Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson stepped to new lows when his hand-picked board fired Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez without cause.
Austin Berg at the Illinois Policy Institute Explains on X.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hand-picked school board just voted unanimously to fire Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez without cause. Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) have been pushing for months to oust Martinez following his refusal to back Johnson’s demand for a $300M high-interest loan to pay for a new CTU contract. The CTU is Johnson’s largest campaign funder and former employer.
Aldeman Silvana Tabares made a very important point in public comment before the board vote. CTU takes in more than $30M a year. But it spends just 17 cents of every dollar on teacher representation. The rest goes toward administration, politics and other leadership priorities. The contract with CPS is what fuels their political machine. The bigger the contract, the more money CTU can give to Johnson and his allies.
As background to this story, Johnson’s initial cohort of appointed board members resigned unanimously in November when Johnson told them to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. Johnson sought to terminate Martinez because Martinez didn’t support Johnson’s push to take out a high-interest loan to cover CPS’ $300 million shortfall.
Please note the CTU proposal includes annual raises of 10-12 percent after factoring in cost-of-living adjustments. And the union demands 13,000 new positions despite falling school enrollment.
The CPS leaders say this would push the district’s deficit to $4 billion by 2029. That nearly half of the entire budget.
When Johnson demanded his own appointed board go along with this proposal, they all resigned instead. Johnson’s new handpicked board then voted to fire, without cause, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.
When fired without cause, CPS leader Martinez can stay on for 6 months. To get around Martinez in the interim, mayor Johnson proposes a deputy CPS leader, a position that does not even exist.
Q&A With Austin Berg
A national political reporter visiting Chicago to cover preparations for the Democratic National Convention asked Austin Berg “What do you think people outside Chicago don’t understand about Brandon Johnson’s administration?”
Berge gave his 3-Part Answer on X.
1️⃣ The Chicago Teachers Union dictates the mayor’s priorities and allocation of political capital. They are by far the most powerful political actor in city government right now, which means the administration fixates on the demands of a small base of far-left activists. This explains things like the cancellation of ShotSpotter despite community support, the mayor casting the tie-breaking vote on a ceasefire resolution, attacking selective enrollment schools, defending the most radical members of city council despite their horrific behavior, hostility toward ethics reform, and banning schools from hiring cops as security officers. Watch the @illinoispolicy
documentary “Local 1: The Rise of America’s Most Powerful Teachers Union” for the best account of this.
2️⃣ Because of No. 1, the administration is staffed by a relatively large number of people with little to no executive experience, including the mayor himself. This explains a wide range of unforced errors: trying to build a migrant tent camp on toxic land, losing the “mansion tax” referendum, announcing an unpopular proposal for a publicly funded Chicago Bears stadium that was immediately dead on arrival in Springfield, ghosting the Sun-Times editorial board after they refused to hold an off the record conversation, and over/underpaying thousands of Chicago government employees due to clerical errors.
3️⃣ You could elect Mother Teresa or Pericles to be mayor of Chicago and they would still have a difficult time fixing the city’s problems. That’s in large part because we’re the only major city among the top 10 in the U.S. lacking a city charter. This means there are no constitutional checks and balances on authority. No thoughtful delegation of power. And little democracy on issues of citywide importance. This explains why the Council and the Mayor can’t agree on who really has authority over the ShotSpotter deal, why the Chicago Police Department is in compliance with just 6% of the federal consent decree and thus lacks community trust, why City Council is not able to provide a meaningful check on the mayor’s budgeting and forecasting, why Chicago alone holds more pension debt than 44 U.S. states, and why the mayor can sign major deals (Lollapalooza, NASCAR) behind closed doors with no oversight. The best account of this is “The New Chicago Way: Lessons from Other Big Cities” which compares Chicago’s governance structure to other major cities and offers a comprehensive solution set. You can buy the book or listen to our podcast mini-series at http://newchicagoway.com. DM me if you can’t afford a copy and I’ll send you one.
The State of the City
Last year the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago asked Berg to give a talk about the state of the city.
He discussed Chicago history, the city’s problems, solutions, and the main findings in his video “The New Chicago Way.”
CTU History of Anti-Parent Actions
Please note the CTU Has a Long History of Anti-Parent Actions.
The Chicago Teachers Union is the enemy of parents’ rights. It’s efforts to unionize charter schools, push them to the brink of closure and then take them over as typical public schools bears this out.
Step 1: Unionize. In January 2018 – the same year Acero’s unionized employees merged with CTU – former CTU President Jesse Sharkey explicitly admitted his motivation to “undermine further charter expansion,” using tactics such as unionizing and merging charter schools into CTU.
Step 2: Undermine. Later that year, CTU employed its go-to tactic in leading Acero’s teachers out on strike, marking the first charter school strike in the nation and cancelling class for the 7,000 students at the 15 schools.
Step 3: Absorb. After Acero announced schools were closing, current CTU president Stacy Davis Gates claimed she wanted to “save” them by absorbing them into CPS. The school board followed her directive on Dec. 20 and did just that.
