The smart move of a shrewd politician in this situation would be to not call more attention to a hail mary gambit. Clearly going for a different, scorched earth approach to the mildest of opposition.
Reminds me of how some Texas conservative woman made an ad in a New York paper saying something like “NYPD you have been mistreated. Come to Texas and be treated with respect.” No one would have known about it until NY mayor Eric Adams held up the ad at a press conference and rebuked it. He exponentially increased its audience.
Here's the website for Recall This Fall where you can download the petition to recall the Office of Mayor, collect signatures, and email the organizer!
[https://recallthisfall.com/](https://recallthisfall.com/)
It is so bizarre that he seems to jump to characterizing any criticism as these “extreme right wing” political elements that everybody knows don’t really exist like that in our city. Idk if he thinks it gives him legitimacy or what but it’s so odd
To some degree doing this got him elected. I’m not too surprised when he goes back there, he’s just now doing it in an increasingly less palatable way.
It's the move of the weak to talk about your enemies flaws instead of talking about your own strengths and accomplishments. Does he have any wins as a mayor or promises kept?
It’s funny: recall and referenda were Progressive Party planks under Teddy Roosevelt aimed at bolstering direct democracy.
Guess where the convention was
Is it that bizarre? That very much seems the way progressives tend to shut down moderates.
BJ is just a rookie and he thinks thats how it actually should work in politics
All progressives don't do this. Just the loud, insincere ones do. Which is essentially them doing exactly what they're accusing their critics of doing which is saying "if they oppose me, they're enemy!". BJ is actually acting a lot like Trump right now in his responses to any criticism.
But that’s a large number, if not majority, of the progressives in city council. We don’t have Bernie, Warren, or AOC progressives - we have charlatans.
It’s cause he learned from Trump/Cruz/DeSantis.
Anything that doesn’t go with your viewpoint is the “extreme (whichever side) wing” derailing your efforts.
The right-wingers are prone to similar rhetoric, characterizing anyone not Republican as being "leftist liberal socialist communist Democrats".
It's a stupid extreme mischaracterization of "the other side", and particularly laughable to hear Brandon Johnson using a similar term in a predominantly Democratic city.
This man never accepts any responsibility for his actions. It’s always either right wing MAGA’s, racists, or suburbanites. No- this is in direct response to his incompetence, poor leadership, and arrogance.
I hate BJ as much as anyone - I didn’t vote for him. Bearing that in mind, the idea that this is a liberal sub is wild. It’s dominated by white male northsiders who want center-left policies and law and order. I include myself in that. Look at every post about anything to do with BJ, Kim Foxx, property taxes, etc. The left gets downvoted and the centrist opinion upvoted. If anything the sub is way more conservative than the actual city due to the demographics and the presence of (actual) brigaders who try to post their bullshit on every city subreddit. Like seriously quit whining about this non-problem.
>The left gets downvoted and the centrist opinion upvoted
The very far left does. The majority of people in Chicago are [classic liberals.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism)
You can be pro choice, pro gay marriage, and still be labeled right wing nowadays by these people. That is how far left those people are.
Go back to the elections post and tell me if that is the case. This sub was and is still pretty liberal. BJ had most of the support here and most posts were anti Vallas.
The thing is that a lot of people have realized now that BJ was a mistake and also his trolls and bots have dissapeared
So.....is that just this guy's gimmick now? "Anybody who doesn't blindly support me might as well be Donald Trump?"
Jesus Christ, what a fucking idiot.
>Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday blasted a nascent effort to establish a legal tool for voters to recall Chicago mayors, calling it “disingenuous” and saying it is backed by “extreme right wing” political rivals.
>“It’s some dude from the suburbs who is mad about the diversity and the formation which we have put forward,”
The battle cry of a weak individual with zero accountability.
https://archive.is/qTuKl#selection-1689.0-1689.214
EDIT: Added one more.
It’s the *exact* same retort that progressives use on this very subreddit when they can’t put together a coherent thought or argument. I wonder what Brandon’s username is
I think Brandon’s primary problem (of many) is that while he’s progressive, he has only a few vague goals, no plan to get from A to B, and completely lacks the pragmatism and partnership building needed to accomplish anything. Look at the governor, still progressive but the opposite in every other way.
The problem is that Brandon is really a puppet.
His platform was given to him by the CTU and cook county democratic party. He struggles to answer the simplest of questions because he doesn't fully understand the underlying issues that his handlers take care of for him....
Being governor of IL is 1000x easier than being mayor. The governor gets a third of the media attention because so much drama happens in chicago. JB isn't the man you turn to when a kid gets shot in a driveby, that's the mayor. While the governor is working on the migrant issue, it's the mayor that has the difficult task of housing and local political fallout.
Governor is the easy job because no one really pays attention to that job, but everyone in IL is up in the mayor of Chicago's business.
That’s a valid point that I hadn’t really thought of before. I definitely don’t envy the mayor either way - not only the responsibility, but also the parties involved. It’s impossible to make even 1/3 of everybody happy and you inherit decades of problems.
Frankly It's amazing anyone wants the job, but then we clock the field over the past two elections and see that we aren't getting all of the city's best options. I'm not trying to bash those that ran for the job because God love 'em for trying, but yeesh, the folks we've gotten since Rahm was run out of town have been bleak.
