Naming names...The Vrdolyak 29

Aldermen Edward Burke (left) and Edward R. Vrdolyak confer during a Council debate in 1985.  

"Mayor Washington was a friend, an ally and a mentor." -- Ald. Patrick O'Connor, former member of the Vrdolyak 29 

On Tuesday, we will elect the first black woman, either Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle, as Chicago's mayor and already there is media chatter about a new round of Council Wars. If history is any clue, we can expect a bloc within the new city council, led by the remnants of the Rahm regime and the old Democratic Party machine, to conspire against the new mayor and the rest of the council's progressives.

For those too young to remember, council wars was the term used to describe the racist resistance to the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington.

It was organized by the two Eddies, Burke and Vrdolyak, who formed what came to be known as the Vrdolyak 29. Think, the racist Republican's opposition in congress as soon as Barack Obama was elected.

The 29 flexed their muscles in the council from 1983-1986. Now, there are only two survivors left. One of them, Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) is currently under indictment for attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison where he's likely to join his old pal Vrdolyak.

The other is Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) who I have blogged about often, since he's served as Mayor Emanuel's floor leader and has spent much of his post-Vrdolyak years serving as the education committee chair for mayors Daley and Emanuel. He's been the ramrod pushing school closings, charters and vouchers and opposition to an elected school board. Rahm just made him chairman of the powerful finance committee, the post previously held by Burke.

Now O'Connor is locked in a fight for political survival in a runoff election against community activist Andre Vasquez. So what does O'Connor do to cover his left flank? He pitches himself as a mentee and close ally of Harold Washington. Unbelievable!

For more on O'Connor's attempt to rewrite history, here's brother Fred's blog response. 

Let's hope voters see through this charade on Tuesday and elect Vasquez.

Here's the names of the Vrdolyak 29:

Fred Roti
Edward Vrdolyak
Patrick Huels
Aloysius Majerczyk
John Madrzyk
Edward Burke
Frank Brady
Robert Kellam
Michael Sheahan
Frank Stemberk
William Krystyniak
Vito Marzullo
Michael Nardulli
George Hagopian
Miguel Santiago
Terry Gabinski
Richard Mell
Joseph Kotlarz
Wiilliam Banks
Frank Damato
Thomas Cullerton
Anthony Laurino
Patrick O'Connor
Roman Pucinski
Bernard Hansen
Gerald McLaughlin
Jerome Orbach
Eugene Schulter
Bernard Stone

Rahm's council pups know how to sit up and beg, roll over, and more

Do Rahm's City Council puppy dogs really think they won something yesterday by keeping the Elected School Board referendum off the ballot? All they got was a biscuit from their boss and a deeper hole for themselves and for the mayor as election time nears.

A few progressive alders respond:

Ald. John Arena (45th) said he would “hate to think my colleagues are that crass,” but it’s obvious mayoral allies played “shenanigans” to block a referendum that would have shown overwhelming support for an elected school board.

 “They’re afraid of the question,” Arena said, blasting Emanuel for continuing to support a "non-participatory board not accountable to voters.” 

“This is a crowding out of a question that’s been discussed citywide for the last 13, 14 months,” said Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd).

 Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) noted that an advisory referendum in limited precincts of his and other wards sailed through with 85 and 90 percent support from Chicago voters.

“It’s not just the elected school board. It’s about the whole education system being put to the test and the policies that the administration espouses versus what a lot of the voters out there would like to see,” Waguespack said, apparently referring to school closings, charter openings and devastating budget cuts at neighborhood schools.

O'Connor

Barking the loudest was Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s City Council floor leader, who made sure that his boys knew they were supposed to vote NO. O'Connor even had the chutzpah to call the plan for elected school board, "racist."

You remember O'Connor. He's the long-time machine hack and north side ward heeler who served for many years under Mayor Daley as the chairman of the council's Education Committee. Now he's under scrutiny for getting his unqualified sister a principal's job on the northwest side.

The campaign to get an elected school board on the ballot is being led by the coalition of community groups called Grassroots Educational Movement, or GEM. It includes KOCO, the United Working Families independent political organization--which formed over the summer with the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Action Now, and Grassroots Illinois Action and others.

