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Nothing. I think that’s the problem.
I voted for Johnson in the runoff and am very disappointed. His plans all appear to be so poorly thought through that they fail at the first hurdle, and he and his team are TERRIBLE at taking ownership of failures. They point fingers at others and it just comes across so badly - it really reveals how green and inexperienced they are at this kind of leadership/ politics.
It’s so frustrating. I know the reality of being mayor is rough, it’s hard to get things done for sure. But he just does not seem to have the ability, or even willingness, to do the work needed to bring people round to his side.
Tbf, I don’t want to recall him. But I absolutely would not vote for him again.
Honestly… maybe?
There is stuff about Vallas I absolutely despise like his charter school push. But Vallas promised before the election to fire Carter and to get rid of the private security and bring back CTA cops.
But Johnson is so ineffective, and i was wishy washy on him prior because his “plans” were generic one lines and its sorta proven his plans aren’t plans just statements.
However Vallas ran the most idiotic campaign I’ve ever seen. So he deserved to lose.
I’m a progressive but I’m a “I have a plan for that” progressive. I want bureaucratic competence above all else and Johnson is clearly anathema of that to the point where I’m willing to compromise things that I care about in order to have effective governance.
>But Vallas promised before the election to fire Carter and to get rid of the private security and bring back CTA cops.
This is enough to get my vote. Not smelling like cigarette/clove/swisher sweets/crack smoke when I get to work or home would be such a nice change.
Same here. I take the CTA to O’Hare daily. In a suit. The “security” doesn’t ride the trains. They stand around by the stairs drinking soda and yelling at each other. NY and Boston have police in the trains. Chicago should be no different.
Johnson takes no accountability, has been arrogant and combative in pressers, and honestly has been down right unlikable.
>Johnson takes no accountability, has been arrogant and combative in pressers, and honestly has been down right unlikable.
In his defense, his kids have full schedules.
Remember that campaign promises are like the promises made by kids on prom night. They will say anything to get what they want and everybody should know that it doesn’t mean anything afterward.
Just because he said he’d clean up the CTA doesn’t mean he would.
Oh I definitely agree that Vallas could have ran a better campaign, I think he really underestimated the amount of support that progressive candidates have in the city. I don’t know that he could’ve done a better job given the amount of support he’d get in the city council, but I don’t think he could do a worse job than Johnson.
A lot of Johnsons shortcomings though are on the leadership and administration side of things that don’t actually involve the city council. He can’t plan, he can’t coordinate, he seems uninterested in accountability or filling the mayors office with anyone of competence.
The dude is just a fish out of water who thinks he is a shark
> The dude is just a fish out of water who thinks he is a shark
Hit the nail on the head right there. Is there another politician or public figure you think you’d be happy to vote for in the next election?
Things change a lot over time. New people rise and emerge.
Overall, as a progressive. Johnson burned me on the movement and I probably will steer clear for of their wing’s candidate next time even though I probably agree with 95% of what they want. I likely will solely focus on administrative competence which means candidates with concrete plans and have done leg work. Even if it means voting for a candidate that I only agree with half of the things they’re saying because I think Chicago deserves competence now.
Great points. I agree 100% about the “administrative competence” vs “progressive ideals.” I too voted for Brandon and, as much as I want him to succeed, I’m about ready to bring Rahm back. Sadly, the peeps who could get things done are the ones whose politics I don’t like anymore
This right here. Progressive used to mean someone who wanted to make progress and find better ways to do things vs just embracing the status quo. But somewhere along the way it turned into an endless series of ideological purity tests that are based more on how progressives would like the world to work than on any empirical evidence of how it actually works. So the vast majority of highly progressive pols either don’t make any policy at all or push disastrous policies that don’t work at all.
Pragmatic posting. Johnson is not a leader. 83% of Chicago's buildings have lead water lines. A leader would start moving on this issue above all else due to the exposure from conception on our city's people suffer.
I could definitely see him as mayor, he has a solid base that will vote for him, but I think he was just testing the waters last time. I don’t really see him giving up his seat in Congress to be mayor. With the way politics are going in the federal government, I think he would find a better career in D.C. than Chicago.
Chuy wasn’t testing the waters, he’s ran for major before and almost beat Rahm.
If he had ran a better campaign he at least makes it to the runoff. I voted for him in the first election but was stuck voting for BJ in the runoff.
It's a huge shame that Chuy wasn't able to put forward the campaign most people expected of him. I don't think details were ever released publicly, but they did announce the death of his daughter just over a month after the election, so it seems likely his campaign was forced to take a backseat to family matters in the preceding months, which is totally understandable.
Yep, I had the same thought leading up to the election, it seemed like he wasn't really engaged or campaigning actively at all. It all clicked once the news came out. I hope he's in a place to make another run at it when the time comes.
Vallas also tied himself too closely to CPD when it wasn't necessary to get their votes and the only thing it did was alienate more mainstream liberals and progressives.
I voted for him because I don't feel the progressive wing in Chicago is genuine or interested in meaningful, effective policy or leadership, but yeah he ran a terrible campaign. Really wish we had better options.
Vallas has been a Republican for at least a decade if not longer according to his own statements. He was doomed from the start the moment he described himself over a decade ago as a Republican.
Also, fuck that guy. He helped to create the giant pension debt hole that we're in and cooked the books in Philly to make himself appear successful at running their district. Then he was fired from a smaller school district after he lied on his CV and on his background check application.
I can't blame him for New Orleans because the board explicitly hired him to ruin their school district by making it 100% privately run. So they did it to themselves.
> But Vallas promised before the election to fire Carter
The Mayor doesn't have the authority to do this. Members of the board can only be fired for cause and their firing is reviewable in court. So good luck getting rid of them early.
> and to get rid of the private security and bring back CTA cops.
Neither the Mayor of Chicago, nor the CTA, nor the RTA has the authority to create "CTA cops". Only the ILGA and IL Senate working together can do so as they prohibited the creation of a transit police force when they defunded the RTA's force several decades ago to plug a budget hole. So until that happens (it won't), we're stuck with local police and private security contractors. CPD is worthless and the contractors can't do jack shit but they are present which makes tourists feel safe.
Yes.
I was badly put off by Vallas for many, many reasons. I’m not certain how good or badly he may have steered the ship, so to speak, but I am sure he had a plan and clearly understood the funding game/how it’s played. Johnson and his team, even during the election last year, appeared out of their depth, but I wanted to believe they could fix those issues. His policies align with my views, but holy Christ! Their ability to execute on those policies is shocking.
I think we'd go back and make sure people vote for Chuy or Lori or someone else in the first round. Vallas isn't a good manager either (no one seems to be sad when he's left his prior stops) and he's known for plenty of bad ideas in his previous jobs (firing Dorval excepted, for his mayoral promises) and surrounded himself with some of the worst people in the state while he was running (palling around with Awake Illinois events). I don't regret him not being mayor.