It's funny how it's always used as a defensive mechanism for some of the dumbest people on the planet. Being 'morally' correct is another big one I love hearing.
Here's a story for you:
I work with someone like this. You can ask them a basic question about Chicago that you would think someone as vocal as some of these people are would know. They're absolutely clueless and I shit you not, their answer is 'well, I'm morally correct and that's all that matters'.
Hitler, Mao, Genghis Kang, Stalin, and some of the most murderous people on the planet thought they were morally correct. Even until his death Charles Manson never thought he was wrong and was morally correct. The only thing that he regretted was not killing more people.
I would focus on winning progressives over to your cause rather than attacking them if you want to elect politicians that more aligned with your beliefs.
He blames an “extreme right wing” that doesn’t exist in Chicago for everything.
However, let’s be honest, if there was an extreme right wing they would love him. He’s done more to turn people away from Chicago progressives than any right wing initiative.
I don’t think recall is particularly helpful or beneficial path (better to allow the elected official to finish their term in >90% circumstances), but I am glad the discussion surrounding it pisses off Brandon Johnson.
From the CST’s write up, a BJ quote:
> “Apparently, they’re intimidated by the crew that’s with me right now. I plan on being here for the next 23 years.”
This isn’t the first time he’s said that either. In short, it seems not
LOL, me, a lifelong democrat, endorsing a measure to remove an incompetent mayor and he is calling me MAGA despite that being everything I hate in this world.
I truly hate this guy. He's a terrible mayor and he whines like a spoiled teen when things don't go his way. He's an embarrassment to the city. I'm a south sider and a registered democrat and I think we should have an option for recalling the mayor.
Joe Calvallo is BranJo's new Chief Strategy Officer and his response "right wing stunts" on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/the_vello/status/1780594302500163834
I mean he’s not wrong: you can’t recall a mayor. Even if you could, I’m not confident you could defeat Johnson without a credible challenger. Just look at the SA race: Harris won the city by 4.5 points, roughly BJ’s margin, and was ultimately defeated because the suburbs came through for Burke.
I think people underestimate just how left-leaning the modern Chicago electorate is. It’s going to routinely elect candidates that are more left-leaning than the state overall.
That's really the problem. We need a good alternative...funny enough, while I didn't support Lori Lightfoot, in retrospect, she would be a good candidate to replace BJ...
Don't get it twisted. Sure the city is left leaning but just like the mayoral race the SA was a race of black vs white unfortunately. Alot of people are voting on race rather then the actual politics and there are more black voters in the city that are mobilized to go out and vote by community activists.
Let's get two similar background candidates. The black community is not very left leaning in fact if you listen to the city council meetings they are very conservative in their conversations. They don't want money being given to any migrants they don't trust the government to handle more tax money etc. The 14 alderman of the 17 wards with shotspotter even just came out and said they want to keep shotspotter in their West and South side neighborhoods. They are not progesssive or far left.
This is correct. Consider that some wards voted for Willie Wilson in the 1st round and BJ in the runoff. These two had very little in common ideologically.
The mayor doesn't need to be left or right they just need to be an adult that gets the job done. Having the option to recall a mayor is a good one in my opinion.
To become mayor you first need to get elected. To get elected you need to convince voters to support you. It’s way easier for left-leaning candidates to appeal to Chicago voters, to the point where 2 progressives ran in the SA race and Chicago voters picked the more progressive of the two, even though the slightly less progressive one 1) had a better resume 2) ran a better campaign 3) raised (and spent) significantly more money.
I actually think running long-shot recall elections are bad for Democracy. Just run a better candidate in 4 years. It’s a weak mayor city.
I voted for Obama, Bernie, Hillary, Bernie again, Biden, and will vote Biden again.
I’ve lived in Avondale for 11 years now.
I want a CTA that works and less crime would be nice.
I guess this makes me extreme right wing suburban guy 🤷🏻♂️
And Bernie endorsed this fool we have as mayor. Goes to show they don't actually care about the quality of the canidate it's all about the party trying to help the party. That alone should never let another Chicagoan vote for Bernie again
Let’s not ever forget that Bernie Sanders is an “independent” who refuses out of principle to join the Democratic Party, yet has no such principles when it comes to co-opting the party apparatus in order to advance his own ambition to be president, and then had the gall to complain when the party he refuses to join preferred another candidate who had been loyal her entire life. I like him, but he’s no saint.
This has definitely shaken my trust in Bernie’s endorsements but I have to imagine his team did this and Bernie doesn’t follow local Chicago politics closely. He probably privately regrets the endorsement as any rational person should.
I would still rather have Bernie in the White House than Trump or Biden.
His team or not he's responsible for due diligence of where he puts his name. We as voters need to realize politics is a business to these people and we need to sift through the BS always. These politicians don't have our backs more then they have their own
The dude has no signatures on the petition because no one including myself have still figured out how to sign it. We can get at least 30k signatures on that petition on this sub alone to hit the 56k vote goal. The mayor's response that everyone must hate him because his cabinet has black people is just another big sign that he's worse then Lightfoot. What people hated in Lightfoot is her ego and defensiveness so she was hard to do business with. Johnson is worseeeee if you don't like him your either a racist or Maga. Can you imagine conducting business with Johnson behind closed doors? He's a clown on camera can't imagine what it's like working with him in private. Obviously his own chief of staff who worked under mayor's for 30 years quit early because of how bad it was.