Where democracy goes to die...

Chicago's City Council

Progress Illinois Photo

The Mayor's toadies were on full display in yesterday's Council meeting. When the Progressive Caucus moved to get two important measures out on the floor for a vote, Rahm put the hammer down. He even cut off the mic when Caucus leader and Rahm's possible opponent in the upcoming election, Ald. Bob Fioretti, took the floor to support the measures.

The Caucus, which sponsored the two measures — a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Surplus Ordinance and a resolution calling for a citywide referendum on an elected Chicago school board — invoked "Rule 41" to liberate the legislation from the Rules Committee. That's the committee which some people call the place "where good legislation goes to die." Both measures were sent to the Rules Committee immediately after being introduced.

Many of the 32 Alder-sucks, who had previously co-sponsored the ordinances, ran and hid. Faux-progressive Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th), who co-signed the TIF-surplus ordinance, not only flipped and opposed the  attempt to get it out of committee, he also accused the Progressive Caucus of “throwing my signature back into my face” and asking him to “give my vote to you under pressure.” Pawar went to far as to compare the Progressives with Grover Norquist and the Tea Partyers.

Rahm smiled and probably patted Pawar on the head.

Council Wars: O'Connor was with Vrdolyak 29

But the sleaziest of the Council yes-men was Rahm's floor leader, Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th) who claimed that the move to bring the measures up for a vote was "uncivil," and compared it to the Council Wars of the 1980s. Council Wars was the term given to the battles that saw 29 mostly white aldermen, led by "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak and "Slow Eddie" Burke, do everything in their power to thwart the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington.

“Those were the worst days that I’ve ever had in this body. And it was because we, as a body, departed from an opportunity to be civil to one another all the time and be able to take opposite ends of a political question and know the difference,” O’Connor said.

No, O'Connor, it wasn't "we as a body." It was the Vrdolyak 29. You might have mentioned that you were an active member of that "uncivil" racist bloc.

I hope people were taking names back on October 16th, when several of these phony progressives were up on stage at the Take Back Chicago rally at UIC, swearing up and down to support the progressive agenda come what may. You know who you are, Will Burns (4th).

Kudos to Fioretti, Aldermen Arena (45th), Sposato (36th), Munoz (22nd), Waguespack (32nd), Foulkes (15th), Hairston (5th), Sawyer (6th) and the few others who had the spine to stand up, vote the right way and speak out for fair funding and democratic decision making for Chicago's public schools without being intimidated by Rahm and his gang.

Ald. Harris: "What's Rule 41?"

Funniest moment was when the Caucus tried to use Rule 41 to liberate the two measures from the Rules Committee. Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris acted all confused and claimed she didn't know what Rule 41 was.

Writes Mark Anderson at the Ward Room:

To understand what happened, you have to recognize some basic facts. First is that the measure was buried in the Rules Committee, chaired by Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), for a very specific reason: because Mayor Rahm Emanuel wanted it buried there. From the mayor’s perspective, giving control over TIF dollars to aldermen would be a very dangerous thing. Who knows, they might start listening to their constituents when it comes time to decide how to spend them.

Note to Ald. Harris -- Rule 41 is the rule in between Rule 40 and Rule 42. But the most important rule you have to remember is Rule 86 which states clearly that there are no rules except, do what the Mayor tells you to do. Get it?

Catherine Sugrue's Credentials

Ald. O'Connor

The big story in Chicago is all about Catherine Sugrue, the sister of Ald. Patrick O'Connor, being appointed by schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett as principal of a north side elementary school. This even after Sugrue had failed the principal eligibility assessment twice in the last 12 months, making her ineligible for the job.

O'Connor, is Rahm Emanuel's point person in the council. He's also and a long-time machine hack and north side ward heeler. For many years under Mayor Daley, he served as the chairman of the council's Education Committee.

How Sugrue could even be considered for a principal's job is mystifying to most. Her credentials are limited to stints consulting for school privatizers like Innovative Consultants International,  Edison Learning and charter school management companies like Chicago International.

I suppose that answers the question.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Patronage lives: Ald. O'Connor's sister i hired to run school closing transitions.

