Lori Lightfoot gets the boot
She lost the primary to law-and-order candidate Paul Vallas, who is Chicago Public Schools CEO and city budget director. Next in line was Brandon Johnson, member of the Cook Country Board of Commissioners. On April 4th there will be a runoff between the two leaders to determine the new mayor. Lightfoot is not one of those leaders, so she will be out.
They’re basically all Democrats.
Teachers unions applaud. Not good for those that still pay taxes. Illinois is a terrible state education wise and not because the teachers don’t get paid enough, their pensions are too high and they do not pay into them. My wife taught for 30 yrs, starting pay was very poor but did improve over the years but still less than other professions. Yes she does get a good pension which she did pay into and does not get SS. The state does not pay into her pension now though.
I know all things are relative but the idea that any of these people are really what could considered “the law and order candidate” seems ludicrous. Especially a Democrat that is currently in the leadership of the Chicago schools.
The new Mayor of New York was called the same and I don’t know that it has payed off for them.
Hope springs eternal though.
Light-in-the-Loafers got only 16.4% of the vote. As far as her footwork goes, here she is, dancing in the street for a Chinese Lunar New Year parade at the end of January:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOMGdN7GH7Q&ab_channel=MiniBoss
You’d think she could have recruited some Chinese Chicagoans for her drumline.
“They’re basically all Democrats.”
As Pete Townsend warned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfAdHBtK_Q
It’s a minimal level of sanity that Chicago voters gave Lightfoot the boot. At best it may slow Chicago’s circling of the drain.
On the video I linked last night, Modern Renaissance Man kept calling her “Beetlejuice.” Turns out to be a common epithet in Chicago due to her raccoon eyes. The resemblance is uncanny:
–“BOOM! ROASTED! Mayor Lori Lightfoot (AKA BEETLEJUICE) gets Scorched by Reporter”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPwugItL7lU
And. . . Lightfoot is already blaming her defeat on racism and sexism. Heads I win, tails you lose. It gets old.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/01/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-blames-loss-on-racism-gender/
Three of the nine candidates running made agreeable noises about beefing up police protection. The three between them won 46% of the vote. Brandon Johnson after the breakdown in public order of the last several years wishes to cancel shot-spotter and cut the police budget. Let’s hope the other 54% do not line up behind him.
Note, racial particularism is a vector in explaining the stupidities of the last several years in Chicago, but likely does not absorb most of the explanation. Blacks account for 29% of the electorate in Chicago; 40 years ago they accounted for 41%. A horrid sorosphere character was elected district attorney in Cook County some years back. One cannot attribute that to black voters; blacks account for 24% of the population of Cook County as a whole. This is happening with the assent of Chicanos and suburban white liberals.
Another curio: seven of the nine candidates running are black. (One is Chicano and one white ethnic). I’ve seen this elsewhere. Roanoke, Va has a black majority city council, even though 70% of the population is non-black. It’s as if the rest of the population has largely given up running for local office and blacks are the only people who want these jobs.
With corrupt ward leaders owned by unions and gangs, Chicago doesn’t have much of a future no matter who’s nominally in charge. If Vallas is elected, there might be some positive changes, but I’m not counting on it.
Lightfoot is already blaming her defeat on racism and sexism.
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The same racists and sexists who elected her? The shame culture in the black population can have tedious and unedifying manifestations.
If Vallas is elected, there might be some positive changes, but I’m not counting on it.
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Chicago was in passable shape during Daley-fils’ 22 years in office. Room for improvement, of course.
Vallas was screaming about desantis crimethink rest assured they will get worse
Art Deco – I don’t see a need to single out any particular racial group – Lightfoot’s comments are just a manifestation of the left’s obsession with identity across all of their preferred race, sex, and other categories. People with a preferred identity cannot fail, they can only be failed by others in what is always a manifestation of racism, sexism, or the latest trendy phobia.
I truly wonder how many of the white liberal Chicogoans who voted against Lightfoot believe that they are racist or sexist for doing so. I’d bet the number is not insignificant.
Vallas is a longtime public school official. Of course he’s going to whine about DeSantis. Randi Weingarten, of the teachers’ union, was on the steps of the Supreme Court yesterday screaming about how not forgiving students loans was “unfair.” Basic common sense eludes these people.
It’s good that she’s out I guess. But I have little faith that whomever ends up as Mayor will be that much better since as far as I can tell they’ll likely be less extreme versions of the same.
