By Paul Vallas| John Kass News
Mayor Johnson’s road to elective office was paved by the County Board President and Democratic Party Boss, Toni Preckwinkle, and greased with the financial support of Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates, who literally raised the dues of her members to help finance Johnson’s campaign without approval of her rank and file.
This is their gift: Johnson, a failed teacher turned union organizer, who seems captive of the CTU’s agenda and that of the progressive left. Chicago sees him as its mayor floundering on a number of issues, from the chaos of immigration to street crime.
Stacey Davis-Gates draws much of the attention as it is her style to attack any critics of her or policies as being racist and labels proponents of school choice as fascists, while her union leverages its war chest to successfully lobby against the state’s small scholarship program for underprivileged kids to go to private schools, the “Invest in Kids Act.” This, while she sends her son to a private school, as do almost 40% of her CTU teacher members with school-aged children.
Meanwhile, Boss Preckwinkle maintains an extremely low profile. The goal of the Preckwinkle machine, like that of her predecessor, is absolute power and control in which their agendas go unchallenged, dissenting voices are cancelled, and challenges to her decisions are demonized by accusations of racism. In short, Johnson and Preckwinkle’s supporters led by CTU and its network of community-based organizations work to intimidate and silence critics.
In true totalitarian fashion Preckwinkle and her fearful Party apparatchiks squashed a bid for an open party primary and by unanimous consent endorsed Board Preckwinkle’s hand-picked candidate for State’s Attorney, the woefully underqualified Clayton Harris III.
What are Harris‘ achievements in a career of bureaucratic hopscotching? Leading one of the single most useless governmental bodies in the state, the Illinois Port Authority, and serving as the last Chief of Staff to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich before his was impeached and removed from office.
Why Harris? Probably the best Preckwinkle could summon in the race to succeed her current protege in that office. Fealty to the boss is the most important qualification, especially in that office, given Preckwinkle’s determination to continue emptying out the jail. And when the Boss wants to assure there will be no criticism of her hand-picked outgoing failed States Attorney Foxx, who embarrassed the office countless times.
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