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| In October, parents and community groups carrying anti-privatization signs, gathered in front of Ald. Will Burns (4th) office, demanding that Burns be replaced as Education Committee chair. |
Still no explanation for his sudden departure. Some are asking, do they have something on him? I have no idea. The feds and IG are all over the place, but I haven't heard Burns' name mentioned.Special Election needed to replace AldWillBurns as he plans to step down @ChiCouncil— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) January 31, 2016
Ald. Burns has taken a political beating over the past year and has even been abandoned at times by his own puppet master, the mayor. Remember, he took the lead in attacking the Dyett hunger strikers and opposing their demand for keeping Dyett open as a neighborhood school in Bronzeville. Burns pushed for making it a privately-run charter only to have Rahm and Claypool flip at the last minute and concede to the hunger strikers' main demand, opening Dyett as a neighborhood school.
Then there was his losing battle to stop production of Spike Lee's film, "Chiraq". Burns had urged the state not to give Lee and his company, Forty Acres and A Mule Filmworks, a $3 million tax break for filming in Illinois. He lost that one too.
But Burns' biggest sense of betrayal may have come this week when Claypool, in a contract offer to the CTU, agreed to a moratorium on charter school expansion. This was a major defeat for Burns who had been primed as the mayor's lead blocker on charter schools in the black community.
Back in September, when Black Caucus leader Rod Sawyer, called for a moratorium on charters, it was Burns who fought against it.
Burns leaves as a power-house wannabe who even had been mentioned as a potential Rahm successor. I'm sure there will be more to come on this one.
Appointment or Special-Election now?
ReplyDeleteThe Mayor will choose a rump committee to "review potential candidates" and then hand-pick Burns' replacement. The Chicago way, ie. Deb Mell.
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