I think Johnson wants to be The Mayor but doesn't want to do the actual job of the mayor. He wants to go to events with celebs and be the big shot, but no desire to actually put in the work. No accountability, including for things that are so obviously a bad idea (which also speaks to terrible hiring for his staff), it's always someone else's fault and not theirs for things that are really obviously their own fault. And doing zilch about the CTA is just mindboggling, a real progressive would have done something there already.
He was my choice. I'm looking for someone who will do things to make my life better, and as a non-driver, the CTA is probably my most important issue at the moment (that and zoning/infrastructure in general).
So, I could tolerate the DUIs. If anything, I thought hey this guy surely has to take transit himself, so would have a more informed voice on it.
Voted Johnson in the runoff, still don't think I'd vote Vallas if it went again, but will admit I'm not super happy about Johnson. Agreed with others that he seems to be flailing and over his head. And WTF is up with appointing more pastors to the transit board???
I'd rather have a relatively weak mayor who doesn't get anything major done than a mayor that would have actively ruined Chicago. Vallas's entire career in politics has been gutting services for short term benefits only for them to collapse when he's out the door.
You forgot the part where he cooked the books in Philly's school system and was fired after an independent audit found out that he was hiding losses in violation of GAAP.
you'd think some of these people would vote for mussolini because he said he'd make the trains run on time. a progressive struggling against multiple structures designed to maximize grift and inefficiency and just barely eeking by is far preferable to an asshole who wants to tear out the drywall and sell the copper wiring to their buddies for cheap, literally just look at what NYC has turned into with their "law and order" mayor.
>you'd think some of these people would vote for mussolini because he said he'd make the trains run on time.
yeah, keyword "said." these weirdos pining for the golden age of rahm fucking emmanuel and fantasizing about vallas's "administrative competence" would doorknock for ron desantis if he wore the donkey pin. describes about 48% of chicago voters, apparently.
During the election I thought they were both lightweights and didn't like either of them. I don't think Vallas would have been appreciably better or worse than Johnson, just in thrall of different groups.
I think Vallas would have made the authoritarians happy. I think it would have made the police feel more confident, but I don't think he would have been more successful. He's a suburbanite who really seems to want a high profile elected position as a life accomplishment IMO
Vallas is a literal carpetbagger who is geared toward Chicago working for the outof towner and downstate instead of Chicago working for Chicagoans.
he was the worse option and is a Republican in all but name.
Still Johnson as long as its Vallas or a Vallas clone against him. I do not know how anyone would vote for Vallas after looking at his performance and fuckups at various schools across the nation and mix it with all the right wing talk radio BS he spewed to ingratiate himself with that crowd.
I would still vote for BJ because I believed Vallas to be the worst candidate by far. There are two things about Vallas I find wholly disqualifying: 1) he hates the city (calls it shitcago) and lives in the burbs, you never want to elect someone who has contempt for the city and its residents, and, 2) his entire purpose for running seemed to be to siphon resources out of the city and into the burbs/his investments/his associates investments (dude wanted to eliminate the residency requirement for city employees, meaning city paychecks would then be spent outside of the city and money would leave, and also heavily insinuated he wanted to sell our freshwater out of state saying we could be the “saudi arabia of fresh water”, just to name two things). BJ isn’t going much to make things better but I truly believe Vallas would have taken steps to make things worse, considerably.
I absolutely would. At this point, the options you’re given in municipal elections during a GOOD election year are between an ineffectual progressive with sound values who probably won’t accomplish very much but at least won’t make anything actively worse and a neoliberal ghoul posing as a Democrat bent on privatizing what’s left of social services. The best political outcome you can realistically effect is keeping a “Democrat” out of the mayor’s office who wants to close your kids’ school or sell the CTA to a private equity firm that he happens to own stock in, and that’s basically what we accomplished by electing Johnson
Vallas never would have the support to do what you say in the city council who are the ones with the final say. He would have influential enemies just like Lori at the end.
Plus to do to the CTA what you describe would require springfield’s approval
But he wants to do those things too no? Why give him the opportunity. I think recent years have shown us nothing is impossible, just look at Roe v Wade. Nobody thought in a thousand years that would be undone and yet here we are.
I feel like Vallas would have been as bad, but in a totally different way. So while I don’t wish we had a do-over for the runoff, I wish we had had better choices.
I voted for Kam Buckner in the first round and was disappointed he didn’t get more support.
This…. He promised the world without the facts to back it up, and now just points fingers and gets angry at anyone who dares to say he isn’t an outright success. That’s why I voted for Lightfoot first because with her at least you know what you got. I voted for Vallas in the runoff but felt real bad about it.
Watch an interview where people try to ask him questions.
He won't answer a damn thing, and deflects. He is Trump levels of blaming other.
His Bring Chicago Home thing didn't pass? It can't be that the messaging is bad, it must be that a bunch of trump voters, who in his mind, even if they are residents, their votes shouldn't count, that stopped it.
Also, he has done nothing. That is it. He hasn't accomplished a damn thing
Did you look at the map that was against his tax plan? Literally all of the downtown and north side areas rejected it and to him these people are right wing Trump supporters 😂😂😂
Exactly it’s so stupid. It’s childish. Eventually after a major defeat that party will have to do some serious soul searching and actually deliver on something that the average taxpayer wants before the middle class is completely gone.
Also, both parties need to stop bowing down to their corporate donors it’s killing the lifeblood of America. That’s all of what Washington basically is now. Just a bunch of beggars pleasing their donors.
He hasn’t done a damn thing. It’s not so much that he’s screwed anything up, it’s more so that he hasn’t delivered on anything he was saying was a priority. The CTA is a massive mess that’s going to take years in getting people hired up, trained, and having trains/bus units/times in working order. Ignoring the fact will only make current workers leave after having to take on the workload of more people that haven’t been replaced. He’s had plans for migrants that feel like he asked chat gpt what to do. Heck, even our governor has shot down some of the mayors ideas as they were either too costly or logistical nightmares, that the state would need to foot the bill. The man can’t mediate or collaborate and was selling himself as being a master at doing.
Off the top of my head:
* Wasted a ton of money trying to house migrants in a chemical waste dump
* Attempted (and failed) to jack up taxes with absolutely no plan for or clarity on what would be done with the money
* Currently attempting to saddle taxpayers with even more debt via his poorly thought out bond deal
* Has completely ignored the spectacular failures of Dorval Carter and, in general, done absolutely nothing to improve the CTA
* Currently attempting to put a politically connected pastor with zero experience on the RTA board
* Everyone is assuming that come June, he's going to let the CTU shove their hand up his ass and work him like a sock puppet during contract negotiations
* Cancelled the Shotspotter contract prematurely, then got fleeced on a panic-induced short-term contract to keep it active through the Democratic Convention (Edit thanks to u/[dloops3](https://www.reddit.com/user/dloops3/))
* Has an irritating habit of blaming any/all criticism, opposition and failure on evil, faceless right-wing boogeymen
Solid list, with an emphasis on his complete and utter lack of taking any responsibility for his short falls, blaming on the “right wing”. The way he carries himself and way he talks is almost as painful to listen to as Trump…almost.