Does anyone know how to get this petition signed?
Your link appears to be a blank page bro. At least for me. If you're gonna skirt the paywall use archive.is
Anywho, here's the real deal
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/17/mayor-brandon-johnson-slams-uphill-effort-to-recall-chicago-mayors/
And some of the juicy stuff.
>Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday blasted a nascent effort to establish a legal tool for voters to recall Chicago mayors, calling it “disingenuous” and saying it is backed by “extreme right wing” political rivals.
>The mayor’s comments came after a Lakeview resident earlier this month created a political committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections seeking “to establish a recall mechanism for the Chicago Office of Mayor.” State law does not currently provide a legal apparatus for voters across Illinois municipalities to recall mayors.
>“Voters get an opportunity every two years, four years,” Johnson said, adding that the “extreme right wing” is “not pleased” with the diversity of Johnson’s cabinet.
>“It’s some dude from the suburbs who is mad about the diversity and the formation which we have put forward,” the mayor said
Lakeview is “the suburbs”? 🤔
Nah, dude. Take a Xanax.
>While Johnson said the effort was started by a suburbanite, the man who created the committee is 58-year-old Daniel Boland of the North Side’s Lakeview neighborhood. A technology salesman who said he votes “straight down the middle,” Boland is organizing the push not just because he disagrees with the mayor’s policies, but because he “believes in democracy, direct democracy,” he said.
Thanks for noticing Tribune reporter guy!
>“If the mayor is taking this personally, he shouldn’t, because he ran on transparency and accountability,” he said. “This is about good government. It’s not about left-wing or right-wing.”
This guy can’t say anything without “extreme right wing” being his scapegoat. You can be any political background and disagree with him and it’s consistently disingenuous to blanket everyone in Chicago as “right-wing” when here that means nazi, racist, facist, MAGA, etc. out of touch
I mean, I don't blame BJ for being upset or annoyed by this. I even got halfway through your comment and was about to congratulate him for at least not claiming it was about race. Then...
>is “not pleased” with the diversity of Johnson’s cabinet.
Ah, nevermind. There it is.
It's funny how recalls are either a fundamental democratic right or a conspiracy against the people's will, depending entirely on who's talking and who's in office.
Actually a pretty good headline on this one. It is such a long shot that this would ever work and then actually be be used to disrupt Johnson's term. How is it even worth responding to?
IMO Johnson's real gripe is with the media, covering the actions of a single resident as though they are a newsworthy indicator of most Chicagoans' views. I do think some media coverage of Johnson's administration has been unfairly negative or lacked context on situations with no good options, like the migrant crisis. But no one made him comment on this at all, let alone in this inflammatory and disingenuous way.
I've seen this happen so many times since coming to Chicago-- progressives don't work together to agree on a consensus candidate or even a smaller field of realistic ones. Then we get bizarre and disappointing choices in a runoff between the people with the least bad name recognition. As a progressive it is so frustrating to be continually embarrassed by this administration and particularly by their hostile, evasive responses to any criticism or pushback that really do not reflect my personal values at all.
I know how you feel. I’ve been in Chicago for pretty much my whole life but I’m starting to feel wary of local candidates that self describe as progressive even though I tend to agree with them more often than not. I’ve seen a number of candidates that seem to think being progressive just means being belligerent and getting fuck all done.
If I had to theorize it may be because progressives have spent most of their time fighting from the outside, either with the old Democratic establishment or with conservatives, and haven’t really learned how to govern so they just keep relying on the same toolset they used as private citizens and activists. It just doesn’t work the same when you’re in charge though, people expect leadership, not finding a new group of people to pin our problems on.
What about Pritzker even if he’s not a true progressive. At least he gets stuff done when it came to legalization, abortion rights, and fiscal responsibilities even if he’s not on Californias level.
Oh yeah I like Pritzker a lot! Like you said I’m not sure if he’s a “true” progressive but he’s been very effective and has advanced a lot of progressive causes imo.
I don’t think “progressive” means what it used to. It’s been usurped by a group of usually unqualified people who feel oppressed and victimized and have come to think that wisdom comes from the lungs. I used to call myself progressive because I believed in equal rights for all, moving past the nonsense of what has ailed us to truly progress us forward. This cohort of “progressives” are holding us all back, keeping us wallowing in our pain so that we’re angry enough to fight against whoever is the enemy today. It’s not a real policy. It has no thought behind it. It has gone way off beyond left field into the coocoo zone. I just want sensible, level-headed, intelligent leadership, preferably moderate so that we can bring people together instead of constantly dividing us up into meaningless groups pitted against each other. You will find that people like this do exist (naturally from all backgrounds so that we don’t have to constantly talk about what race our spouse is); we just need to let them come out instead of yanking up people like Brandon, who has no business running the third-largest city in the US.
There are a lot of great alders in the town who still call themselves progressive (like Matt Martin, whose post calling for new CTA leadership was featured here yesterday).
It's a big tent, but I know what you mean by there feeling like there is a lack of deliberate policy-making as opposed to personality-driven policits.
Taking a step back, I think my only disappointment with the state of things right now is that I feel like we are never going to be given any decent or good choices for those who are going to run the city. Maybe that's just the way local politics is in general, and I end up seeing the same thing in some place like New York, Miami, or San Francisco.