Now those charters will no longer exist.
The CPS Budget
The district’s budget is about $10 billion. It’s up nearly 30% increase in five years while serving fewer students.
By 2029 or 2030, the deficit is projected to be $4 billion per year on a $10 billion budget.
The city is broke.
Worst in Class
Johnson is the most corrupt mayor in the nation. And the CTU is the most corrupt union in the nation.
It is a one-two punch with unfortunate kids held hostage for the benefit of leaders who belong in jail.
I can’t help but think Johnson will eventually find jail because history suggests corrupt Illinois politicians eventually get there.
Meanwhile, the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent kids are destroyed in a worst in the nation public school system.
When Do Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City of Chicago Finally Implode?
On November 25, I asked When Do Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City of Chicago Finally Implode?
Chicago slashed 2,103 public safety job but added 184 administrators. The budget deficit is nearly $1 billion.
Openly Rooting for Implosion
I am openly rooting for Chicago and the entire pension system of Illinois to implode.
That sounds harsh bit it isn’t.
There will be no reform until crisis hits, and the sooner the better because those currently collecting unwarranted massive pensions are bleeding the pension funds dry.
The sooner the collapse, the more pension money will be saved for the average Joe.
Meanwhile, please note that In Chicago There’s Under a 50 Percent Chance Police Show Up If You are Shot
Good luck in Chicago getting the police to show up if you are shot, stabbed, a victim of domestic violence, or any number of other serious crimes.
But hey, Chicago hired 179 new community services administrators. How’s that working for you?
It would be better if it didn’t affect the rest of the country, but the Democrats will bail out Chicago and push the cost on American taxpayers through inflation.
FREE ALDERMAN BURKE!
So… There’s another “Brandon” for “Let’s Go Brandon!” chants?
Or maybe it should now be “Let Brandon Go”…
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Al Capone.
I wonder if Biden’s scandalous clemency decisions can challenged on the basis that his degraded mental state renders him incompetent to make decisions of such gravity.
Excellent point Doug! I was wondering how this might come back to hurt him, but had not thought of this angle.
They were pulling all that crap awhile back, about him being to incompetent to take responsibility, or something like that. I say BS, if the man can be President, then He can be accountable for His decisions.
If anyone deflects the blame, then you can simply state right back to them, that they should have spoke up! It’s their Responsibility to do so, and to knowingly hide it, must be breaking some law, of some sort. They’re Politicians for crying out loud!
🦗 from the Biden defenders on here
That 300 million “high interest loan” sounds like a loanshark – probably some friends of the mayor. Actually when I read stories about Chicago or SF, etc. I not so secretly look forward to the day when they really become bankrupt and neither the state or the Feds will bail them out. Chicago will eventually look like nearby Gary, Indiana – empty and essentailly farmland when everyone leaves. SF will likely survive a bit longer, but also will go bankrupt.
The Feds will always bail them out
Correct. There’s too many votes in the cities and they often control all of the state’s electoral votes.
Doesn’t Illinois hold the record for the highest number of incarcerated governors?
Four governors and an attorney general incarcerated.
I’ll take Pericles please.
MISH, you ever watch Peter Santenello on YouTube? He does a piece on Chicago politics and I thought of you the whole way through when I watched it. You’re right- the stuff in Illinois is unreal
https://youtu.be/BFw0HNObAOA?si=5jmrV3Nbv5wF9UGf
Thanks
Wasn’t the RICO statute made for situations like this? Round them all up. Declare their pensions null and void. Fruit of the poisonous tree. Burn the whole rotten construct to the ground. For the children.
Mish almost gets there with what is the same in all these cities with regards to leadership and then fails to put it together. Democrat led. Every one of them
I could swear he said as much once. But I could be wrong.
If he’d only get treatment for his TDS, he could be one of the best bloggers around 🙂
“The bigger the contract, the more money CTU can give to Johnson and his allies.”
Harris had much more money than Trump and he still beat her. Is there a Republican populist in the City of Chicago? Might be time for him/her to speak up. There is a constituency waiting.
Trump was a bargain!
“Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hand-picked school board just voted unanimously…”
to activate Karma. All it takes is an inflection point, a final straw. In history class, they taught about the Boston Tea Party.
Vote crap into office then guess what everything will smell like.
Chicago is a more interesting case-study in fanatical liberalism than San Francisco — although both are self-destructing.
The State of CA is continually bailing out SF so its fall is greatly slowed. Doubtful that Illinois can continue to bail out Chicago although Pritzker will try.
Both cities have phenomenal geographic advantages; with SF having decent weather.
Many of the flaming libs are located in the burbs, including the local media. Fatso is probably at his equestrian estate in Florida, eating like a horse.
Ok, with Illinois at ~5% income tax rate, they can roughly double their state tax hit before catching up with NY/CA; then the state/burbs can fund Chi-town via some Disadvantaged-Income-Person-Stuck-Here-In-Town. There’s hope for 10 more years of sloth.