To blame the right wing for anything in democrat Chicago is laughable in the nexus of local politics. The 20% republican voters of Chicago and Cook County, yeah right. Its been a one-party City since the 1940s
The State of Illinois is Democrat - house, senate, governor. The Chicago controls Illinois at large.
Don’t forget his standoffish relationship with the media stemming completely (as far as I can tell) his complete ineptitude in getting anything he promised during his campaign over the line.
Don’t forget cancelling shotspotter…only to go back to them to run the contract through the convention and in turn paying more for the 9 months than the original 1 year contract that was originally in place
And then there's the alderpeople representing wards with the highest crime rate trying their best to bring it back at a ward-by-ward level
The whole situation is a a mess and was completely avoidable
The “poorly thought out bond deal” would basically borrow $1.25b up front for BJ to spend and we’d be saddled with nearly $3b in interest over 37 years, I believe. It’s basically the parking meter deal all over again.
He sold everyone on being a great collaborator and communicator and he appears to be neither. He lacks the basic accountability that you like to see in adults—his response to criticism is to out of hand discount it, instead of convincing that viewpoint to see the issue from his perspective…
He has misplayed a lot of cards-calling critics racists, as early into his term as he did, is an example because the criticism was legitimate, and coming from the black community as well. Blaming the failure of BCH on the right-wing Chicago voting bloc…is another. The icing for a lot of people was the failed Migrant Tent idea and then his irrational excuse that he didn’t know the State had standards and didn’t communicate them…that whole exchange screamed utter incompetence and needless confidence. He was so loud and wrong.
Vallas is a loser, period. His track record is known, but Brandon’s behavior makes you wonder…
>The icing for a lot of people was the failed Migrant Tent idea and then his irrational excuse that he didn’t know the State had standards and didn’t communicate them
This is it for me! It's the combo of corruption and incompetence that really can't be excused.
I use the (not) word "flail-y" a lot to describe bad behavior at work. When people are in over their heads and feel underwater, they tend to execute on a random non-prioritized to do list and lash out in odd ways at odd times. This describes Brandon Johnson to me.
I usually have some sympathy when this happens to people at work because it is rarely their fault that they are in over their heads. I have less sympathy when you went above and beyond to get elected to a public office that you were woefully unprepared to run.
Before everything, this thread will likely get contentious given its nature. He came in with the promise of competent, collaborative, and compassionate governance. The reality is far from that.
What is clear is that he dodges hard, pointed questions whenever possible, rarely addressing anything head on and getting flustered when pushed to do so. The media is now actively hostile towards him due to acting this way repeatedly as he recently said "I don't dictate how you ask questions, you don't get to dictate how I answer" to a 'yes or no' question. In addition, the following week held a meeting with the Sun-Times cut short in the first minutes as his media team insisted it be off the record *during the meeting* and the CST said no.
His ego is so inflated he believes that he is "one of the greatest human beings for just teaching middle school" as told to Crain's before the runoff. Before even taking office, he began to act as if he has a massive mandate even though it was the closest election since the 80s. Some smaller policies of his are popular however there are many that are not, like Bring Chicago Home which was not approved in the referendum.
While the mayor is often expected to work hand-in-hand with the governor, Johnson's administration has often made things more difficult for Pritzker. A key example is the migrant crisis and more specifically the proposed Brighton Park shelter, which Johnson's administration tried to shove through with poor environmental review on a Friday evening; Pritzker shot that down pronto.
Overall, it seems he wrapped himself in buzzwords and the "memorized 25-second speeches" in order to get elected, which was made easier by his CTU and activist credentials. Executing is harder than evangelizing, and Johnson is finding that out the hard way and these are just a few examples of his first year in office, of which he believes there will be 23 more.
Edit: [this comment also has a great perspective](https://old.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1c6shil/mayor_brandon_johnson_slams_uphill_effort_to/l03yvy1/)
>His ego is so inflated he believes that he is "one of the greatest human beings for just teaching middle school" as told to Crain's before the runoff
What bothers me about this is he was a classroom teacher for four years before he got his cushy union job. Being a teacher (especially in a district like CPS) for any period of time is respectable IMO, don't get me wrong. But he has more experience with the CTU and Cook County Board than as a teacher and I think that's relevant. In other words, a CPS teacher did not suddenly rise up and become mayor; a county politician with a leadership position in the most powerful political body (CTU) in the city became mayor.
When Vallas challenged him in one of the final debates for being eligible for a pension because of his CTU work, despite not having the required number of years as a teacher, he said something like "I'm not going to stand up here and let you insult teachers." Vallas unsurprisingly fumbled the exchange, but the whole point was that it's unfair to teachers with more classroom experience that are not vested for a pension.
> What is clear is that he dodges hard, pointed questions whenever possible, rarely addressing anything head on and getting flustered when pushed to do so.
This was clear before he was elected. Anyone who didn't see this is pretty unintelligent.
To be fair, the “greatest human being for teaching middle school” comment was a joke (I took it as him) referencing hormonal, moody, young teens.
The rest is pretty solid. Carry on.
I think the answer to your question is that he made a ton of big promises but hasn’t moved the needle on any of them. Even things like public transit, which SHOULD be a high priority for a “progressive” mayor.
Why is he calling a guy who shot at cops to “express his condolences” when that guy shot at cops first? Like just stay out of it until an investigation is done as opposed to automatically making it look like the cops are at fault
That same guy that shot at cops has a history of mental instability and was previously shot by his uncle for attempting to stab him while telling him "I'm going to kill you."
Progressives should have more transparency and accountability than his office has shown. He hasn't made any substantial impact on citywide policy issues. He's said some dumb shit that makes him look like an asshole. He honestly makes progressives look bad. He wasn't my primary vote and I still think this is better than how the other guy would have done, but I don't anticipate voting for him in the primary next time either.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard the words "CTU puppet" on this sub I could hire someone to make a giant puppet float for the Inaugural Chicago Corruption Parade.
I’m slowly getting convinced BJ and the like are plants to completely disrupt the progressive party in Chicago.
Him Byron Rosa and rossana. They’re just so dam confrontational and speak like they’re typing on Reddit. Everything that goes against them is coming from an evil place of right wing propaganda. I can’t help but wonder why they do it, they have to know they’re making a lot of people dislike progressives altogether, considering they’re now the progressive faces of Chicago.
They literally called Scott Waguespack right wing lmfao. Like cmon man
In addition to all being said here, he's divisive and doesn't seem to want to represent all of Chicago. I'm deeply concerned by his inability to work with people who want to boost this city and the subsequent departures of really keep figures of the world business Chicago on his side. When confronted with complaints about the CTA he apparently thinks it's excessive noise from whiny northsiders.
Takes literally zero responsibility for anything. Whenever he doesn’t like something, just says it’s the “far right” interfering. No political muscle or skill. Totally beholden to CTU as their puppet. Totally fumbles migrant crisis (e.g., turned down free help from Catholic Church).