Ald. Patrick O'Connor 

“If I had a role in this, she wouldn’t be engaged in the work she’s engaged in."  -- Sun-Times. "Key Chicago Public Schools job for alderman’s sister"

 Matthew Johnson, heads Dewey's Local School Council

"For two days in a row, my son didn't come home with any books because they had to do their inventory, so they basically disrupted the culture of our school and our kids' education." -- DNAInfo

Rene Heyback, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

"I think 20,000 people have gone through a rigorous series of hearings over 21/2 months and they're getting the message no one is listening. People feel the Board (of Education) will rubber-stamp this." -- Chicago Tribune  

Prof. Paul Tractenberg

What a Catch-22! The worse the state runs the schools, the longer it needs to control them. -- Star-Ledger

Charles Blow

In his State of the Union speech in February, President Obama said that the “true engine of America’s economic growth” is “a rising, thriving middle class.”  It certainly looks as if that engine has stalled. -- New York Times

Rahm's allies duck out on his pension raid

Fred Klonsky art

The word on Clout Street is that Rahm's own allies and machine pals are distancing themselves from the mayor's pension-busting plan. The latest to duck out of the pension raiding party seems to be Ald. Patrick O’Connor who is usually Rahm's ramrod in the City Council. O'Connor basically admitted yesterday, that Rahm's proposed pension cuts and property-tax increases won't produce the revenue needed to pay the required benefits for retiring cops and fire fighters.

Now even Rahm, who last week was boasting how close he was to an agreement with the CTU and other unions (he lied) is ducking for cover and is even denying that his proposal cuts pension benefits. Ludicrous!

Emanuel said his proposal has support from employee unions, but so far they’re not publicly embracing it. The Service Employees International Union, which represents about a third of the current workers who would be affected, is neutral. “We’re not going against it,” said Adam Rosen, spokesman for SEIU Local 73, “but we’re not supporting it, because of the impact on current retirees.”

By Tuesday, he was ducking questions about whether he would seek a delay in Springfield this spring to put off the "police and fire pension problem".

I think what they're really worried about is having to line up behind another pension-busting scheme while SB1 is still in the courts and as election day approaches. Lots of aldermen have cops, fire fighters and teachers living in their wards. Rahm's strategy also plays into the hand of Bruce Rauner in the governor's race and makes Democrats take ownership of anti-union policies. Rauner's opponent, Gov. Quinn, who signed the state's unconstitutional pension busting bill SB1, is already on the shit list of union voters around the state.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mayor-elect Lightfoot asks Rahm's floor leader, Ald. O'Connor not to call the Lincoln Yards TIF vote. 

Lori Lightfoot

“Any alderman who’s gonna try to align themselves with Ed Burke at this time — we’re gonna make sure that gets very public and exposed . . . I’m going to do everything I can to shine a light on that...

“They’re gonna have to explain to the public why they’re aligning with him against the voters of this city.”-- Sun-Times

Andre Vasquez

The socialist alderman-elect who just took down the machine's 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor, tells S-T: “Where we see the influence of big money and corporations in our government, where we see the corruption in the council, where we see elected officials as bought and paid for, to me, democratic socialism is providing a counterbalance." -- Sun-Times

San Francisco AG candidate, Chesa Boudin

 I’ve seen the system’s injustices first hand and its potential to recognize that people can grow beyond their worst mistakes. My mother is one of those people. -- L.A. Times

JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon doesn't like socialism

...who was paid $31m last year as the head of America’s largest bank and who is estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.3bn, took aim at socialism in his annual letter to shareholders, and warned it would be “a disaster for our country”. -- Guardian

I'm making a list of things to accuse Lori Lightfoot of doing so when they don't happen I can claim credit for preventing it. Genius, right?

— Fred Klonsky (@fklonsky) April 7, 2019

No food at the buffet table

I like Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey's  response to Rahm's version of the longer school day. 

"The schools are getting shortchanged.  Having a full day of school while cutting back core classes is like inviting somebody over for a buffet and there's no food on the table." -- DNAinfo

Fritchey

Fritchey emphasized that it's not the North Side fighting to take funding from the South Side or West Side, but that everyone has to work toward solutions for all.