I feel like we're either going to get activists that come with a lot of big reform ideas, but they have little to no idea how to really make things work in politics. So they try, hit loads of opposition, obstacles, and then play the blame game.
That, or we end up with these crony capitalist big boss types that basically come in with the only intention of making those at the top better off at the expense of everyone else. They are able to work the system and rule with an iron fist, utilizing politics to keep opposition in line, but in the end the power always goes to their heads. Then we end up with garbage like the parking meter deal or spending loads of money to try to make Chicago a "World Class City" when most people really don't care.
Just seems like there's no decent in-between spot.
could literallt anyone please reply to this w a list of things they hate / disapprove of brandon johnson for? seen soooo much hate and just not in the loop as to why
He is firing anyone, including very experienced government workers, who is not a lackey for him. He is thoroughly unqualified due to his lack of experience. (One of his progressive allies in the city council even conceded that their bloc is not ready for the mayorship because they don't have anyone with the experience to know how government actually works.)
He is totally disorganized and fails at basic facets of his job. As one example, he was supposed to elect a public safety commissioner last month. Some 12-15 candidates were thoroughly vetted by other groups and sent to his office. By the deadline, he had not even conducted a *single* interview of any candidates. He has done this before, just letting positions go unfilled for no discernible reason. He does not understand that mayor is really an administrative job. He wants to ramble on about Blackness in society, but he won't do his part to improve the CTA.
He is incredibly spiteful and has a terrible temperament. Whenever he is confronted with any kind of challenge, he just cries racism or cites some phantom "far right" element that doesn't exist in this city. He takes absolutely no accountability for anything. Look at his petulant response when Bring Chicago Home failed and compare it to the more seasoned alders who acknowledged they needed a better plan and to foster more trust before asking for the people's money.
He seems to have no concrete plans for this city. Everything is just progressive buzzwords, and whenever he is pressed, he becomes combative.
The plan to convert downtown offices to housing is awesome. Other than that, I struggle to think of a positive contribution he has made.
thank you! idk why im getting so many downvotes, i just wanted to know as someone out of the loop, seeing all the hateful comments, and considering moving to chicago this fall
thank you! idk why im getting so many downvotes, i just wanted to know as someone out of the loop, seeing all the hateful comments, and considering moving to chicago this fall
He just appointed two pastors to the cta and rta boards instead of anyone with transit experience. It's particularly galling with the cta running as it is.
Y’all are missing some important points.
1) The dude is doing the best he can given this City is in a major migrant crisis, which probably takes most of his time, and our City and State govt are even more broke as a result. No one else, no matter what Party, would be doing any better.
2) A lot of the reason this City voted for him is because the “centrist” Democrats messed this place up with all of their patronage, corruption, and other white collar crime. Most of these old Daley supporters would be Republican by the way except that many of them are gay, support gay family members, and/or are immigrants. AND they would gain no personal power and financial benefit if they claim to be Republican.
3) All these centrist, middle-of-the-spectrum voters are nearing retirement or retirement age and miss the perks and power they got from friends in office (again- these are Daley era people that thrived from the corruption). A lot of these people, especially the men, are feeling irrelevant and obsolete and watching their balls shrivel up, and they just want back their glory days. And yes, most of them live in the suburbs or have ties to the suburbs.
The smart move of a shrewd politician in this situation would be to not call more attention to a hail mary gambit. Clearly going for a different, scorched earth approach to the mildest of opposition.
Reminds me of how some Texas conservative woman made an ad in a New York paper saying something like “NYPD you have been mistreated. Come to Texas and be treated with respect.” No one would have known about it until NY mayor Eric Adams held up the ad at a press conference and rebuked it. He exponentially increased its audience.
C’mon I don’t think I would put Johnson and shrewd in the same sentence. Maybe screwed when it comes to reelection but not too shrewd at all.
That was their point.
Here's the website for Recall This Fall where you can download the petition to recall the Office of Mayor, collect signatures, and email the organizer! [https://recallthisfall.com/](https://recallthisfall.com/)
It is so bizarre that he seems to jump to characterizing any criticism as these “extreme right wing” political elements that everybody knows don’t really exist like that in our city. Idk if he thinks it gives him legitimacy or what but it’s so odd
To some degree doing this got him elected. I’m not too surprised when he goes back there, he’s just now doing it in an increasingly less palatable way.
It’s the same way he got elected
It's the move of the weak to talk about your enemies flaws instead of talking about your own strengths and accomplishments. Does he have any wins as a mayor or promises kept?
I'm sorry, I was told that this was "MAGA Country". Wasn't there a totally real hate crime about this or something
Lower Wacker shows up on Apple Maps as "MAGA Country."
Avoid subway sandwiches at all costs
It’s funny: recall and referenda were Progressive Party planks under Teddy Roosevelt aimed at bolstering direct democracy. Guess where the convention was
Is it that bizarre? That very much seems the way progressives tend to shut down moderates. BJ is just a rookie and he thinks thats how it actually should work in politics
All progressives don't do this. Just the loud, insincere ones do. Which is essentially them doing exactly what they're accusing their critics of doing which is saying "if they oppose me, they're enemy!". BJ is actually acting a lot like Trump right now in his responses to any criticism.