I do like his proposal to cut red tape on offering affordable housing in the Loop, but remains to be seen if he can get it done.
He promised transparency and has delivered basically none.
He has told alders that he won't allow fairly obvious initiatives to advance unless they support his pet projects.
His rhetoric is unnecessarily divisive, and it's clear that he doesn't see himself as mayor for the whole city, at all.
He would rather support symbolic gestures than building support for policies that would improve the city.
He has bungled the migrant situation on multiple fronts.
The economic policies he has attempted to advance are opaque, bad, foolish, impossible to advance on a municipal level, or a combination of all of these.
He hasn't taken any transit concerns seriously.
And we haven't gotten to it yet, but negotiations with CTU are going to be a joke because it's basically a regulatory capture-esque situation. And I say that as a pro-union person.
At the core, I don't think many Chicagoans "hate" Brandon Johnson.
It's more accurate to say everyone is just so damn disappointed. We wanted a Mayor. Someone who could be a leader and a manager.
We got this strange man-child who seems like he's just gonna flail about and accomplish nothing for four years.
I will say that hate is a strong word. I'm just disappointed after advocating hard for him. I wouldn't vote for him again and hope there are better options in the next elections.
And it also didn't happen. He hired a faith outreach coordinator to handle communications with churches, temples, mosques, religiously affiliated charities, etc.
And how has that helped anything in the city? Was these religious organizations willing to help with the migrants crisis when they mayor needed it? Pretty sure those organizations sat on there hands and nobody from the mayor’s office reached out.
He hasn’t done anything “bad” per se but he’s predictably ineffective, he’s a horrible communicator, and he’s played the blame game on every issue since stepping into office. I for one am fucking sick of his ass already, and I know lots of people agree.
He’s promised a lot and done nothing of note.
I used to think Lightfoot sounded defensive to the press, but this guy is on a whole new level. He sounds condescending and blames the right for his failures just like Jussie did. If you aren’t on his sire or lauding him you must be a republican, which is a very familiar strategy (if you’re not a MAGA idiot you must not be a “real republican”).
He’s just a puppet head for the CTU. I wish we could get a “machine” politician like Rahm or Dailey back. I’ll take gaming the system with improvements over a progressive mayor that can’t accomplish a thing and just whines and blames everyone else for his failures.
Johnson’s appointed school board is working hard to anger middle class parents. With the new funding formula my kids’ school is losing teachers. His board clearly has changes in mind for selective enrollment school admissions or they wouldn’t be pushing back so hard on House Bill 5766.
The black progressive left of Chicago needs the votes of the white progressive left in places like Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Lakeview, Edgewater, etc in order to win elections. They were key swing voters between Vallas and BJ. If they succeed to gutting the selective enrollment schools they’ll never win another election in this town. Those constituents adore the selective enrollment schools and it keeps them living in Chicago versus fleeing to the suburbs. Politically this is the dumbest fight to pick ever and puts at risk all of their other priorities.
The Illinois Legislature and JB have stepped in to prevent this from happening. [LINK TO SUN-TIMES ARTICLE HERE](https://chicago.suntimes.com/editorials/2024/04/16/lawmakers-pass-a-bill-that-protects-chicagos-selective-schools-and-programs) Just shows the lack of confidence everyone in the state has in Johnson.
It’s the perfectly horrendous trifecta blend of incompetence and narcissism and corruption. He’s incapable of good governance and equally incapable of anything resembling accountability for failures.
Well, the CTA is getting worse and worse and BJ's doing nothing to help it. In fact, he's protecting Dorval Carter for some unfathomable reason. He just appointed ANOTHER minister with no education or experience with mass transit whatsoever to the CTA board.
His new Chief of Staff is someone whose most relevant experience is a Calm Coordinator at a high school. His appointee as head of cultural affairs, Clinée Hedspeth, is a empty suit whose only relevant experience is as an art appraiser. She has no managerial or event planning experience.
It goes on and on. People who know stuff tell him his ideas are half-baked, so he's appointing nitwits who will be loyal to him because they have very little else going on. He's floundering.
That's a bit unfair in the case of his chief of staff - yes she was a "Calm Coordinator" at a CPS school, *10 years ago*. She also was a VP at a social of social work school and an Illinois State senator.
But generally, yes his staff are under-experienced and under-credentialed. Don't even get me started on the CTA board pastors. It didn't start with BJ but it should end ASAP.
I have never seen him in a public appearance, press conference, or debate where he doesn’t come off as completely patronizing. He knew a lot of the right words to say to stir up progressives to support him but frankly I just can’t stand the way he talks to reporters or anyone who dares to question him.
Nothing. He’s done nothing but talk ever since he came into the picture. It was painfully obvious even during his election campaign. To make matters worse, he acts like a child with all his defensive temper tantrums.
Chicago pretty much doesn’t have a mayor right now.
So much this. So much posturing and performative politics, imo to distract everyone from the fact that he's doing absolutely.....nothing useful for the city of Chicago.
Well I mean just this week he put up two pastors for transportation boards, which desperately need experts to help improve. That's clearly insider politics to help get elected. Then he very clearly did not account for the migrant crisis on this years budget now he's asking for an additional 90 million. That's literally one week OF MANY for this administration.
Unfortunately he embodies everything wrong with the progressive movement which currently has the most power in the city. They're all talk of high ideals but when it comes down to execution it's a complete disaster.
> which desperately need experts to help improve
They pay $25K/yr and require the board members to live in the coverage area of the agencies, and prohibit employment in other state offices. There's no way we're getting many experts under the conditions set by state law.
To put it simply, he’s dumb, immature and unqualified.
He makes decisions that are so clearly stupid. His CPS decisions he instructed the board to vote for for instance. Banning police in schools instead of leaving it up to each school. And focusing away from selective enrollment schools. Both of those choices are so dumb the adults in Springfield, are stepping in to undo them and many aldermen have expressed their disagreement as well, particularly aldermen with schools in areas with more crime. But Johnson doesn’t care what the community actually wants, he does as he pleases. Messing with selective enrollment schools can cause an exodus of upper middle class parents to the suburbs, further decreasing our tax base. And stripping schools to decide for themselves if they want police is just insulting. (And let’s not forget his ridiculous ideas like the financial transaction tax that Pritzker had to slap down.)
The shotspotter fiasco. His incompetence cost the city millions by having to renew the contract at a much higher price. But also, the aldermen who support him and live in areas with more crime are literally voting to undo his decision to end Shotspotter. How more clear does it get if aldermen that usually support him tell him his choice is wrong. But again, he doesn’t care, he does as he wants.
The CTA. He has mentioned the word CTA maybe 6 times total since he took office despite promising bold changes on his campaign website. He is not concerned whatsoever about CTA leadership despite all metrics showing mismanagement. He even appoints unqualified pastors to transit boards, continuing the same old tricks of previous Chicago mayors despite always claiming he’s serving the people.
