By John Ruberry
Chicago’s leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, who is probably a socialist, is on his way to being remembered as one of America’s worst big city mayors.
Among the awful history gives us are New York’s John Lindsay, Cleveland’s Dennis Kucinich, and Detroit’s Coleman Young.
“Branjo” has been mayor for only 18 months.
In another post at Da Tech Guy, I discussed his propensity to blame any criticism of him on his race–Johnson is black.
Last month I discussed his Friday Afternoon Massacre. Consider this post a sequel.
Johnson was a longtime paid organizer for the radical Chicago Teachers Union. And by the way, when someone calls himself an organizer, consider that a code word for left-wing radical. He was also Cook County Commissioner, a part-time job. Cook County government doesn’t have much power.
Branjo is an empty suit with an empty head.
Chicago is broke, thanks to fiscal mismanagement by Richard M. Daley, Chicago is essentially bankrupt. Its municipal pension funds are the worst funded in the nation.
Daley belongs in that worst mayors ever list too.
But the Chicago Teachers Union, Johnson’s former employer and the chief financial backer of his mayoral campaign, wants a big raise for teachers. To pay for that, as well as a looming pension bill for non-teacher CPS employees, Branjo ordered the CEO of CPS, Pedro Martinez, to take out what the media is collectively calling a high interest “payday loan” to pay for both. CPS faces a $500 million dollar deficit while Chicago proper faces a nearly $1 billion deficit. CPS bonds are rated as junk.
Martinez said no to the mayor, and in solidarity with him, the entire school board, all seven of them Johnson appointees, resigned, in short, the Friday Afternoon Massacre.
In Brandon Johnson’s Chicago, things can always get worse.
Johnson quickly replaced the school board with seven new members, who have so far done nothing. Martinez hasn’t been fired and no payday loan has been taken out. In a few weeks, that board will be replaced with a hybrid board, half elected—the election is this week–and half appointed by Johnson.
Of the soon-to-be former board, two members, including the president of the board, Mitchell Ikenna Johnson (no relation) are an embarrassment. The day after he was sworn in, it was reported that Mitchell was disbarred for life in Ohio for “engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, deceit, fraud, or misrepresentation.” The mayor, who almost certainly lives in a leftist pseudo-intellectual monoculture, should have immediately called for Mitchell Ikenna Johnson’s resignation. He didn’t. Then it was learned that Mitchell was active on social media supporting 9/11 conspiracy theories and promoting anti-Semitic hate. On Friday, Mitchell finally resigned.
Apparently, there is no vetting at Chicago’s City Hall. Competence is absent too.
Another of Branjo’s recent board appointees, Olga Bautista–a socialist–faces accusations of anti-semitism, which led Illinois’ treasurer, Susana Mendoza, a Democrat, to comment on X, “Springfield should intervene. There clearly needs to be Chgo City Council vetting, oversight & consent of these mayoral appointments to the Chgo Public School Board. Antisemites should be automatically disqualified, full stop. As should socialists calling for the fall of the U.S.”
Mendoza, a Democrat, is rumored to be considering a mayoral run in 2027.
Meanwhile, another radical left-winger, Kennedy Bartley, a top Branjo aide who is in charge of lobbying with other public officials, including the City Council, on behalf of the mayor, has called Chicago Police officers “f*cking pigs” and has made anti-Semitic comments on social media. She’s still on the job.
Johnson is rumored to have a police detail of 125-150 officers.
Clearly, being an anti-Semite, or at the very least, anti-Israel, is on the checklist to be included in leftist government employment circles.
And incompetence is on that checklist too.
As I’ve mentioned a few times at DaTechGuy, the warning signs were all there with Brandon Johnson. Chicagoans voted him in anyway.
While Chicago has some able aldermen–Brendan Reilly, Anthony Beale, and Ray Lopez come to mind–there are many leftist losers there too.
But that’s a topic for another time.
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
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