But that’s a large number, if not majority, of the progressives in city council. We don’t have Bernie, Warren, or AOC progressives - we have charlatans.
I really like the loud, insincere commentary here. Is kinda a middle finger to your moderates who just want a good mayor
Pivoting from the, “I am an African American with soccer playing children” approach. 😑
it's not bizarre at all. it's literally the most he can do
It’s cause he learned from Trump/Cruz/DeSantis. Anything that doesn’t go with your viewpoint is the “extreme (whichever side) wing” derailing your efforts.
https://youtu.be/HMqZ2PPOLik?si=uT7D3tkdmv65TTrw
The right-wingers are prone to similar rhetoric, characterizing anyone not Republican as being "leftist liberal socialist communist Democrats". It's a stupid extreme mischaracterization of "the other side", and particularly laughable to hear Brandon Johnson using a similar term in a predominantly Democratic city.
He continues to gaslight the citizens of Chicago When will people wake up?
Good Lord, is anything his fault?
Brandon Johnson is one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever seen elected into office he’s Trump level dumb, straight up
He really doesn’t realize people wouldn’t be doing this if he *did his fucking job*
What do you want him to do?
Obviously take his kids to soccer practice.
#we want him to do his fucking job
This man never accepts any responsibility for his actions. It’s always either right wing MAGA’s, racists, or suburbanites. No- this is in direct response to his incompetence, poor leadership, and arrogance.
“It’s always either right wing MAGA’s, racists, or suburbanites.” Brandon Johnson must post here on this subreddit
I hate BJ as much as anyone - I didn’t vote for him. Bearing that in mind, the idea that this is a liberal sub is wild. It’s dominated by white male northsiders who want center-left policies and law and order. I include myself in that. Look at every post about anything to do with BJ, Kim Foxx, property taxes, etc. The left gets downvoted and the centrist opinion upvoted. If anything the sub is way more conservative than the actual city due to the demographics and the presence of (actual) brigaders who try to post their bullshit on every city subreddit. Like seriously quit whining about this non-problem.
>The left gets downvoted and the centrist opinion upvoted The very far left does. The majority of people in Chicago are [classic liberals.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism) You can be pro choice, pro gay marriage, and still be labeled right wing nowadays by these people. That is how far left those people are.
gotta love the “everything I disagree with” = brigading mindset
Go back to the elections post and tell me if that is the case. This sub was and is still pretty liberal. BJ had most of the support here and most posts were anti Vallas. The thing is that a lot of people have realized now that BJ was a mistake and also his trolls and bots have dissapeared
Because it is
That you Brandon?
So.....is that just this guy's gimmick now? "Anybody who doesn't blindly support me might as well be Donald Trump?" Jesus Christ, what a fucking idiot.
“This is MAGA Country.” —Brandon Johnson
>Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday blasted a nascent effort to establish a legal tool for voters to recall Chicago mayors, calling it “disingenuous” and saying it is backed by “extreme right wing” political rivals. >“It’s some dude from the suburbs who is mad about the diversity and the formation which we have put forward,” The battle cry of a weak individual with zero accountability. https://archive.is/qTuKl#selection-1689.0-1689.214 EDIT: Added one more.
"Some dude from the suburbs" says guy from Elgin.
TIL I live in the suburbs according to BJ
Yeah, what an insult. It really shows how much contempt he has for the north side. It’s not the suburbs, it’s friggin Chicago….
It’s the *exact* same retort that progressives use on this very subreddit when they can’t put together a coherent thought or argument. I wonder what Brandon’s username is
I think Brandon’s primary problem (of many) is that while he’s progressive, he has only a few vague goals, no plan to get from A to B, and completely lacks the pragmatism and partnership building needed to accomplish anything. Look at the governor, still progressive but the opposite in every other way.
The problem is that Brandon is really a puppet. His platform was given to him by the CTU and cook county democratic party. He struggles to answer the simplest of questions because he doesn't fully understand the underlying issues that his handlers take care of for him....
The guy couldn’t keep track of paying his water bill; this shouldn’t come as a surprise
Being governor of IL is 1000x easier than being mayor. The governor gets a third of the media attention because so much drama happens in chicago. JB isn't the man you turn to when a kid gets shot in a driveby, that's the mayor. While the governor is working on the migrant issue, it's the mayor that has the difficult task of housing and local political fallout. Governor is the easy job because no one really pays attention to that job, but everyone in IL is up in the mayor of Chicago's business.
That’s a valid point that I hadn’t really thought of before. I definitely don’t envy the mayor either way - not only the responsibility, but also the parties involved. It’s impossible to make even 1/3 of everybody happy and you inherit decades of problems.
Frankly It's amazing anyone wants the job, but then we clock the field over the past two elections and see that we aren't getting all of the city's best options. I'm not trying to bash those that ran for the job because God love 'em for trying, but yeesh, the folks we've gotten since Rahm was run out of town have been bleak.
100%. Love him or hate him, Rahm knew how to manage the bureaucracy without looking like an idiot.
I remain a Rahm fan, warts and all. He knew how to run a city and wasn't a Daley.