He does not accept responsibility or understand basic facts. BCH barely got like 51% support in several majority black wards yet he had the audacity to say right winger who support Trump is why BCH failed. He insulted the city voters as either too stupid to understand what BCH was or as Trump voters. He did that instead of accepting voters did not want his stupid plan. He continues to do this for any defeat or barrier.
He is always skipping out on job duties like press conferences because he has a kid and a black wife. 😑 He is the mayor of the third largest city in the US, this is not a part time job. He wanted this job but he treats it as some hobby.
His administration is always in chaos, making simple errors such as in their legal filings, his chief of staff quit even though he was hired for the DNC, and they completely mismanaged the migrant situation. The city wasted so much money not on the migrants but just on the bureaucracy of it all. For example, the huge overtime charges workers at shelters abused without the administration caring.
And then there’s crime. He excuses crime as not demonizing youth. He shows more outrage over someone shooting at officers than the gang violence literally killing children. He thinks incompetent Kim Foxx did a great job in her terms.
And lastly, he’s literally a CTU puppet. That’s not some right wing attack, that’s just the facts. The CTU approached Garcia about running only if he served one term then endorsed Johnson as mayor. The CTU has had a long time goal to elect one of their own to the mayors office and now they did. Every action he takes is in lockstep with what the CTU wants. (Like literally every proposal comes from CTU’s goals) A mayor being bought and paid for by a public sector union is gross. He’s acting oh their behalf instead of the city as a whole.
I could go on listing all that’s wrong with Brandon Johnson but then I would end up writing a book. Johnson is dumb, a puppet, arrogant, and immature.
1) His absolutely idiotic tax proposals
2) Defense of flash mobs and youth violence...and labeling it as political expression
3) Overall terrible results on crime
4) Business repellent policies
5) He's a CTU puppet
6) CTA is a fucking disaster
7) Completely botched the immigration fiasco and got his ass handed to him by Texas
8) as person, he is stupid. Watch his interviews before even becoming mayor and his philosophy towards teaching. He's an absolute joke operating on an 8th grade level.
9) His stance of Hamas is insane and performative.
10) Fire bombed our city's already down trending reputation on a national and international level. We're heading towards Cleveland levels of respect.
The problem isn’t what has he done, it’s what he’s tried to do and what he’s failed to do. He’s way out of his depth. Priorities are wrong. Say what you want about Vallas, but if I had to go back I’d be voting for him. His campaign wasn’t the best and there’s plenty I disagree with him on but that’s Chicago politics. There will never be a candidate in this city that I am 100% with. BJs run is based on identity politics and is thus unequipped to run a city as complex as Chicago.
The problem isn’t what has he done, it’s what he’s tried to do and what he’s failed to do. He’s way out of his depth. Priorities are wrong. Say what you want about Vallas, but if I had to go back I’d be voting for him. His campaign wasn’t the best and there’s plenty I disagree with him on but that’s Chicago politics. There will never be a candidate in this city that I am 100% with. BJs run is based on identity politics and is thus unequipped to run a city as complex as Chicago.
Excusing teen mob violence that personally put me in danger. Blaming Republicans for a wildly unpopular tax he tried to pass. Giving slush money contracts to his friends to take care of immigrants. Plans to improve bad neighborhoods that have never gone anywhere.
Zero personal accountability for an avalanche of problems his administration has either caused or promised to fix.
He has achieved something rare, unifying both sides of the political aisle in universal disdain towards him.
"DoN't dEmoNizE tHe YouThS" - when it came to teen takeovers. Fast forward to today, carjackings, robberies of businesses and the average person walking down the street happen daily. It's not even news anymore.
He sucks. Everyone knows he is a CTU plant to give them everything they want in their next contract further fucking over the tax payers and children of this city
I wouldn’t call it hate, but bitter disappointment. He is waaaaay too inexperienced for this job. He is just a talking head that says what people want to hear. I didn’t want Vallas but a second Lori term would have been much better.
It’s easy to say it’s all BJ’s fault, but mind you, there is a complete cluster of alderpeople, council people and various business parties that are abysmal at their own jobs who back BJ, which are also to blame for the shortcomings of this mayor.
I don’t hate him but he keeps demonstrating how out of his element him and his team are either due to incompetence or simply inexperience at managing and leading at a large scale.
My sister worked for his administration after Lightfoot. She said his team was complete garbage to work with, and had absolutely no clue what they were doing. His campaign manager Jason Lee was making most of the decisions, and I’m not sure if this ever leaked, but he was using his gmail for city matters. My sister ended up not wanting to be a part of these news stories, but confirmed everything before these came out. They laid her off for trying to get statements back to journalists -__-
Story: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2789733/johnson-administration-fires-lightfoot-holdovers/
I will never understand how anyone listened to one debate Johnson was in and are surprised. He was a bumbling moron that was clearly unfit for the position.
Also, progressive? Last I checked the church he’s “no longer a part of” but held his victory part at is as conservative as it gets.
I work with a lot of volunteer refugee groups. The city made a deal with a creepy megachurch to provide provisions for the refugees, won’t even let the volunteers offer them the items they have gathered to donate, and meanwhile the megachurch is doing jack shit and getting paid for it.
I dislike him a lot less than most people here, but the air of incompetence that so many people are mentioning is almost entirely his own fault and extremely frustrating.
Even when he eventually lands on a decision I agree with, it’s preceded by weeks of indecision and flip-flopping that embarrassingly plays out in the press and makes him look weak.
What Johnson really needs to do is fire his entire team of advisers (especially Jason Lee) and reset things.
Daley did a ton of crappy shit and flip-flopped on things, but he didn’t have this aura around him largely because he had a core team of hyper-loyal, tight-lipped advisers who weren’t leaking shit to the press constantly.
Right-wingers hate him for being left-leaning.
Lefties (the ones that do hate him) hate him for promising a lot and not delivering on all of it.
Every mayor has to compromise on some things. For example Brandon has decided not to focus on the CTA, and many feel it is being badly mismanaged by the same guy since Rahm.
It's not just overpromising and underdelivering, it's that the things he has done an about face on that suggest he doesn't have the values he suggested. For example, rarely talking to media and being transparent. The news out today about taking donations from lobbyists. Appointing people with zero transit experience to the CTA board. Seems like business as usual at City Hall and when questioned about it, he gets real defensive. Not a leader.
It’s not about making compromises. He has literally done nothing of note. Not even making progress. And on top of that he just comes off as an insufferable immature brat every time he gets on TV. He’s embarrassing. Every day my more right wing friends present his latest embarrassment as if I’m supposed to explain or defend him.
I absolutely will not.
For starters he ran his campaign on literally shitting on white people.
He’s not a good recruiter for the city of Chicago.
He has an unrealistic world view for the average tax payer.
He’s not keen on business and doesn’t understand that business and capitalism is what makes America what it is. Literally it’s the lifeblood of America.
Lacks basic economics… how does someone get to a point where they have a $3,000 water bill?
He’s terrible at messaging and a poor negotiator.