Nice words.

I hope the northsiders mean it because you know that Rahm will find a way to play the neighborhoods off against one another, restoring cuts for some and not for others. That's just what he's doing now, closing dozens of schools on the south and west sides, blaming his budget shortfall on greedy pensioners and claiming that cuts can't be restored until pension "reform" is successful.

Instead, Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th), who hangs out on the periphery of the council's Progressive Caucus, is calling on the city to draw on surplus TIF funds set aside for economic development as a "one-time fix."  That makes much more sense so long as the funds are distributed equitably. The CTU has been pushing a similar solution. Chicago aldermen have 10 weeks to pass an ordinance giving TIF funding to classrooms. How much funding depends on the extent of budget cuts facing each school, says Pawar.

But the mayor considers TIF his own personal slush fund to be doled out to business community pals as a form of patronage. The real elephant in the room is still the state's regressive tax system. There will be no long-term solution to either city school funding or to the pension crisis so long as Illinois remains a virtual tax-free zone for the largest corporations.

Then there's the whole question of City Hall's control of the schools and the need for an elected school board to replace Rahm's hand-picked board of privateers. How many more reasons do we need?

This week's revolt of northside LSCs, who have formed the Common Sense Coalition against the budget cuts, threatens Rahm's last remaining stable base of support in the city. New polls show he's ripe for picking in the 2015 mayoral primary, providing a unifying progressive opponent has the huevos (gender neutral) to jump out there.

Side Note -- Pawar and 10 other alders have created the Asian American Caucus. The group formed with the stated goal of building legislation around issues affecting the fast-growing Asian American community, particularly immigration, advocacy and language barriers. Problem is that Pawar is the only Asian in the Caucus (we need to elect some more). The rest are pretty much a gaggle of the mayor's yes men, ie. Solis, Mell (retiring),  Moore, O'Connor, etc....

School closings: What's $122 million among friends?

Wait! I thought closing 54 schools, mainly in Chicago black community was supposed to save CPS $560 million in "avoided costs" over 10 years (the figure they gave ABC News was $600 million).Of course, I never believed any of that. But that's because I never believe anything coming from Rahm's liar-in-chief, Becky Carroll or school-closing 'crat Todd Babbitz. They were born to lie. 

But now, WBEZ has given me one more reason to disbelieve. When they and Chicago Magazine  began questioning CPS about the numbers, the numbers suddenly changed. CPS now claims the number is $438 million.

Where did the other $122 million go? Rahm's people say they made an “honest mistake” when adding numbers. "We don't add so good," says Ald. O'Connor, Rahm's floor leader, who added well enough to find about a million and change to get his sister hired to run the school closing transition of students to now over-crowded receiving schools.

Here's what an unnamed CPS 'crat actually said, according to BEZ' Linda Lutton:

A top CPS official said it’s “intuitive” that closing buildings will save money. “It’s clearly something that will save us money. That’s indisputable,” he said. The district’s press office allowed reporters to speak with him only on background, without printing his name.

The official said it’s not overly important whether the savings from “avoided” capital costs are $560 million or $438 million, because the amounts that matter are the school-by-school savings.  

Right. What's $122 million among friends?

I'm not the only one not buying it. Chicago teachers, parents, students and community activists are planning a 3-day March  for education justice on May 18, 19 and 20 to voice opposition to the mass school closings. The Board is expected to rubber-stamp vote on the closings on May 22nd. Stay tuned for more on this.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Yesterday's protest: On State Street, that great street...

Rahm Emanuel

"I own the problem of police brutality, and I'll fix it." -- Chicago Tribune

BGA Pres. Andy Shaw

It’s been quite a firestorm, and it’s scorching Emanuel and Alvarez. But it’s unconscionable that so few others been held accountable, and so little has changed, after more than half a century of well-documented police misconduct that’s taken too many lives, wasted too many tax dollars, sown too much mistrust, and inflicted too much pain on our entire city. -- Toxic Chicago cop culture dates back decades

Ando should be indicted, not just fired.

