February 9, 2011. Chicago. With two weeks before Chicago's mayoral election, one poll after another is pointing to a sweeping victory for Rahm Emanuel. Latest polls over the past week even show the front-runner receiving more than 50% of the vote, thus avoiding a one-on-one run-off election with the eventual runner up - Gery Chico according to each respective poll.
Baring any 'October Surprises', and Rahm Emanuel has enough baggage for some potential doozies, it would be a shame if Emanuel skated to an easy victory without the people of Chicago ever having a chance to take a closer look. Since Emanuel hasn't shown up for virtually any community forums or town halls and has avoided almost all the debates, Chicago voters have been forced to base their opinion on other things like the candidate's vague policy positions, his never-ending TV commercials and the love fest from the city's local media who mysteriously announced his inevitable victory long before he ever announced his intention to run or a single poll was taken.
[Commercial Break: Did you know the Walt Disney Company owns theme parks and movie studios? Wouldn't you love to have Disney Earth located on Chicago's lakefront? The Disney Company sure would, especially if it came with millions of dollars in incentives, union waivers and free construction compliments of tax-payer subsidies. Remember, jobs, jobs, jobs.]
After scouring numerous candidate responses for more specific details regarding candidate Rahm Emanuel's positions and ideas, a brief list was compiled using mainly the two respective candidate questionnaires from the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times.
With all due respect, Mr. Emanuel's answers were 90% smoke and 10% substance. If responses below are short and to the point, it's because the pre and post boilerplate of 'I love Chicago' have been cut out. 'Smoke' has a bad habit of blurring the issues, as in 'smoke and mirrors'. So, let's just clear the air, shall we?
Residency Requirement for City Employees Being the most contentious issue of the race by far, Chicago's decades-old battle over the residency requirement is the first question on the list. According to ABC7 Blog reporter Charles Thomas, Emanuel is "open" to the idea of rescinding that rule. ABC7 is of course, owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Leasing City Assets Emanuel explains that he is open to the idea of leasing more city assets, provided a specific process is put in place and the proposal was voted for by the city council.
Privatizing City Services This is one of the few subjects Emanuel is energetically for. He began by stating, "Since 80% of the city's budget is personnel costs, government reinvention can't succeed without addressing labor costs and worker productivity". Seeing it as one of his main ways to cut the city's yearly deficit, Emanuel makes no apologies for intending to open up Chicago's city services to outside corporations. After quantifying the value and production of city workers and the services they provide versus the costs they charge, Emanuel would force city departments to compete in an open bidding process with private companies. Emanuel is most specific about launching the idea with the city's garbage collection. Presumably, that's because there are already multi-national corporations like Waste Management standing by with plans already in place to take over Chicago's garbage collection. A contract the size of Chicago has been a dream of these corporations for decades.
[Commercial Break: For all your investment banking and high-end financial needs, consider GE Financial Capital. GE Financial Capital is a subsidiary of General Electric.]
Chicago's Pension Problem Emanuel is fairly specific with this issue as well. He began by calling the city's current pension system, "dishonest". One solution Emanuel proposes is to demand higher returns from the Fund's managers. That in itself won't do anything unless Emanuel plans to move the funds to different, higher-performing hedge funds. This would be the very same tactic taken by former IL Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias to fund the Bright Start Program. High returns equal high risk. Another proposal Emanuel makes is to take advantage of the benefits of higher volume. Emanuel explains further by suggesting that Chicago's pension funds should be coordinated together with the State of Illinois' pension funds. Presumably, Chicago would take over managing the entire state's pension money. Finally and most obviously, Emanuel concedes that pension benefits will need to be "restructured", including more co-funding by each respective employee.
Tax Increment Financing Districts (TIF) Emanuel supports the existing structure and objectives of TIF Districts. Citing the $500 million per year in funds, Emanuel supported more transparent audits of each TIF's goals and accomplishments. Coincidentally, according to NBC5 Chicago, Emanuel pledged today to immediately cut exactly that amount from the city's budget. NBC5 is of course, owned by General Electric.
Schools Emanuel supports the basic structure, but promised to revamp teachers' salary scale, basing it on student performance. He also supported the suggestion of offering above average teachers bonuses to move to below average schools. One rarely mentioned idea of Emanuel's is his support for organizing school parents into a type of union. Parents would have the right and the authority to collectively force not only administrative changes, but invite new operators or "shutting it down and starting over".
Attracting New Businesses Emanuel beat the drum of "strong schools, safe streets and sustainable finances". He also suggested streamlining permits, license applications and inspections.
[Commercial Break: Feel like celebrating a great victory? Come visit the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in lovely Las Vegas. Don't think of it as losing your money gambling. Think of it as supporting the local tax base. MGM Grand Hotel and Casino is owned by CBS Corporation]
Living Wage Ordinance Emanuel supports the living wage, with exceptions for small businesses.
Crime Emanuel supports hiring 250 more police officers for high-crime areas. He would pay for it using area TIF funds.
Neighborhood Video Gambling and Casinos in Chicago Emanuel pulled no punches in saying he would be in favor of allowing video gambling throughout Chicago if there were no other funding sources available. He also enthusiastically endorsed Chicago casinos saying, "A casino is not a panacea. But I will not stand by as Chicago residents travel over the border to spend money at casinos". This may be a more timely issue than originally thought considering the Illinois House will soon debate what WBBM Newsradio 780 and CBS 2 Chicago called, "the largest ever gambling expansion". It would include five more state-wide casinos, including a casino in Chicago and video gambling at O'Hare and Midway Airports. WBBM and CBS 2 are of course owned by CBS Corporation.
Well, hopefully your author was able to clear away some of the smoke and shed a little light on the issues and Rahm Emanuel's positions. Having such a huge lead in the polls from the first day the local media began reporting on his possible entrance into the race for mayor, and having what some estimate could be a ten to one advantage in fundraising over his opponents at this point, including tens of millions of unspent dollars to use in Aldermanic elections if there is no run-off, candidate Emanuel has been unapologetically absent from most of the citizens' forums and town halls. It is our hope that we were able to give you the readers and residents of Chicago's neighborhoods a closer look at Rahm Emanuel the candidate...and his vision for Chicago.
If you'd like to receive this article in your email inbox, simply click on the 'Subscribe' button above and enter your email address. It's free and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send all comments, questions or suggestions to illinoisindependence@yahoo.com
Comments