Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson slams former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his policies
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson had scathing words Tuesday about not just President Trump, but also former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Mayor Johnson blamed both men for Chicago's current financial crisis.
Johnson, who has directed sharp comments at Emanuel before, on Tuesday compared "tyrant"-like acts of the current White House to the former mayor and his approach to running government.
Johnson also took aim at Emanuel's future plans, which involve signals that he might want to run for office again.
"The playbook that Donald Trump is running is the playbook Rahm Emanuel executed in the city," Johnson said. "We didn't get here because we just happened to have a tyrant in the White House. We got here because someone gave him the script. Shutting of schools, the firing of Black women, the privatizing of our public education system is why the system is as jacked up as it is today."
The year Rahm Emanuel took office, 2011, was also the year Johnson, then a Chicago Public Schools teacher, became an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union.
In 2012, Johnson helped organize a massive teachers' strike. In 2013, Mayor Emanuel closed 53 CPS schools — mainly on the South and West sides.
"The Emanuel administration had immense disdain for public education — and particularly for Black, brown, and poor children — and he was vocal about it," Johnson said. "'Twenty-five percent of kids won't become anything' — those were his words directly to [late former CTU President] Karen Lewis."
Johnson met Emanuel in the current mayor's first few months in office.
Emanuel reportedly consulted with the mayor before Johnson's recent testimony before a U.S. House Oversight Committee — grilling sanctuary city mayors.
But any love appears now lost as Emanuel, who left his post as ambassador to Japan at the end of the Biden administration, has recently signaled an interest in returning to public office.
Early in March, Emanuel was asked what was described as a "straight question" at the Economic Club of Chicago — would he consider running again for mayor of Chicago?
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again — I'm not done with public service, and I'm hoping public service is not done with me," Emanuel replied at the time.
Johnson took umbrage to the very idea.
"And now he's prancing around this country asking people to reconsider him," Johnson said. "It is not just frustrating. It is beyond offensive."
CBS News Chicago reached out to Emanuel Tuesday for comment, but did not hear back.
Mayor Johnson is asked about Bears' dealings with Arlington Heights
On another matter, things continue to get serious between the Bears and northwest suburban Arlington Heights. The village has signed up a $200,000 consultant to make sure the dollars of the project jibe with what the Bears are forecasting — money the Bears will ultimately reimburse.
Mayor Johnson was asked if he thought the advancement in Arlington Heights was a leverage play by the Bears to make it look like they're very serious about picking the suburb over a Chicago site for a new stadium — so as to put pressure on him.
"I don't see this as pressure," Johnson replied. "I don't mess around and play in that sort of puerile approach toward governance."
The prospect of the Bears moving to the former Arlington International Racecourse property in Arlington Heights dates back to 2021, when the team first bid on the property. The Bears ultimately bought the site for $197 million in February of 2023. Demolition of the grandstand and other structures on the site was completed in October of last year.
For some time, it seemed as if a new Bears stadium in Arlington Heights was all but a done deal. But the team went on to put the Arlington Heights plan on the back burner in favor of building their new stadium along the Chicago lakefront.
In April 2024, the Bears announced a $4.7 billion plan for a new domed lakefront stadium complex, including added green space and other amenities on the Museum Campus and their current home at Soldier Field just to the north of the proposed new stadium. But in recent months, Arlington Heights has come back into the picture as a possible stadium site.
Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes believes that the Bears are operating in good faith, and that this is not a leverage play to box in the city of Chicago.