Lorenzo Davis

,,, a former Chicago police commander and top IPRA investigator, has claimed he was fired this year for resisting [IPRA head, Scott] Ando’s orders to justify police shootings. Davis’ lawyer told the Sun-Times last week that Chatman’s shooting was the video that led to Davis’ ouster. Davis himself called Chatman’s death a “murder” — one that was officially justified in an IPRA report. -- Sun-Times

John Kass

The strongman also protects his power through routine purges of those close to him, lest they be tempted. Even slavish, abject loyalty can't protect them. -- Tribune

Ald. Pat O’Connor, the mayor’s City Council floor leader has no clue.

“They’re mad at him, but I’m not exactly sure I know why they’re mad at him." -- Sun-Times

Michael Davis, Retired African-American police officer

“We don't need mayors and the so-called Independent Police Review Authority covering up for these guys and this panel the mayor created is more of the same.” -- NBC News

Mark Brown snarks Rahm's critics

Some people aren’t going to be satisfied until there is an actual riot. -- Sun-Times

Teachers not teaching in subject areas? Why not?

One of the dumbest teacher-bashing headlines ever, appears on the front page of today's Trib. "Teachers may not know the subjects they cover". Are you kidding me?

According to the Tribune:

The assignment of teachers not properly trained and credentialed to teach a specific course — a practice that has come under fire nationwide — is facilitated by loopholes in state laws and rules as well as by district hiring practices. It has occurred even when applicants with the required qualifications were available, the newspaper found.

Teachers teaching out of their subject area? Well duh! Here's a flash for you. This isn't about incompetent teachers not knowing their subject area as the headline suggests. It's really about educational equity (not mentioned in the Trib article). It's about full and equitable school funding and an end to budget slashing. And it's about sub-contracting and privatization, including non-union, privately-run charters, where certification of teachers isn't always required.

Duncan applauds Vergara decision.

Finally, it's about official CPS policy fostered nationally, by Arne Duncan and his Race To The Top initiative which mandates the firing of thousands of experienced, certified teachers and replacing many of them with unqualified 5-week wonders from TFA. Duncan claims he wants all students to have access to "effective educators." Then he turns around and applauds the Vergara court ruling in California which essentially does away with teacher tenure and job protection and allows thousands of experienced, certified teachers to be replaced by principal and district favoritism (including racial and political favoritism).

Similar policies in Chicago have lead to a sharp decline in the number of African-American teachers. As the district's teaching force grows smaller and whiter, it is also becoming less credentialed. When Rahm and BBB fire hundreds of experienced, certified (even Nationally Board Certified) teachers, including dozens of special-ed, art and music teachers along with librarians and school social counselors and social workers, who do you think is going to perform those roles?

The Trib story continues, quoting Univ. of Penn prof. Richard Ingersoll:

The oft-cited reason officials give is that they can't find or afford educators who have the proper credentials for a particular position, in part because of teacher shortages in certain areas, Ingersoll said. Yet the practice is common even in disciplines in which shortages do not exist and in states with a surplus of teachers for available vacancies, he said. "It might be because of favoritism or poor planning or some principal who wants to get around the rules," Ingersoll said.

Ah, now we're getting somewhere. Yes, district leaders and principals are guilty of favoritism and poor planning to get around rules. What rules? Well union contracts, seniority and tenure laws to name a few. As collective-bargaining agreements are increasingly trashed, what you end up with is hiring on the cheap and the debasing and pushing-out of talented veteran teachers.

And don't forget dozens of charter schools which often pride themselves on hiring non-certified teachers or having an inexperienced TFAer filling in wherever needed.

Even if IL and other states begin an overhaul of teacher licensing to close the "loopholes" it will just mean that kids in poor communities and resource-starved schools won't have access to the same courses as those in wealthier communities. For example, a recent Sun-Times article reveals that only about half of the 577 schools run by CPS have an arts teacher for every 350 students, while less than a quarter of district-run schools even provide the recommended 120 minutes a week of arts education for every student.

Rahm's plan is to increase the sub-contracting and privatization of arts education as well as other academic areas to companies and non-profits that aren't required to hire certified instructors.

