On 06 Dec 2021, RichA <rander3127@gmail.com> posted some
news:som3ne$9jq$6@news.dns-netz.com:

> slate_leeper wrote
>
>> Own it Chicago! You voted for it.

Leftist-backed Brandon Johnson won the Chicago mayoral election on Tuesday
after campaigning on raising taxes, funding social workers instead of
cops, expanding sanctuary city policies and more

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson was elected mayor of Chicago on
Tuesday, defeating moderate Democrat Paul Vallas, the former head of
Chicago Public Schools.

The election was an upset. Vallas was backed by the Democratic
establishment, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chicago's largest
police union, and major business groups. Johnson was supported by a
progressive coalition including the Chicago Teachers Union, democratic-
socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and national and local left-wing
activists.

Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to
lose her bid for re-election when she finished third in the February
general election. Johnson came in second behind Vallas, but neither had
received 50% of the vote, triggering a runoff.

Here are some major proposals he has made for Chicago:

Funding social workers instead of cops
Throughout the campaign, Johnson was dogged by questions about his past
support for the "defund the police" movement.

In 2020 comments, Johnson described defending the police as an "actual,
real political goal." He walked back those comments as a candidate for
mayor, insisting "I said it was a political goal. I never said it was
mine."

"As far as my vision for public safety, I�m not going to defund the
police," Johnson told Block Club Chicago in an interview last month. "But
what I am committed to doing is to make sure that we are actually
investing in a smart way."

Crime is a major concern for Chicago voters, with the number of homicides
in the Windy City hitting a 25-year-high in 2021, according to the Chicago
Police Department. The number of homicides dropped to 695 last year, but
was still higher than when Lightfoot took office in 2019. Nearly two-
thirds of city residents planning to vote said they did not feel safe in a
Chicago Sun-Times poll, and public safety was a leading reason why
Lightfoot was given the boot.

Johnson has said he will not reduce the Chicago Police Department's
budget, however, he also has said hiring more police officers or
increasing funding will not solve the city's crime problems. He has
committed to promoting 200 detectives from rank-and-file officers and has
argued for increased city spending on mental health care, schools and
affordable housing to address the root causes of crime. He has also
supported having social workers and EMTs respond to some 911 calls instead
of armed police officers.

Raising taxes
During the campaign, Johnson openly acknowledged that his ambitious
proposals for investments in Chicago's social programs would require tax
increases.

The mayor-elect has pledged not to raise property taxes on families.
However, he has proposed new taxes on financial transactions and real
estate, and he floated a new "city surcharge" for Metra, the commuter rail
system that transports suburbanites to work downtown, before reversing
after fierce backlash.

"We're looking at a lot of different measures to generate revenue. The
ones, of course, that I'm very much interested in are the ones I've
already stated; whether it's a financial transaction tax, whether it's a
real estate transfer tax," he told local station CBS 2 in February.

Among his most controversial tax proposals is head tax on large companies
of $1 to $4 per employee, and a $98 million jet fuel tax.

"Are there opportunities for us to have things on the table to generate
revenue from tourism? Absolutely," Johnson said.

Letting illegal immigrants vote in school board elections
Chicago is a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. Johnson has promised
to expand those policies, introducing a "Plan for Sanctuary and Immigrant
Justice" in February.

Among his proposals is to work with Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the
Democratic-controlled state legislature to pass legislation that would
"allow all parents and taxpayers to vote in school board elections,
regardless of citizenship status," the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He also
wants to create a "Non-Citizen Advisory Board" for the Chicago Board of
Education.

Johnson also proposes to appoint "non-citizen representation" to the
Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability; make homeless
migrant children eligible for city benefits; build "permanent housing for
all unhoused, including asylum seekers" (with funding from tax increases);
increase "dedicated funding to immigrant protection and integration" to
support migrants bused to Chicago from border states like Texas; and fully
fund protective legal services for migrant victims of crime.

Protecting Abortion Rights
Johnson's campaign website is explicit: The mayor-elect believes "One:
abortion is health care. Two: abortion should be a constitutional right.
Three: We will not accept an America � or a Chicago � that goes back in
time."

Abortion became an issue in the mayoral campaign as Vallas withered
attacks from the left for his personal pro-life convictions. A Greek
Orthodox Christian, Vallas had come under fire for telling the Sun-Times
in an interview, "Personal religious conviction is unrelated to my public
position supporting women�s reproductive rights. It�s like asking Joe
Biden as a Catholic, �Are you for abortion?� Or [asking] Rich Daley or
John Kennedy."

Abortion rights groups found that answer insufficient and endorsed
Johnson.

"In a post-Roe world, this race is too important. After meeting with both
Mr. Vallas and Commissioner Johnson, it is clear to us that Brandon
Johnson is the only candidate who will protect and champion reproductive
rights in Chicago," Personal PAC CEO Sarah Garza Resnick said in a press
release supporting Johnson.

Johnson has promised to maintain the $3 million for "reproductive
services" proposed in Lightfoot's 2023 budget and possibly to increase it.
He has also vowed to "use city resources to ensure the security of
abortion clinics" in Chicago, the Sun-Times reported.

"There is no middle ground on abortion," Johnson's website states. "There
is no middle ground on reproductive health care. Individuals should always
have the right to control what happens to their own bodies � not the
government."

�End misgendering in official records�
Johnson released a detailed LGBTQ rights plan promising to combat "anti-
LGBTQ legislation and hate crimes sweeping the nation," and to make
Chicago a "regional hub for LGBTQ community and culture."

While on the one hand insisting that the police do not need additional
funding, Johnson promised to increase the solve rate for murders targeting
transgender individuals and ferociously prosecute hate crimes against
LGBTQ people.

Johnson's website promises to combat "misinformation" spread by news
outlets by changing official records to refer to murdered trans people by
their preferred pronouns. Jonson will "work with the Cook County Medical
Examiner and the General Assembly to expand the flow of useful
information, which will serve an important role in decreasing the number
of trans people misgendered by official records," his website states.

He has also pledged to make Chicago a sanctuary for transgender people,
including minors, that come from "other states that pass laws hostile to
LGBTQ people" and seek transgender medical care.

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