Johnson, Vallas get heated in attacks on each other's positions in roundtable forum
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayoral candidates Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson faced off in a debate or the second time in as many days Tuesday evening – and the discussion got heated several times as the candidates attacked each other over their psoitions and professional backgrounds.
Fox 32 held the mayoral forum, with the candidates and moderators seated around a table in their studios. Fox 32 Political Editor Mike Flannery – formerly of CBS 2 – asked the questions in the forum, along with "Good Day Chicago" hosts Scott Schneider and Anita Blanton.
The candidates largely reiterated their familiar talking points in the forum. On public safety, Vallas called for filling vacancies in the Chicago Police Department, replacing the private security on the Chicago Transit Authority system with sworn officers, and "beat integrity" so that individual officers would be known in their communities by name and so that response times could improve.
Johnson called for the promotion of 200 police detectives, endorsed the Treatment Not Trauma campaign for an emergency response program that includes mental health professionals, and called for enforcement of the federal consent decree that imposes reforms on the CPD.
Vallas and Johnson have each reiterated these positions at each debate and forum since the runoff campaign began.
One question raised at the forum to which the candidates' positions has not made headlines before was whether Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has made Chicago safer. Neither Johnson nor Vallas directly answered the question, but their responses did not suggest they are on the same page about Foxx.
"She has led with an incredible amount of integrity," Johnson said. "She has been a part of the type of reform that's needed."
In particular, Johnson pointed out that in Foxx's time as the top Cook County prosecutor, more than 100 Black men have been released from prison after wrongful convictions that resulted from police torture and false confessions.
But Vallas pointed to data collected by the Chicago crime and public safety publication CWB Chicago, which calculates every month the number of people arrested who are out on felony bail. He said by the publication's calculations, 10 to 15 percent of murders and shootings are being committed by people who are out on felony bail or a pretrial release program.
With regard to Foxx, Vallas said, "I believe that she has not been aggressive at keeping dangerous criminals off the street, and the data clearly states it."
On the issue of school resource officers, Johnson said there are schools now that have union security guards – but do not have police officers in the building – and those schools feel safe. Vallas said based on his experience running the Chicago Public Schools and other large school systems, having police officers present is the best way to deter active shooters.
But it was a remark that Vallas made about Johnson, and the Cook County commissioner's career as teacher at Edward Jenner Elementary School in the area of the old Cabrini-Green public housing development.
"I was teacher too at all levels – in fact probably, I spent more time as a teacher at all levels, including the military, than the four years that you spent in Jenner – in the school that I built – in Cabrini-Green," Vallas said to Johnson.
Johnson later said: "I don't think it's right, because it's not, for Paul Vallas to dismiss my time as a teacher. You can't keep just dismissing people, Paul. It's irresponsible. And the fact of the matter is you've failed everywhere you've gone and you've been allowed to fail up. The stakes are too high."
Vallas also went after Johnson for his proposals on taxes and raising revenue. When asked if his promise to hold the line on taxes meant no tax increases, Vallas said: "That means I'm not going to propose right out of the box $800 million in tax increases – income tax, head tax, jet fuel tax, Board of Trade tax – oh, of course, taxing the hotels and motels, which are already the highest taxed in the state – oh, I'm sorry, in the nation."
In lines of attack that were not new, Johnson went on to say Vallas does not have a plan for a budget and would raise property taxes, while Vallas said Johnson has never run or managed anything and has only voted on budgets rather than developing them.
Vallas also said more than once that Johnson had proposed a city income tax and later removed it from his platform – while Johnson protested that he had never proposed such a tax.
"Paul, I never proposed an income tax. You know that," Johnson said. "There was a publication – the Chicago Sun-Times – retracted it because they got it wrong. If we're going to have a debate, let's have an honest debate."
"At the end of the day, Brandon, me asking you to answer the questions or to provide facts is not dismissing you," Vallas fired back.
Coming up on Tuesday, March 28, at 6 p.m., CBS 2 Chicago, along with our partners – the Business Leadership Council, Chicago Urban League, National Association of Black Journalists Chicago, and WVON – will host debate with Johnson and Vallas.
You can stream our debate on all of our platforms and watch it on TV.
Early voting for the mayoral runoff election began Monday. Election Day is Tuesday, April 4.