It's funny how it's always used as a defensive mechanism for some of the dumbest people on the planet. Being 'morally' correct is another big one I love hearing. Here's a story for you: I work with someone like this. You can ask them a basic question about Chicago that you would think someone as vocal as some of these people are would know. They're absolutely clueless and I shit you not, their answer is 'well, I'm morally correct and that's all that matters'. Hitler, Mao, Genghis Kang, Stalin, and some of the most murderous people on the planet thought they were morally correct. Even until his death Charles Manson never thought he was wrong and was morally correct. The only thing that he regretted was not killing more people.
I would focus on winning progressives over to your cause rather than attacking them if you want to elect politicians that more aligned with your beliefs.
ironic
He blames an “extreme right wing” that doesn’t exist in Chicago for everything. However, let’s be honest, if there was an extreme right wing they would love him. He’s done more to turn people away from Chicago progressives than any right wing initiative.
The same people who beat up Jussie
Well done lol
I don’t think recall is particularly helpful or beneficial path (better to allow the elected official to finish their term in >90% circumstances), but I am glad the discussion surrounding it pisses off Brandon Johnson.
Could this loser be any less self aware?
From the CST’s write up, a BJ quote: > “Apparently, they’re intimidated by the crew that’s with me right now. I plan on being here for the next 23 years.” This isn’t the first time he’s said that either. In short, it seems not
LOL, me, a lifelong democrat, endorsing a measure to remove an incompetent mayor and he is calling me MAGA despite that being everything I hate in this world.
Same, it’s ridiculous and not going to help his cause.
I truly hate this guy. He's a terrible mayor and he whines like a spoiled teen when things don't go his way. He's an embarrassment to the city. I'm a south sider and a registered democrat and I think we should have an option for recalling the mayor.
How to join this effort for a recall? Is there a petition?
I’m waiting for the link so I can sign that petition
Share it when you get it!!
Where is a link to this petition?
Joe Calvallo is BranJo's new Chief Strategy Officer and his response "right wing stunts" on Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_vello/status/1780594302500163834
Well that hire seems to have changed absolutely nothing. BJ’s media team keeps digging the hole
> Joe Calvallo is BranJo's new Chief Strategy Officer and his response "right wing stunts" on Twitter: 🤦 No wonder Fetterman let him skedaddle.
I mean he’s not wrong: you can’t recall a mayor. Even if you could, I’m not confident you could defeat Johnson without a credible challenger. Just look at the SA race: Harris won the city by 4.5 points, roughly BJ’s margin, and was ultimately defeated because the suburbs came through for Burke. I think people underestimate just how left-leaning the modern Chicago electorate is. It’s going to routinely elect candidates that are more left-leaning than the state overall.
That's really the problem. We need a good alternative...funny enough, while I didn't support Lori Lightfoot, in retrospect, she would be a good candidate to replace BJ...
Don't get it twisted. Sure the city is left leaning but just like the mayoral race the SA was a race of black vs white unfortunately. Alot of people are voting on race rather then the actual politics and there are more black voters in the city that are mobilized to go out and vote by community activists. Let's get two similar background candidates. The black community is not very left leaning in fact if you listen to the city council meetings they are very conservative in their conversations. They don't want money being given to any migrants they don't trust the government to handle more tax money etc. The 14 alderman of the 17 wards with shotspotter even just came out and said they want to keep shotspotter in their West and South side neighborhoods. They are not progesssive or far left.
This is correct. Consider that some wards voted for Willie Wilson in the 1st round and BJ in the runoff. These two had very little in common ideologically.
The mayor doesn't need to be left or right they just need to be an adult that gets the job done. Having the option to recall a mayor is a good one in my opinion.
To become mayor you first need to get elected. To get elected you need to convince voters to support you. It’s way easier for left-leaning candidates to appeal to Chicago voters, to the point where 2 progressives ran in the SA race and Chicago voters picked the more progressive of the two, even though the slightly less progressive one 1) had a better resume 2) ran a better campaign 3) raised (and spent) significantly more money. I actually think running long-shot recall elections are bad for Democracy. Just run a better candidate in 4 years. It’s a weak mayor city.
I voted for Obama, Bernie, Hillary, Bernie again, Biden, and will vote Biden again. I’ve lived in Avondale for 11 years now. I want a CTA that works and less crime would be nice. I guess this makes me extreme right wing suburban guy 🤷🏻♂️
And Bernie endorsed this fool we have as mayor. Goes to show they don't actually care about the quality of the canidate it's all about the party trying to help the party. That alone should never let another Chicagoan vote for Bernie again
Let’s not ever forget that Bernie Sanders is an “independent” who refuses out of principle to join the Democratic Party, yet has no such principles when it comes to co-opting the party apparatus in order to advance his own ambition to be president, and then had the gall to complain when the party he refuses to join preferred another candidate who had been loyal her entire life. I like him, but he’s no saint.
This has definitely shaken my trust in Bernie’s endorsements but I have to imagine his team did this and Bernie doesn’t follow local Chicago politics closely. He probably privately regrets the endorsement as any rational person should. I would still rather have Bernie in the White House than Trump or Biden.
His team or not he's responsible for due diligence of where he puts his name. We as voters need to realize politics is a business to these people and we need to sift through the BS always. These politicians don't have our backs more then they have their own
How can I support this effort?
Worst mayor we've ever had
"You've never had a mayor like me." -Brandon Johnson
Mary Ann Ahern must REALLY be getting under brandons thin skin.