Chicago’s biggest issues are largely self inflicted and the source of these problems are the progressive policies that the voters have chosen again and again. And many of these voters are relatively affluent whites who vote for these high minded, technocratic Sorosian nitwits who once elected go on to experiment with destructive policies. These whites are somewhat insulated from the effects of these destructive polices at first for a number of reasons. But if things get bad enough that they themselves start to feel the pain, it’s possible that they’ll perhaps finally come to their senses. Unfortunately by the time that happens a lot of damage has been done.
Of course much the same could be said of all the other large cities that have been run by progressives and leftists for decades that have seen significant rises in crime over the past few years. Things have to get extremely bad before people actually vote for change. And in many cases people simply leave such cities rather than try to vote their way out of these problems.
Art Deco – I don’t see a need to single out any particular racial group
Well, you’re wrong.
And. . . Lightfoot is already blaming her defeat on racism and sexism.
The only Lovable Losers in Chicago are the Cubs. There is actually a poem by Rachel Simon (published in 2018) titled “Lovable Losers,” with the subtitle “The Chicago Cubs 1908–2015”:
In the hazy birth records
of the Arkansas of Europe
my Bubbie’s birth scrawled in Yiddish,
as eight days past a minor Jewish holiday
and not the week before the Cubs
most recent World Series victory, fall 1908.
Ten years since Bartman cursed his
Cubs right out of their first shot
at the National League pennant
a since-1908 champless existence. . . .
Twenty years before Penicillin’s discovery
and two before the bra’s invention
the Cubs last won the Series. When
the NFL, NBA, and NHL didn’t exist.
My Bubbie a baby
hadn’t heard of America
where she’d later give birth,
or Chicago, place of her brother’s future
suicide—more camp trauma
than Cubs letdown. . . .
It was never Bartman’s fault, you can’t
make a double play from your seat.
Moises, you can’t tell
a little league coach not to reach for
a major league ball aimed at your heart.
The full poem is here: https://poets.org/poem/lovable-losers
Kate is right to mention the gangs.
Lori Lightweight must have angered the street gangs that play a key election role in Dem politics on the South Side. https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-2012/Gangs-and-Politicians-An-Unholy-Alliance/
Democrats are a crime organization masquerading as a political party.
Chicago is as much a one Political Party city as Pyongyang, there has not been a Republican mayor in the Windy City since I think 1932. Chicago and other large cities are prime evidence of how Progressives ruin cities. Yet the idiotresidents keep voting for the same corrupt and incompetent leaders.
PA+Cat
In case you have not heard it the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.
Makes no difference at all who the next mayor will be of Chicago; nothing will change in Chicago. It will still be the murder capital of the USA.
As long as the vast majority of crime victims are black, little to nothing will be done about it. (This is true in other high crime cities as well).
Chicago should just bite the bullet , save the money spent on useless elections, and allow Lightfoot to be mayor for life. There is no point in having elections if nothing will change.
LIghtfoot’s defeat is about as significant as Prince Harry’s book.
BrooklynBoy:
Everyone knows about the 2016 Cubs. That was why 1) Simon included “2015” in her subtitle; and 2) why I noted that she published the poem in 2018. She herself noted that she has always rooted for underdogs.
Try reading a bit more carefully.
Nonapod (1:08 pm) writes, “as far as I can tell they’ll [Lightfoot’s successor(s) will] likely be less extreme versions of the same.”
I’m going to suppose that most readers here are familiar with the modern version of the definition of “insanity” . . .
Who would have thought we’d ever be nostalgic for the old corrupt Mayor Daley Chicago Dem political machine? At least the trains ran on time and you could get a job in the sanitation department for your drunken cousin.
Years ago my friend worked for CPS. Paul Vallas was in charge at that time. My friend didnt like him. He didnt like him because he was cost conscious. Union people. My friend was paid pretty good money. The nerve.
Paul Vallas is democrat by osmosis, but he has more integrity than Ice Cream Joe. Then again, who doesnt?
This is a big test for law and order. If Vallas is defeated then it’s clear that the majority of Chicago voters agree with the BLM theory that black men are over represented in the prisons because of racism.
From my perspective it’s hard to argue that racism is the reason there are proportionally more black men in prison because of racism. I see it as a function of the dissolution of the black family. Engaged fathers are absolutely required to manage boys and young men.
There’s no way around it, men are the problem and the answer.
The consensus from my sample size (I work in the city and spend a lot time downtown but don’t live in Chicago proper) is that this was all about crime. Everybody here has a story or a story about a friend or family member who has been a victim. I’ve personally witnessed two cell phone snatches (grab and run) in the past year.
Even a lying-ass Chicago politician, but that’s redundant, will respond to stimuli. So that’s good. Anyone wanting to get re-elected will have to at least pretend to do something about this. The guy who’s likely to win is promising to put police on public transportation. If that’s all that comes of this it’s still a change for the better.
