As the mayoral campaign kicked off, we naively wished for a reasoned debate among problem-solvers sobered by the desperate fiscal state of our beloved city.
What do we see so far?
Too much talk of “Sexy Alexi,” casting mayoral front-runner Alexi Giannoulias as a kind of Ah-nold of the Prairie, set to pump Chicago up. Apparently that will be with a whopping, union-approved, 30% increase in the Chicago minimum wage by 2032, which does not exactly signal a change to a more business-friendly environment for the city, given that a prospective business would be able to avoid that costly increase merely by relocating to a suburb. Or Indiana, the crafty bogeyman of Illinois overspenders.
Then there was Mike Quigley cutting a quixotic figure on social media, wherein (a), the venerable Democratic congressman framed his opponent as a competitor in a “wet T-shirt contest” (b), appeared to himself jump fully clothed into Lake Michigan and (c), ordered a breakfast whopper from Burger King and declared, when asked, that he did not need a crown because the sandwich, if that is the word, made him feel “divine.” Perhaps the congressman needs a reminder as to which far-from-shy fast-food giant is headquartered in Chicago.
Hint: No kings.
If that were not enough, and it is more than enough, we also have been treated to the indefatigable Maria Pappas first sticking out her tongue in close proximity to someone else’s face in a widely shared and creepy image on social media, and then sending out strikingly salty texts to a peeved Richard Boykin, a Willie Wilson loyalist, who objected to her use of the word “boy,” among many other not-so-choice words in a private rant from the Cook County treasurer’s punctilious fingers that Boykin subsequently chose to make public.
Pappas did not back down, either. Not the type. But the salient question here is whether she is the mayoral type.
Sure, we’re well aware that Giannoulias, a former professional athlete, can’t help it if others obsess about his abs by way of a jab. And we’d be all for a campaign to make Chicago a healthier place. There is nothing wrong with a well-toned mayor setting the example. Giannoulias should flex with pride if he is speaking the ideas we want to hear.
Yes, of course, we know this famously is the silly season, a time when people are clinging on to the end of summer and not yet fully paying attention to the political races coming this fall.
But taken together, this was quite the week of pandering candidate theatrics and not exactly the precursor to what should be a serious campaign to convince voters of the best candidate to run a city that needs a turnaround agent. That would be a pro-growth someone who is not afraid to rein in spending, would repair relations with City Council, fight back against vested interests and be willing to deliver the bad news about what must be done to right the city’s leaning fiscal ship.
Everybody feels like they deserve a bigger paycheck. But we suspect that some of the deep-pocketed backers of Giannoulias, the candidate with the biggest war chest (no pun intended), were not necessarily looking for the effective secretary of state to reposition his vehicle to occupy a similar lane to Mayor Brandon Johnson, because that lane has been leading us right off a fiscal cliff. As Giannoulias well knows, as do Quigley, Pappas and Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza, about the only leading candidate who so far has hung on to her dignity this August.
Two more weeks, folks. Then it’s time to get very serious.
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