What about Segrue's credentials?

SUGRUE...What really amazes me is that this headline appears on the front page of the very paper that broke the story about Catherine Sugrue, the sister of Ald. Patrick O'Connor, who was approved by schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett as principal of a north side elementary school even after she had failed the principal eligibility assessment twice in the last 12 months, making her ineligible for the job.

Now is Sugrue supposed to enforce strict adherence to credentialing and have her teachers only teaching in their subject area?

She would have to start by firing herself.

Oh, and speaking of CPS credentialing, I almost forgot "Dr." Terrence P. Carter sent to us by Chicago’s New Leaders for New Schools.

The last laugh is the best laugh

Getting a late start this morning after doing the Patti Vasquez show on WGN Radio last night. Didn't get home til after 1 a.m. I really like her format and WGN's big late-night (11:00pm-2:00am) audience. Patti, a local  stand-up comedian, likes quick, both humorous and serious banter back and forth on topical issues of education and politics. Last night we wound from the mayor and gov races, to CPD's fudging of violence numbers, to Byrd-Bennett's waiving of principal eligibility requirements so that Ald. Pat O'Connor's sister, could be appointed as Gray’s interim principal. What fun!

'LAUGHABLE'...That's how the Little Emperor's courtiers responded to current polls showing Karen Lewis giving Rahm a run for his (obscene) money in next year's election. Austin Weekly columnist Arlene Jones offers the proper response to their guffawing.

When the witty people on the mayor's staff were told of the poll results, their response was loud and clear: Laughable. Now I must confess that I did agree with Rahm's staff. The image of a mayoral race featuring Karen Lewis vs. Rahm Emanuel did have me laughing. I was rolling all over the floor laughing at the image of Karen Lewis giving him her size eight right up the old keyster. 

Remember, the last laugh is always the best laugh.

That's me in Karen's corner.

RAHM'S NEW SUPER-PAC...Now that Karen has formed her committee and has begun raising some dough, the chuckles appear to have died down. Latest reports have Rahm's patrons creating a new super-PAC that has already raked in $1.35 million from a handful of business titans to “destroy” the City Council’s Progressive Caucus.

Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), who also is mulling a race for mayor against Emanuel, calls “Chicago Forward” a thinly veiled attempt to stifle City Council dissent by “taking out” eight aldermen with the guts to stand up to Emanuel. The Progressive Caucus has been Emanuel’s most persistent critic. It includes Fioretti and seven colleagues: Leslie Hairston (5th), Roderick Sawyer (6th), Toni Foulkes (15th), Ricardo Munoz (22nd), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Nick Sposato (36th) and John Arena (45th).

I'm clearly in Karen's corner as you can tell from the picture above. But I don't think Fioretti jumping into the race will hurt her at all. They each bring a different base of support and a different group of funders to the table. And they both bring a powerful critique of the mayor.  Together they will tag-team Rahm without tearing each other down. Fioretti will pull lots of votes that Karen is unlikely to get -- at least in the first round. These are voters that otherwise might stay home or even go with the mayor. That will likely force Rahm into a runoff where a unity candidate (one throwing support to the other) would have a great chance to winning.  At least that's my perspective.

Taking names. Calling them out.

"We will not apologize for standing up for what's right for children. We will never keep silent in the face of austerity." -- Karen Lewis

It's only appropriate that the announcement of Tom Gradel and Dick Simpson's new book, "Corrupt Illinois", should parallel today's Sun-Times story of Rahm Emanuel's $2 million super PAC coming to the rescue of his gaggle of ass-kissing council candidates.

If you're taking names, here's the list:

Deborah Graham (29th), Will Burns (4th), Natashia Holmes (7th), Anthony Beale (9th), John Pope (10th), Joann Thompson (16th), Lona Lane (18th), Howard Brookins (21st), Mike Zalewski (23rd), Danny Solis (25th), Roberto Maldonado (26th),  Deb Mell (33rd), Emma Mitts (37th), Marge Laurino (39th), Pat O’Connor (40th), James Cappleman (46th) and Debra Silverstein (50th).