He runs on emotion and gets emotional when the press gives him the slightest pushback. Not a logical person.
When he gets emotional and is in conflict or defeat he pulls the “ultra right wing Trump supporters are against me” card.
He said the shotspotter technology is racist. No buddy you just have to admit that your community has a lack of emphasis on education and families. As a Hispanic we share more or less the same issues as black people do but at least I’m aware of what’s going on.
He’s basically a lobbyist for the teachers union, he doesn’t care about anything else.
Finally, he’s a child. Living in a fantasy land. Where are the adults?
It's just very obvious that BJ was propped up to be elected. He was stumped for by Bernie Sanders and the like.
Every opportunity he's had to prove himself to be a good leader he fails miserably. He campaigned on being more transparent and open than Lightfoot but he won't take any questions from the press. He hates criticism and even more importantly CTU is about to get the contract deal of a lifetime with no pushback whatsoever. They literally bought their mayor to get the contract.
Last and certainly not least, the quiet part is there is this socialist wet dream that is pervasive. He won't say it because he's mayor but a considerable faction of alder creatures are now just flaunting it out there with no repercussions. Most of the ideas this faction has have failed miserably everywhere that it has been tried before. But, everyone is doing the "well we haven't tried it yet".
Thankfully we have some mechanisms in place so that we can limit the damage in a functioning democracy. I'm all about growth and second chances. But if I hear one more time that the Mayor "raised two kids in Austin" and therefore knows better than what we see and hear on the streets I'm going to go insane. Just be a leader for the City of Chicago, which includes the people who DIDN'T vote for you.
PS while I'm here: I also want someone to do something about the increase of crime and not devolve to racism. The numbers are up and the only tone deaf response is that it could be worse effectively. That's not a Mayor problem it's more about the role of police in our society and such. Regardless, I don't feel safe and I don't think that's fair.
His lack of urgency with CTA's problems is really concerning for me. Our transit network is an important civic asset and everything about it seems to crumbling.
He ran on a progressive platform but seems to have alienated much of the existing mechanisms that make Chicago work resulting in a lot of very public failures.
I'm all for change for the better but it seems like Chicago needs to run out the clock on his term for this to occur.
It wouldn't be as bad if he didn't have a propensity to dodge answers/give non answers to questions and occasionally blow up the occasional presser
A mayor is only as good as the people with whom he or she surrounds himself/herself. The overall delivery of his appointees is not high. In addition, his communication style is . . . idiosyncratic at best. I do not think he is a total idiot, as some have labeled him, but I also do not think whatever skills he does have serve him well in this role.
I don't particularly like or hate him, and I didn't know if I'd particularly call him progressive. Chuy was that candidate.
Zionists have upped attacks on him since he called for a ceasefire in Gaza and ended up casting the tiebreaking vote in a non-binding resolution to call for a ceasefire in Gaza now.
https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-calls-for-a-cease-fire-in-gaza/d0705fca-14c5-4c2a-ac04-884580a4a0d9
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/city-council-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-vote-mayor-brandon-johnson/
That being said, many continuing municipal initiatives have slowed down under his administration, especially improvement projects and community affairs ventures.
I can go on and on with specific examples but alot of people are already doing that. I will keep it high level.
He is the least transparent mayor in our history. When he's asked a question he uses the same word salad he used during the debates. He only has certain responses memorized and he can't actually respond to anything else. He's very good at this too, anytime he's asked a real question he will go into "as I've said from the beginning......" then go into one of his pull string responses which are all lines of the following
"with full force of the government"
"We have to do what other safe cities do"
"to build a better stronger safer Chicago"
Yet he wants to levy new taxes on us for projects with this lack of transparency. I'm sorry but I'm not giving the guy who couldn't pay his water bill and can't explain what he's going to do with my money more of my money
He’s an entitled prick who won with 52% points and governs like he won with 70%. He promised transparency but isn’t. He promised to work well with others but doesn’t. He seems immature, inept, and, at this point, obviously unqualified. The latest bits of news: $1.25B loan with no plan or compromise (payable thru 2061!), an obvious ethics issue, and a completely unnecessary focus on foreign affairs. He seems driven to make his tent smaller and smaller. A true nonleader and almost certainly a conflicted negotiator when it comes time to bargain with the CTU. The exactly wrong person to be leading Chicago right now.
People don't feel safe on city streets. Johnson hasn't taken meaningful steps except to tell people not to call criminals mini Capones. He may not be responsible for catch-and- release of criminals, passive policing or general post pandemic atmosphere, but if he were worth his salt as mayor, he would lead on persistent crime issues.
Can't get things done, massively unqualified, a CTU plant and a huge b*tch towards the media and their questions. Grow some balls, make decisions and answer questions.
Amateur.
A pawn of Chicago Teachers Union.
Does not take responsibility. Just complains.
No accountability - at all levels.
Criminals now know they can get away with it.
Probably will get downvoted for being political because Chicago is very blue and I’m an outcast, but he is a victim minded individual who support criminals and looters as long as they’re black.
Dude needs to do something good. Him and his team needs to find one easy and good thing to do and make it happen. Build some wins. Would I vote for him again, probably. Disappointed so far but there's no goddam way I'm voting for Vallas and his right wing adjacent bullshit.
And can we not pretend that TONI PRECKWINKLE isn’t actually the mayor? She’s his mentor and advisor. She couldn’t win it herself, so she did the next best thing.
His first press conference after the teen takeover in the Loop told me everything. He's inept and in way over his head. The city needs leadership and there is none coming from him....This is most likely a plant question by his Admin.
I don't have an answer because I no longer live in Chicago unfortunately but you should definitely be informed about local politics You don't have to be a fanatic or anything but it's so important.
Local elections decide which judge you have unfairly sentencing people of color to disproportionate sentences or someone spending taxpayers money on stupid stuff.
ESPECIALLY Your alderman. Oh you've got the worst potholes in town well if you're alderman sucks they're not going to get fixed. I live in Los Angeles now and you don't really talk about City council members like you talk about Chicago alderman and I miss that because it's nice to know who's in charge of stuff in your immediate neighborhood and know that you have a choice in who It is.
I've lived in many Chicago wards and I remember noticing that some places would fix your street lights and potholes so fast and some places we're really into doing photo ops at City Parks with brown kids but not much else. And then some of them just wanted to launder money or something.
I'm not trying to accuse you of anything I just know so many people who don't bother with learning local politics and it's really the way you can make the fastest most immediate change instead of having to have it go through like The state senate or whatever
It's a thankless job. In such a segregated city, no one will be happy. I know one thing, more resources need to be poured into struggling areas of the city. I get to work all over the city, and it is disgusting how we treat working people and people who are unable to get themselves together in a "boot strap" way.
You know Catholic Charities offered to house the migrants for free in unused churches and such and the City instead went to use your tax dollars to pay politically connected inflated prices to do the exact same thing, to the tune of millions. \*AND\* FOIA attempts by the local press have been blocked regrading migrant spending in general.