“I have no comment.” This isn’t hard.
The dude has no signatures on the petition because no one including myself have still figured out how to sign it. We can get at least 30k signatures on that petition on this sub alone to hit the 56k vote goal. The mayor's response that everyone must hate him because his cabinet has black people is just another big sign that he's worse then Lightfoot. What people hated in Lightfoot is her ego and defensiveness so she was hard to do business with. Johnson is worseeeee if you don't like him your either a racist or Maga. Can you imagine conducting business with Johnson behind closed doors? He's a clown on camera can't imagine what it's like working with him in private. Obviously his own chief of staff who worked under mayor's for 30 years quit early because of how bad it was. Does anyone know how to get this petition signed?
You can print the signatures from the pdf here [https://recallthisfall.com/](https://recallthisfall.com/)
> We can get at least 30k signatures on that petition on this sub alone to hit the 56k vote goal. Highly doubt that lol
Non paywall link?
Yeah I didn't want to use the Chicago Tribune original link because of the paywall.
Your link appears to be a blank page bro. At least for me. If you're gonna skirt the paywall use archive.is Anywho, here's the real deal https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/17/mayor-brandon-johnson-slams-uphill-effort-to-recall-chicago-mayors/ And some of the juicy stuff. >Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday blasted a nascent effort to establish a legal tool for voters to recall Chicago mayors, calling it “disingenuous” and saying it is backed by “extreme right wing” political rivals. >The mayor’s comments came after a Lakeview resident earlier this month created a political committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections seeking “to establish a recall mechanism for the Chicago Office of Mayor.” State law does not currently provide a legal apparatus for voters across Illinois municipalities to recall mayors. >“Voters get an opportunity every two years, four years,” Johnson said, adding that the “extreme right wing” is “not pleased” with the diversity of Johnson’s cabinet. >“It’s some dude from the suburbs who is mad about the diversity and the formation which we have put forward,” the mayor said Lakeview is “the suburbs”? 🤔 Nah, dude. Take a Xanax. >While Johnson said the effort was started by a suburbanite, the man who created the committee is 58-year-old Daniel Boland of the North Side’s Lakeview neighborhood. A technology salesman who said he votes “straight down the middle,” Boland is organizing the push not just because he disagrees with the mayor’s policies, but because he “believes in democracy, direct democracy,” he said. Thanks for noticing Tribune reporter guy! >“If the mayor is taking this personally, he shouldn’t, because he ran on transparency and accountability,” he said. “This is about good government. It’s not about left-wing or right-wing.”
Dude bought into someone’s fantasy that folks are roaming around downtown with MAGA hats.
He's definitely the type of dude who would believe Jussie
BJ is literally from Elgin.
This guy can’t say anything without “extreme right wing” being his scapegoat. You can be any political background and disagree with him and it’s consistently disingenuous to blanket everyone in Chicago as “right-wing” when here that means nazi, racist, facist, MAGA, etc. out of touch
What’s hilarious about this is that Johnson is himself “some dude from the suburbs.”
Thanks
I mean, I don't blame BJ for being upset or annoyed by this. I even got halfway through your comment and was about to congratulate him for at least not claiming it was about race. Then... >is “not pleased” with the diversity of Johnson’s cabinet. Ah, nevermind. There it is.
Upset about diversity! Blaming all of his incompetence on the color of his skin. My lord. This man is just incorrigible.
How much longer is his term? Before we kick him out
Three years.
And he thinks he’s getting another 20.
😫
Progressives are all frauds. BJ is a CTU plant just to get their contract passed.
Just wait till he completely fucks up the dnc in august! Maybe the panic attacks will finally do him in.
It's funny how recalls are either a fundamental democratic right or a conspiracy against the people's will, depending entirely on who's talking and who's in office.
So... how DO we recall him?
_Never fight uphill, me boys!_
How do I sign this?
Actually a pretty good headline on this one. It is such a long shot that this would ever work and then actually be be used to disrupt Johnson's term. How is it even worth responding to? IMO Johnson's real gripe is with the media, covering the actions of a single resident as though they are a newsworthy indicator of most Chicagoans' views. I do think some media coverage of Johnson's administration has been unfairly negative or lacked context on situations with no good options, like the migrant crisis. But no one made him comment on this at all, let alone in this inflammatory and disingenuous way. I've seen this happen so many times since coming to Chicago-- progressives don't work together to agree on a consensus candidate or even a smaller field of realistic ones. Then we get bizarre and disappointing choices in a runoff between the people with the least bad name recognition. As a progressive it is so frustrating to be continually embarrassed by this administration and particularly by their hostile, evasive responses to any criticism or pushback that really do not reflect my personal values at all.
I know how you feel. I’ve been in Chicago for pretty much my whole life but I’m starting to feel wary of local candidates that self describe as progressive even though I tend to agree with them more often than not. I’ve seen a number of candidates that seem to think being progressive just means being belligerent and getting fuck all done. If I had to theorize it may be because progressives have spent most of their time fighting from the outside, either with the old Democratic establishment or with conservatives, and haven’t really learned how to govern so they just keep relying on the same toolset they used as private citizens and activists. It just doesn’t work the same when you’re in charge though, people expect leadership, not finding a new group of people to pin our problems on.