I'm feeling pretty confident that we can beat Rahm's bought-off candidates in wards where the community is organized. Out here in Logan Square for example, I'm predicting victories for young activist Carlos Rosa (35th) and Progressive Caucus leader Scott Waguespack (32nd).

We are are hosting a house meeting and fund-raiser for Carlos on Sunday to help him over the hump as the election draws near.  

Speaking of naming names, CTU Pres. Karen Lewis called out Rahm's "crazy hedge fund homies" in the audience, in her address to the City Club of Chicago. You gotta watch it. Also called out was board member Jess Ruiz, who's been Rahm's main water carrier on school closings. He was so shaken, he had to run out of the room at the end of Karen's speech. 

She also did a great job of unpacking Rahm's demagogy on the longer school day, testing madness, privatization of public space ("the public/private partnership means private") and pension theft. 

Gov. Rauner, received particular attention from Lewis, who said the governor was "busy trying to make the term 'collective bargaining' into dirty words." Rauner, she said, "thinks that only certain people are worthy of a high-quality education."

More Lewis:

Rauner ran on a platform about nothing, He's wasted no time attacking the wages of working-class people, attacking their labor unions and threatening massive cuts to social service programs, which help the most vulnerable people in our state. That is the real Bruce Rauner. He's not some easygoing, blue-jeans-wearing, $20-dollar-watch-having good guy who's coming to save the day. He is (Wisconsin Gov.) Scott Walker on steroids.

With three weeks to go before the primary (I'm counting on a run-off), I hope Karen's spunk and speak-truth-to-power fortitude will be contagious.

A fight worth fighting

The fight was worth fighting.

While Rahm Emanuel had all the money in the world to pound home his message, Garcia had believers willing to battle Goliath in Chicago’s neighborhoods and City Council. -- Carol Marin, Sun-Times

Okay, I still haven't quite got my head fully around yesterday's election outcomes. Lots of contradictory thoughts and emotions. I'm feeling battered and bruised but not surprised by Emanuel's 12-point margin of victory. It turns out he got almost exactly the same vote he received in 2011. How could that have happened?

I left the precinct where I had worked all day, in the 15th Ward, feeling jubilant. Our team had helped turn out lots of voters leading to an 82% win for Chuy and underdog Rafael Yanez losing by only 2 votes. Talk about a tale of two (or three) cities!

But then my emotions came crashing down when I turned on the radio to hear that Chuy had lost with both the black and white vote going heavily Rahm's way as it had done in 2011.

Looking back now, I'm buoyed by how well Chuy Garcia and the progressive movement showed in a campaign that few believed could even get past February primaries. Yes, lots of mistakes were made and I'm sure there will be plenty of time to rethink the campaign's coalition-building strategy and tactics. I hope that can be done as free from recrimination and blaming as possible. In my mind, it's never been about one campaign or one election.

And what about those ward elections where so many insurgent progressives, running with little or no money, kicked butt on Rahm's machine-bankrolled city council stooges? Even the pundits who bought into Rahm's fictional media narratives are now forced to admit that the face and shape of Chicago politics has been changed.

I hear that Sue Garza is now widening her lead over Rahm's lap-dog, John Pope and looks like a winner in the 10th Ward. Wow! Check out Kari Lydersen's piece in In These Times for the Garza back story. And it looks like Milly Santiago has defeated Ray Suarez, Rahm's deputy mayor, in the 31st.

Sue Sadlowski Garza (center) and supporters.  (Kari Lydersen)  

Progressive stalwart John Arena has won in the 45th despite having a target on his back, drawn by Rahm's Chicago Forward superPAC. He along with Scott Waguespack (32nd), Toni Foulkes (15th), and Nick Sposato (36th) and Rick Munoz (22nd) will form the core of veteran leadership for the Council's Progressive Caucus (minus sellout Bob Fioretti) which now includes, Chris Taliaferro (29th), David Moore (17th) and Carlos Rosa (35th). Put Garza and Santiago in the mix and you've got a formidable opposition to Rahm Love.

I'm hearing that Tara Stamps gave incumbent machine tool Emma Mitts a helluva run for her money, losing by only 500 votes. Tara is the daughter of late Civil Rights activist Marion Stamps and is a CPS teacher and Chicago Teachers Union supporter. Her political future looks bright to me.