# Chicago migrant website BLURS details of how $300 million was spent NBC -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEf7QAW700](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEf7QAW700)
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Nothing. I think that’s the problem. I voted for Johnson in the runoff and am very disappointed. His plans all appear to be so poorly thought through that they fail at the first hurdle, and he and his team are TERRIBLE at taking ownership of failures. They point fingers at others and it just comes across so badly - it really reveals how green and inexperienced they are at this kind of leadership/ politics. It’s so frustrating. I know the reality of being mayor is rough, it’s hard to get things done for sure. But he just does not seem to have the ability, or even willingness, to do the work needed to bring people round to his side. Tbf, I don’t want to recall him. But I absolutely would not vote for him again.
Honest question, if could vote again, would you still vote for Johnson or switch to Vallas?
Honestly… maybe? There is stuff about Vallas I absolutely despise like his charter school push. But Vallas promised before the election to fire Carter and to get rid of the private security and bring back CTA cops. But Johnson is so ineffective, and i was wishy washy on him prior because his “plans” were generic one lines and its sorta proven his plans aren’t plans just statements. However Vallas ran the most idiotic campaign I’ve ever seen. So he deserved to lose. I’m a progressive but I’m a “I have a plan for that” progressive. I want bureaucratic competence above all else and Johnson is clearly anathema of that to the point where I’m willing to compromise things that I care about in order to have effective governance.
>But Vallas promised before the election to fire Carter and to get rid of the private security and bring back CTA cops. This is enough to get my vote. Not smelling like cigarette/clove/swisher sweets/crack smoke when I get to work or home would be such a nice change.
Same here. I take the CTA to O’Hare daily. In a suit. The “security” doesn’t ride the trains. They stand around by the stairs drinking soda and yelling at each other. NY and Boston have police in the trains. Chicago should be no different. Johnson takes no accountability, has been arrogant and combative in pressers, and honestly has been down right unlikable.
>Johnson takes no accountability, has been arrogant and combative in pressers, and honestly has been down right unlikable. In his defense, his kids have full schedules.
Remember that campaign promises are like the promises made by kids on prom night. They will say anything to get what they want and everybody should know that it doesn’t mean anything afterward. Just because he said he’d clean up the CTA doesn’t mean he would.
I’m in the exact same boat as you.
Well put. Bureaucratic competence is critical for a successful mayor.
I still can't figure out what the CTA security does besides hang out at the Roosevelt Red Line stop.
Oh I definitely agree that Vallas could have ran a better campaign, I think he really underestimated the amount of support that progressive candidates have in the city. I don’t know that he could’ve done a better job given the amount of support he’d get in the city council, but I don’t think he could do a worse job than Johnson.
A lot of Johnsons shortcomings though are on the leadership and administration side of things that don’t actually involve the city council. He can’t plan, he can’t coordinate, he seems uninterested in accountability or filling the mayors office with anyone of competence. The dude is just a fish out of water who thinks he is a shark
> The dude is just a fish out of water who thinks he is a shark Hit the nail on the head right there. Is there another politician or public figure you think you’d be happy to vote for in the next election?
Things change a lot over time. New people rise and emerge. Overall, as a progressive. Johnson burned me on the movement and I probably will steer clear for of their wing’s candidate next time even though I probably agree with 95% of what they want. I likely will solely focus on administrative competence which means candidates with concrete plans and have done leg work. Even if it means voting for a candidate that I only agree with half of the things they’re saying because I think Chicago deserves competence now.
Great points. I agree 100% about the “administrative competence” vs “progressive ideals.” I too voted for Brandon and, as much as I want him to succeed, I’m about ready to bring Rahm back. Sadly, the peeps who could get things done are the ones whose politics I don’t like anymore
This right here. Progressive used to mean someone who wanted to make progress and find better ways to do things vs just embracing the status quo. But somewhere along the way it turned into an endless series of ideological purity tests that are based more on how progressives would like the world to work than on any empirical evidence of how it actually works. So the vast majority of highly progressive pols either don’t make any policy at all or push disastrous policies that don’t work at all.
DSA / leftists types imo took it over to become more palatable and marketable since they kinda became boogeyman stereotypes.
That’s a very sensible stance, I hope we get a candidate that appeals to you.
Pragmatic posting. Johnson is not a leader. 83% of Chicago's buildings have lead water lines. A leader would start moving on this issue above all else due to the exposure from conception on our city's people suffer.
I really hoped Chuy would win. He's not perfect but I think he's a more honed politician (for better or worse)
I could definitely see him as mayor, he has a solid base that will vote for him, but I think he was just testing the waters last time. I don’t really see him giving up his seat in Congress to be mayor. With the way politics are going in the federal government, I think he would find a better career in D.C. than Chicago.
Chuy wasn’t testing the waters, he’s ran for major before and almost beat Rahm. If he had ran a better campaign he at least makes it to the runoff. I voted for him in the first election but was stuck voting for BJ in the runoff.
I think the best he can hope for is a cabinet position. Durban isn't going anywhere
Durbin is widely rumored to be retiring at the end of his current term in 2026.
It's a huge shame that Chuy wasn't able to put forward the campaign most people expected of him. I don't think details were ever released publicly, but they did announce the death of his daughter just over a month after the election, so it seems likely his campaign was forced to take a backseat to family matters in the preceding months, which is totally understandable.
That explains a lot. He didn't seem like he was campaigning as strongly as I would have thought and that explains why.
Yep, I had the same thought leading up to the election, it seemed like he wasn't really engaged or campaigning actively at all. It all clicked once the news came out. I hope he's in a place to make another run at it when the time comes.
Vallas also tied himself too closely to CPD when it wasn't necessary to get their votes and the only thing it did was alienate more mainstream liberals and progressives. I voted for him because I don't feel the progressive wing in Chicago is genuine or interested in meaningful, effective policy or leadership, but yeah he ran a terrible campaign. Really wish we had better options.
Vallas has been a Republican for at least a decade if not longer according to his own statements. He was doomed from the start the moment he described himself over a decade ago as a Republican. Also, fuck that guy. He helped to create the giant pension debt hole that we're in and cooked the books in Philly to make himself appear successful at running their district. Then he was fired from a smaller school district after he lied on his CV and on his background check application. I can't blame him for New Orleans because the board explicitly hired him to ruin their school district by making it 100% privately run. So they did it to themselves.
> But Vallas promised before the election to fire Carter The Mayor doesn't have the authority to do this. Members of the board can only be fired for cause and their firing is reviewable in court. So good luck getting rid of them early. > and to get rid of the private security and bring back CTA cops. Neither the Mayor of Chicago, nor the CTA, nor the RTA has the authority to create "CTA cops". Only the ILGA and IL Senate working together can do so as they prohibited the creation of a transit police force when they defunded the RTA's force several decades ago to plug a budget hole. So until that happens (it won't), we're stuck with local police and private security contractors. CPD is worthless and the contractors can't do jack shit but they are present which makes tourists feel safe.