Yes, Prop taxes are high in IL already…
This is minor corruption compared with what happened when Congress passed the most recent funding bill. The original proposal had reportedly a provision that would have restricted the transfer of cutting-edge US technology to China. But guess who is building high tech factories and potentially an AI data center in China? It’s the guy who initially used X to tank the bill. In the end Congress passed almost exactly the same bill Musk had assaulted throughout a day, except the provision on restricting investments in China had miraculously disappeared from the bill.
Elon and Vivek should debate Randi Weingarten and Rosa DeLauro on those topics.
Lol, 200 pages wasn’t enough for you hey?
As an actual resident of Chicago, and with a building that the assessor says has increased 26% in value in one year (so I expect 26% increase in taxes, even with no change to the tax rate that the residents shouted down this year), Ill have to tell the other side 1) There was a time when the business-loving Republicans would have said Brandon is the boss of the business and Pedro works for him. So Brandon can fire him whenever he wants (and pay him sub-minimum wage in the meantime) 2) While all the regular cops are tied up on 1/2 baked 911 calls, we have the younger tactical officers looking for every reason to hit the gas if a real crime is happening, so they respond fast 3) As long as the garbage gets picked up and the snow is plowed, who really cares about how they fund it?
Oh my God. You voted for him, didn’t you?
He did. Scott a true believer
In the run-off I had two choices. I did NOT vote for him the first time.
You voted for this Brandon over Paul Vallas, who’d been endorsed by the police. And now Chicago has already had 550 murders year-to-date.
The last chance for a non-Democrat mayor would have been around the time machine nominee Michael Howlett lost to Thompson for governor by almost a 2:1 landslide and Old Man Daley died, so mid-70s.
Eugene Sawyer was a great person, worth mentioning.
So you don’t care that they fund it by increasing your tax by 26%? That is 26% more than last year and you will keep paying that extra every year. Well until they up your valuation again another X%.
And they can continue to collect your garbage but they might reduce your size of a bin unless you pay an extra fee (that’s what they did in my city). Or plow the snow less frequently or cut back other services like the police.
You voted to stay in a shithole and fund the scum.
I don’t dispute they seem to have mess in Chicago but I won’t care how much money “workers” through their Union give to influence politics until we reach a day when 1 Billionaire dropping nearly $300 million to elections is illegal.
I’ve read reports that 30 Billionaires dropped $2 billion on federal elections and that doesn’t include the dark money we don’t know about. It should all stop. Unions, individuals, and corporations should have strict limits on what they are allowed to spend to bribe Congress and State legislators.
well if there wasn’t a big 7 trillion honey pot of federal spending we wouldn’t have to worry about who is donating. Cut the involvement of congress in society and there will be no reason to try to bribe them. Keep things as they are and try to control donations you will merely change which set of grifters benefit because I guarantee somebody will.
Difference is billionaires are giving their own money. So clearly they can do with it what they wish.
With Unions, there is never 100% agreement because that’s impossible in any large group. So some peoples money is being used to support things they don’t believe in.
Here is a plan to get this whole thing under control. End the ability of Public Unions to use any part of their union dues to make any kind for political contributions. They can organize workers and bargan with their employeers but they can’t raise money to chose who they will bargan with.
PS: One third of union members are Democrats, 1/3 Rebublicans, and 1/3 Independants. But 95% of political contributions go to Democrates. How than this be fair?
*munches popcorn*
“It is a one-two punch with unfortunate kids held hostage for the benefit of leaders who belong in jail.”
Don’t forget the parents. As a former CPS school parent, we were fortunate enough that whenever the CTU went on strike, we had resources available for our child until the silliness ended. Lots of parents did, and still, do not.
And you survived.
People survive having an arm chopped off. It’s still suboptimal.
Barack Obama’s city, no wonder he flourished there.
Today its 1/3rd white, 1/3rd black and 1/3rd hispanic. Being black doesnt really mean that much anymore. Sorry.
If you check the stats at the website heyjackassdotcom, you will see that the odds of being a homicide victim in Chicago are much higher if you are black than if you are white.
And the FBI statistics show that you will have even higher odds that your killer is Black, no matter the color of your skin.
It didn’t mean much to the black woman burned alive on the subway yesterday. But your flippant lack of caring will remain
Please research the following terms: anecdotal and empirical. One story about one bad situation is anecdotal, but is good enough for Fox News to turn into a whole evening. Empirical is based on a large sample and is scientifically based. Dont let your beliefs be based on 100% anecdotal.
Ride the subways in New York and Chicago long enough and we’ll remember you as a statistic, too.
Rode them for years even overnight when I was working downtown. Im still here. Dont believe everything Fox News tells you.
Maybe you are a ghost but don’t know it?
Red Line from Roosevelt to 95th, or just in Cubbie Land?
Business as usual in the windy city.