivals. But some black Chicagoans felt ignored. Why was the mayor willing to find housing for immigrants when there were so many people in need in his own community?
The immigration crisis has also created tensions with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, as the mayor has repeatedly criticized the state for not doing more, even though Illinois has paid more to address relief efforts. Because.
Johnson touted his efforts to build up struggling neighborhoods in this diverse city with roughly equal black, Latino and white populations. And he has systematically worked to recruit black employees to key positions.
But the mayor’s focus on increasing opportunities for black residents has also drawn criticism.
“As much as he wants to address legitimate issues affecting the African-American community, he can’t do that if that’s all he does,” said Bill Singer, a former city council member and veteran City Hall observer. “You have to focus on the city as a whole and the entire support structure of the city working together. And that is not the case now.”
Johnson dismissed the criticism and said his administration’s efforts, which include programs to lower crime rates, bond investments to boost small businesses and expand affordable housing, and a $1 billion corporate investment plan for a quantum computing campus, benefit the city as a whole. claimed.
“I promised to do things differently and I will,” Johnson said. “If people have a problem with black young men being the highest population enrolling in community colleges, these are probably the same people who didn’t care when black young men were attending schools that were disinvested and closed.”
Recent tensions between the mayor and City Council reflect the turbulence of the 1980s, when Mayor Harold Washington came under scrutiny from all sides by members of the City Council. However, there are notable differences. While his opponents in Washington are a small group of white lawmakers, Johnson is facing backlash from all sides, including some progressive allies and black members of Congress.
“He is absolutely right to focus attention on long-neglected and disenfranchised areas of the city, but he has to take the City Council with him,” said Constance Mixon, a political science professor at Elmhurst University and co-editor. Read the book ‘21st Century Chicago’. “He can’t do it on his own.”
Johnson took office with the support of progressives and minority communities who want change in a system they say is dominated by white corporate elites. For decades, every mayor in Chicago had a connection to Richard J. Daley, who was first elected in 1955.
“They all came out of the Daley machine,” said Delmarie Cobb, a political consultant who began working for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign, referring to Paul Vallas, whom Johnson supported, as well as former mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot. He lost in the mayoral primary last year. “This was our opportunity to kill the machine once and for all.”
Despite some recent successes, including a significant decline in homicides, crime remains an ongoing concern in Chicago. There has been debate in the Black community over whether the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system approved by the Emanuel administration is the best way to protect gun-prone areas. Johnson has pledged to end his contract with the company, which many progressives say is merely a surveillance tool that will do little to solve crime.
But some in the black community and city council members credit the tool with saving lives. ShotSpotter identifies gunfire so police and paramedics can get to the crime scene faster.
Nonetheless, the mayor stuck to his campaign promise and canceled the program, prompting opponents to file a legal challenge.
But Johnson’s biggest challenges concern finances and the school system. The city faces a nearly $1 billion shortfall and the Chicago Public Schools system is grappling with mounting debt.
What the market is hoping to avoid is a financial storm. He is attempting to shift teacher pension payments from the city to Chicago Public Schools, and wants the schools to take out $300 million in short-term, high-interest loans to pay for them.
When school district CEO Pedro Martinez rejected the idea, Johnson grew frustrated that his hand-picked board of trustees did not support him. Ultimately, all seven resigned. It’s a surprising move considering the board is in the midst of contract negotiations with a powerful teachers union.
The upheaval comes just weeks ahead of the November election, when Chicago residents will vote for their first elected school board. Critics say Johnson is trying to fire Martinez and bypass the new board of 21 directors (10 elected and 11 appointed by the mayor) to meet CTU’s contract requests.
Many elected officials and civic leaders have warned against taking out loans and are concerned that firing Martinez would be a mistake, especially considering the schools appear to be improving under his watch.
Earlier this week, Johnson compared those complaining about the city’s financial difficulties to Confederate slave owners, a comment that angered civic leaders who do business in the city.
“They said it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to emancipate black people.” said the mayor. “And now there are detractors who make the same claims about the Confederacy regarding public education in this system.”
The controversy threatens Johnson’s future ability to govern in the short term as he works to get his budget approved by the City Council and in the long term as he hopes to win re-election.
“We need to understand that the legislative and executive branches are equal institutions, and the tension and heart-pounding over whose authority is whose authority is not helpful,” said Alderman Andre Vasquez, co-chairman of the council. Progressive Caucus.
Singer, a veteran city council member who has long studied Chicago City Hall, said the city will weather recent turbulence.
“Your bones are amazing. The institution is great. They won’t leave. But if this continues, the city will shrink more than it already has,” Singer said. “I think (Johnson) can last a few more years, but a second term is out of the question.”
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