More broke machine tools include Ward 41 incumbent Mary O’Connor, Ward 18 incumbent Lona Lane, Ward 7 incumbent Natashia Holmes, and Ward 29 incumbent Deborah L. Graham. Their political futures looks dim.

"A pretty good night for the caucus, and mainly for what the caucus stands for — independence," Sposato said Wednesday morning. "A bad night to be a rubber-stamper, good night for the independents."

Yes, money still talks in big city as well as state and national politics. But in Chicago's neighborhoods, where community organizing was invented, independent and progressive politics trumped machine dollars. Citywide, where the cards are really stacked against us, the fight was and is still worth it.

It goes on.

At CPS there's a new colonel in town

Rumor has it that there's a shake up brewing atop Byrd-Bennett's CPS bureaucracy. The roundly-despised Tim Cawley appears to be out as BBB's Chief Administrative Officer, replaced by former Marine Col. Tim Tyrrell who is currently running CPS' school closing debacle. 

If true, Tyrrell's appointment could be the colonel's reward to commanding the "successful" closing of 50 Chicago public schools, nearly all in city's African-American community, which was done despite vocal opposition coming from tens of thousands of Chicagoans. With the threat of more school militarization hanging heaving in the air, the appointment of the former leader of prisoner exchanges in Kosovo seems appropriate.

No word yet on where Cawley will end up. I just hope the door doesn't hit him on his way out and back to the northern suburbs.

It was Col.Tyrrell along with Byrd-Bennett, who promised that by the first day of school, “all students attending welcoming schools will experience a safe and seamless transition and have an opportunity at a fresh start.”

As it turned out, only about half of the thousands of kids who were evicted from their former schools, ever made it to their assigned receiving school. Nobody, including Col. Tyrrell, seems to know were the missing children are. Kosovo prisoners apparently were much easier to keep track of.

Tyrrell has already been involved in a CPS hiring scandal involving Catherine Sugrue, the sister of Rahm's City Council floor leader, Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th). Sugrue now holds the newly created title of CPS director of school transition, and reports directly to Tyrell about the Safe Passage program.

The Empire Strikes Back

Emanuel/Daley rift sharpens

Smiling faces...

The rift surfaced back in November. Actually, autocrat Rahm started it with his pokes at his predecessor.

His line of attack has been the longer school day initiative. His education plan is essentially a continuation of the failed Daley/Duncan reforms, previously known as Renaissance 2010 -- school closings in under-served  communities, turning neighborhood schools over to private charter school management companies, attacking teacher collective-bargaining rights and pensions.

None of these things has ever produced any significant improvement in measurable student learning. In fact, during the past two decades of mayoral control of the schools, the so-called "achievement gap" has grown wider. 

In response, Rahm claims  it's all because Mayor Daley didn't push for a longer school day -- a plan that has no basis in ed research and one that is being met with growing opposition among parents and teachers. The Daley faction is furious over Rahm's attempt to diminish the Daley legacy. I guess they feel Daley has diminished it enough on his own by selling off the parking meters to Morgan Stanley (his brother's bank) and the UAR in exchange for a retirement job with the law firm that swung the deal.

On Tuesday, Daley slapped at the longer school day plan, claiming that what we really needed was "quality instructions" [sic].  Today, Rahm and his boy Ald. O'Connor slapped back, calling Daley a "flip-flopper."

But this is more than a petty squabble among Chicago machine factions. Rahm seems to be making enemies everywhere he goes. His approval ratings are plummeting. The Obamas hate him. Nancy Pelosi flew into Chicago and sided with Jesse Jackson in his fight with Emanuel. Then Obama pulled the G8 Summit from Chicago without consulting with Rahm. And now the feds have put Chicago under virtual martial law in the run-up to the NATO protests -- discrediting Rahm's claim that there would be business as usual down in the loop.

In the midst of current contract negotiations with the teachers union and a growing community-based resistance to Rahm's top-down "reforms", it's a rift worth paying attention to by the CTU and ed activists.