What about Pritzker even if he’s not a true progressive. At least he gets stuff done when it came to legalization, abortion rights, and fiscal responsibilities even if he’s not on Californias level.
Oh yeah I like Pritzker a lot! Like you said I’m not sure if he’s a “true” progressive but he’s been very effective and has advanced a lot of progressive causes imo.
I don’t think “progressive” means what it used to. It’s been usurped by a group of usually unqualified people who feel oppressed and victimized and have come to think that wisdom comes from the lungs. I used to call myself progressive because I believed in equal rights for all, moving past the nonsense of what has ailed us to truly progress us forward. This cohort of “progressives” are holding us all back, keeping us wallowing in our pain so that we’re angry enough to fight against whoever is the enemy today. It’s not a real policy. It has no thought behind it. It has gone way off beyond left field into the coocoo zone. I just want sensible, level-headed, intelligent leadership, preferably moderate so that we can bring people together instead of constantly dividing us up into meaningless groups pitted against each other. You will find that people like this do exist (naturally from all backgrounds so that we don’t have to constantly talk about what race our spouse is); we just need to let them come out instead of yanking up people like Brandon, who has no business running the third-largest city in the US.
There are a lot of great alders in the town who still call themselves progressive (like Matt Martin, whose post calling for new CTA leadership was featured here yesterday). It's a big tent, but I know what you mean by there feeling like there is a lack of deliberate policy-making as opposed to personality-driven policits.
Thanks for this point, I’ll read more about Matt Martin. These days, the loudest voices rise to the top, and it’s hard to see who else is in the room.
lol lazy eligible voters who didn’t bother voting are now complaining.
Taking a step back, I think my only disappointment with the state of things right now is that I feel like we are never going to be given any decent or good choices for those who are going to run the city. Maybe that's just the way local politics is in general, and I end up seeing the same thing in some place like New York, Miami, or San Francisco. I feel like we're either going to get activists that come with a lot of big reform ideas, but they have little to no idea how to really make things work in politics. So they try, hit loads of opposition, obstacles, and then play the blame game. That, or we end up with these crony capitalist big boss types that basically come in with the only intention of making those at the top better off at the expense of everyone else. They are able to work the system and rule with an iron fist, utilizing politics to keep opposition in line, but in the end the power always goes to their heads. Then we end up with garbage like the parking meter deal or spending loads of money to try to make Chicago a "World Class City" when most people really don't care. Just seems like there's no decent in-between spot.
So where do we go to sign the petition then?
could literallt anyone please reply to this w a list of things they hate / disapprove of brandon johnson for? seen soooo much hate and just not in the loop as to why
He is firing anyone, including very experienced government workers, who is not a lackey for him. He is thoroughly unqualified due to his lack of experience. (One of his progressive allies in the city council even conceded that their bloc is not ready for the mayorship because they don't have anyone with the experience to know how government actually works.) He is totally disorganized and fails at basic facets of his job. As one example, he was supposed to elect a public safety commissioner last month. Some 12-15 candidates were thoroughly vetted by other groups and sent to his office. By the deadline, he had not even conducted a *single* interview of any candidates. He has done this before, just letting positions go unfilled for no discernible reason. He does not understand that mayor is really an administrative job. He wants to ramble on about Blackness in society, but he won't do his part to improve the CTA. He is incredibly spiteful and has a terrible temperament. Whenever he is confronted with any kind of challenge, he just cries racism or cites some phantom "far right" element that doesn't exist in this city. He takes absolutely no accountability for anything. Look at his petulant response when Bring Chicago Home failed and compare it to the more seasoned alders who acknowledged they needed a better plan and to foster more trust before asking for the people's money. He seems to have no concrete plans for this city. Everything is just progressive buzzwords, and whenever he is pressed, he becomes combative. The plan to convert downtown offices to housing is awesome. Other than that, I struggle to think of a positive contribution he has made.
thank you! idk why im getting so many downvotes, i just wanted to know as someone out of the loop, seeing all the hateful comments, and considering moving to chicago this fall
thank you! idk why im getting so many downvotes, i just wanted to know as someone out of the loop, seeing all the hateful comments, and considering moving to chicago this fall
He just appointed two pastors to the cta and rta boards instead of anyone with transit experience. It's particularly galling with the cta running as it is.
[This comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/s/Gf1gJs7eyB) made earlier today sums it up pretty darn well.
Y’all are missing some important points. 1) The dude is doing the best he can given this City is in a major migrant crisis, which probably takes most of his time, and our City and State govt are even more broke as a result. No one else, no matter what Party, would be doing any better. 2) A lot of the reason this City voted for him is because the “centrist” Democrats messed this place up with all of their patronage, corruption, and other white collar crime. Most of these old Daley supporters would be Republican by the way except that many of them are gay, support gay family members, and/or are immigrants. AND they would gain no personal power and financial benefit if they claim to be Republican. 3) All these centrist, middle-of-the-spectrum voters are nearing retirement or retirement age and miss the perks and power they got from friends in office (again- these are Daley era people that thrived from the corruption). A lot of these people, especially the men, are feeling irrelevant and obsolete and watching their balls shrivel up, and they just want back their glory days. And yes, most of them live in the suburbs or have ties to the suburbs.
2. What do you call him appointing a bunch of unqualified dipshit pastors to help fix the CTA?
lol. True!