This is a big test for law and order. If Vallas is defeated then it’s clear that the majority of Chicago voters agree with the BLM theory that black men are over represented in the prisons because of racism.
Calling it a ‘theory’ gives the notion too much dignity. Simply mapping out where in the metropolitan region homicides happen and then superimposing a map of the racial composition of those same area would refute their argument if they could be reached by argument. Some years ago, I did this. There were four areas of greater Chicago where homicide rates were highest. The most populous was a bloc of neighborhoods on the South Side with a population of about 650,000; next was a bloc of neighborhoods on the west side with a population of 350,000. Next was a pair of municipalities in Lake County, Indiana with a population of about 110,000. Next was a solitary Cook County suburban town with a population of about 25,000. I was looking at data which antedated George Floyd and antedated Ferguson. The homicide rate in these four zones averaged 47 per 100,000. The remainder of the City of Chicago had a homicide rate of 5.6 per 100,000. The remainder of the suburbs had a homicide rate of 2.3 per 100,000.
Everything Art Deco says is true. Most of Chicago is fine. There is something about crime that is personal and anecdotal though. When crime started to “leak” outside of where one expects it, it was a big deal. I remember when there was a story on the news about a stabbing at the Clark and Lake stop on the “L”. It was all anybody talked about for days. That is the center of the public transportation universe here. Always about a thousand people there it seems. How could it happen there? And thus the mayor loses a reelection bid for the first time in 40 years.
“People voted against me because I’m a black lesbian!” Lori Lightfoot
I’m sure the fact that she was / is incompetent had nothing to do with it.
Vallas came to New Orleans post-Katrina, and ran the “Recovery School District,” which was almost all of the public schools. He promoted charter schools and school choice — not a Democratic kind of orientation. Although it is still a work in progress, our re-formed school system (he liked to say “system of schools”) is the one silver lining from Katrina.
Just reread my post. It was the State and Lake stop, even worse. Just in case anyone is Googling.
John:
And wasn’t she the same black lesbian when they originally voted FOR her?
Mike Plaiss, thanks for that geo-pointer. I was Binging, rather than Googling, but your update is useful either way.
When does Ms. Lightfoot leave office? I suppose there will still be a couple of months of seat-warming to look forward to.
Vallas is a complex figure. He was definitely the most ‘conservative’ candidate in the primary but that’s not saying much. He’s never held elected office; but run and lost multiple times before. Much of his career has been as an educational administrator. Would he be a better mayor than Lightfoot? Probably. Would he pushback against the omnipotent CTU more than she did (and she actually was pretty decent in this regard)? Maybe. Hopefully.
I’m not sure how much it matters, though. He seems to be Rick Caruso to Brandon Johnson’s Karen Bass. Johnson is far more leftist than Lightfoot. So expect Chicago to continue to descend into chaos, like so many other great American cities.
What is it about Chicago anyway?
Was it built on an Indian burial ground?
“…when they originally voted FOR her.”
Well yes, but over the years, facing the severe challenges and the criticisms, she seems to have lost both her striking looks and ineffable charm.
She repels rather than attracts (which can be a problem for politicians).
Besides, I think the problem is that Lesbian these days is passe.
(Which could be true for women in general since none of the beautiful people seem to be able to define the term, if the latest, august, member of SOTUS is any indication.)
Even worse, amongst the usual suspects, Lesbians appear to have hurt their collective image generally, blind-sided by and unwitting victims of the seemingly interminable TERF wars.
Rebranding as Trans may have been a path to victory, since the ONLY thing that matters these days, it seems, is how one self-identifies. (And one shudders to think what’s slouching down the road…)
However, it’s too late for that.
Another possible option would have been to proudly stand on her record of murder, mayhem, chaos and destruction—using the always persuasive “It could have been a whole lot worse” argument to augment her other excuses—along with, perhaps, defending her foul-mouthed creativity and striking ability to consistently sink to ever subterranean depths)…alas she just doesn’t seem to possess the character and integrity to have been be able to do that…and unfortunately for her, the voters noticed.
I guess her only hope now is that the new mayor will make Chicagoans wax nostalgiac for her very special, very personal kind of depravity…
Why anyone would want to be a police officer in Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, LA, and SF is beyond me. Anyone notice a similarity in all those cities? (All run by Progressives)
Not to be cruel but Lori Lightfoot’s eyes are scary. Soomeone said she has raccoon eyes!
Neo: Yes they are.
“There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Thomas” Thomas Sowell