Alders say Mayor Johnson is acting like a "dictator" with his decisions regarding CPS board
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It was a political earthquake last week when Mayor Brandon Johnson's entire hand-picked school board announced their resignation.
Sources said the board refused to fire the Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez, or to take out a $300 million high-interest loan to pay pensions and fund teacher raises being sought by the Chicago Teachers Union.
On Monday, Johnson—who himself once worked for the Chicago Teachers Union—made his picks to replace the board. A total of 41 out of 50 members of the Chicago City Council do not like how these events are playing out.
Some alders said Monday that Johnson's conduct is comparable to how a dictator operates. The Wall Street Journal editorial board compared it to a coup.
It is expected that the mayor's new handpicked Chicago Board of Education is ready to oust CPS boss Pedro Martinez and get on board with Johnson's plan. Members of the City Council said they want a voice at the table, but Mayor Johnson said he alone has the authority on these matters.
"The City Council can have as many hearings as they want," the mayor said. "There's only one person who has the authority by state law to make appointments, and that's the mayor of the City of Chicago—and that's me."
"It looks very Trump and Giuliani-like— telling the legislative side they have zero authority," said Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), "which means that the people that we represent have zero authority to hold him accountable. It really kind of puts us into a realm that I haven't seen before.
"If you will not listen to us on the front end, you are definitely going to hear us on the back end when you come asking us for money—and many of us start saying no," said Ald. Ray Lopez (15th).
"This whole dictatorship tone that the mayor is proposing is not a good tone, especially when you're looking at us at some point to pass your budget," said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), "because there's going to be give and take."
Forty-one members of the City Council signed a letter calling for the mayor to reverse course, but again, there is no mechanism for them to stop him.
Illinois state lawmakers in Springfield may be able to modify school board appointment rules, but that cannot be done fast enough to stop the mayor's purported plan to oust Martinez and take on a high-interest loan for pension payments and teacher raises. These are the options the Chicago Teachers Union likes, and the Chicago Teachers Union is the same union Johnson for which once worked.
Some are calling on Johnson to let cooler heads prevail and pivot.
"He made a mistake with that with that. He can fix it," said Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd). "We need to see leadership from the mayor and bring us together as a whole, and we're not seeing that right now."
What was seen Monday was a mayor linking the debate about his plan to slavery.
"They said that it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people," the mayor said, "and now, you have detractors making the same argument of the Confederacy when it comes to public education in this system."
Several alders took Mayor Johnson to task for the comparison.
"To blame everything from slavery to the second coming of Jesus as to why he has the authority and is offended by anyone questioning that is remarkable to me," Lopez said.
"We're just seeing him barreling down a path that's going to cost taxpayers very dearly," said Waguespack.
Some members of City Council think while Johnson appears to have won this front, it may have activated a voting bloc this November that would have been dormant otherwise. The alders say voters who do not like the mayor's approach are likely to find anti-CTU candidates to back.
When asked what Johnson's move compares to in Chicago political history, the closest analogy aldermen could come up with was when Mayor Richard M. Daley had demolition trucks tear up X's on the tarmac at Meigs Field in the dead of night in 2003.
But that was an airport, the alders emphasize. Johnson's decision involves a $10 billion education system.