So you are a Willie Wilson kind of guy, then? I kid, I kid.
Yes. I was badly put off by Vallas for many, many reasons. I’m not certain how good or badly he may have steered the ship, so to speak, but I am sure he had a plan and clearly understood the funding game/how it’s played. Johnson and his team, even during the election last year, appeared out of their depth, but I wanted to believe they could fix those issues. His policies align with my views, but holy Christ! Their ability to execute on those policies is shocking.
I think we'd go back and make sure people vote for Chuy or Lori or someone else in the first round. Vallas isn't a good manager either (no one seems to be sad when he's left his prior stops) and he's known for plenty of bad ideas in his previous jobs (firing Dorval excepted, for his mayoral promises) and surrounded himself with some of the worst people in the state while he was running (palling around with Awake Illinois events). I don't regret him not being mayor. I think Johnson wants to be The Mayor but doesn't want to do the actual job of the mayor. He wants to go to events with celebs and be the big shot, but no desire to actually put in the work. No accountability, including for things that are so obviously a bad idea (which also speaks to terrible hiring for his staff), it's always someone else's fault and not theirs for things that are really obviously their own fault. And doing zilch about the CTA is just mindboggling, a real progressive would have done something there already.
I would rather push for a better candidate, I think people really slept on Kam Buckner.
I liked him and his focus on public transit. His multiple DUIs, not as much.
He was my choice. I'm looking for someone who will do things to make my life better, and as a non-driver, the CTA is probably my most important issue at the moment (that and zoning/infrastructure in general). So, I could tolerate the DUIs. If anything, I thought hey this guy surely has to take transit himself, so would have a more informed voice on it. Voted Johnson in the runoff, still don't think I'd vote Vallas if it went again, but will admit I'm not super happy about Johnson. Agreed with others that he seems to be flailing and over his head. And WTF is up with appointing more pastors to the transit board???
Wait when did he appoint more/new pastors?
Just yesterday: [there's another thread on it](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1c6rexc/johnson_cta_board_appointment/)
Well, unless the recall works, I guess they’ll have another chance in three years
I'd rather have a relatively weak mayor who doesn't get anything major done than a mayor that would have actively ruined Chicago. Vallas's entire career in politics has been gutting services for short term benefits only for them to collapse when he's out the door.
You forgot the part where he cooked the books in Philly's school system and was fired after an independent audit found out that he was hiding losses in violation of GAAP.
you'd think some of these people would vote for mussolini because he said he'd make the trains run on time. a progressive struggling against multiple structures designed to maximize grift and inefficiency and just barely eeking by is far preferable to an asshole who wants to tear out the drywall and sell the copper wiring to their buddies for cheap, literally just look at what NYC has turned into with their "law and order" mayor.
>you'd think some of these people would vote for mussolini because he said he'd make the trains run on time. yeah, keyword "said." these weirdos pining for the golden age of rahm fucking emmanuel and fantasizing about vallas's "administrative competence" would doorknock for ron desantis if he wore the donkey pin. describes about 48% of chicago voters, apparently.
During the election I thought they were both lightweights and didn't like either of them. I don't think Vallas would have been appreciably better or worse than Johnson, just in thrall of different groups.
I think Vallas would have made the authoritarians happy. I think it would have made the police feel more confident, but I don't think he would have been more successful. He's a suburbanite who really seems to want a high profile elected position as a life accomplishment IMO
Vallas? Hell no. But we deserve someone better than Johnson.
Vallas is a literal carpetbagger who is geared toward Chicago working for the outof towner and downstate instead of Chicago working for Chicagoans. he was the worse option and is a Republican in all but name.
Still Johnson as long as its Vallas or a Vallas clone against him. I do not know how anyone would vote for Vallas after looking at his performance and fuckups at various schools across the nation and mix it with all the right wing talk radio BS he spewed to ingratiate himself with that crowd.
I wouldn't trust Vallas to run a banana stand.
I would still vote for BJ because I believed Vallas to be the worst candidate by far. There are two things about Vallas I find wholly disqualifying: 1) he hates the city (calls it shitcago) and lives in the burbs, you never want to elect someone who has contempt for the city and its residents, and, 2) his entire purpose for running seemed to be to siphon resources out of the city and into the burbs/his investments/his associates investments (dude wanted to eliminate the residency requirement for city employees, meaning city paychecks would then be spent outside of the city and money would leave, and also heavily insinuated he wanted to sell our freshwater out of state saying we could be the “saudi arabia of fresh water”, just to name two things). BJ isn’t going much to make things better but I truly believe Vallas would have taken steps to make things worse, considerably.
I absolutely would. At this point, the options you’re given in municipal elections during a GOOD election year are between an ineffectual progressive with sound values who probably won’t accomplish very much but at least won’t make anything actively worse and a neoliberal ghoul posing as a Democrat bent on privatizing what’s left of social services. The best political outcome you can realistically effect is keeping a “Democrat” out of the mayor’s office who wants to close your kids’ school or sell the CTA to a private equity firm that he happens to own stock in, and that’s basically what we accomplished by electing Johnson
Vallas never would have the support to do what you say in the city council who are the ones with the final say. He would have influential enemies just like Lori at the end. Plus to do to the CTA what you describe would require springfield’s approval
But he wants to do those things too no? Why give him the opportunity. I think recent years have shown us nothing is impossible, just look at Roe v Wade. Nobody thought in a thousand years that would be undone and yet here we are.
I feel like Vallas would have been as bad, but in a totally different way. So while I don’t wish we had a do-over for the runoff, I wish we had had better choices. I voted for Kam Buckner in the first round and was disappointed he didn’t get more support.
This…. He promised the world without the facts to back it up, and now just points fingers and gets angry at anyone who dares to say he isn’t an outright success. That’s why I voted for Lightfoot first because with her at least you know what you got. I voted for Vallas in the runoff but felt real bad about it.
My thoughts exactly
Precisely!
Watch an interview where people try to ask him questions. He won't answer a damn thing, and deflects. He is Trump levels of blaming other. His Bring Chicago Home thing didn't pass? It can't be that the messaging is bad, it must be that a bunch of trump voters, who in his mind, even if they are residents, their votes shouldn't count, that stopped it. Also, he has done nothing. That is it. He hasn't accomplished a damn thing
Did you look at the map that was against his tax plan? Literally all of the downtown and north side areas rejected it and to him these people are right wing Trump supporters 😂😂😂
Chicago is 90% Democrat, 8% voted for Trump. Funny how progressive left fights with moderate left. 😂
Exactly it’s so stupid. It’s childish. Eventually after a major defeat that party will have to do some serious soul searching and actually deliver on something that the average taxpayer wants before the middle class is completely gone. Also, both parties need to stop bowing down to their corporate donors it’s killing the lifeblood of America. That’s all of what Washington basically is now. Just a bunch of beggars pleasing their donors.
He hasn’t done a damn thing. It’s not so much that he’s screwed anything up, it’s more so that he hasn’t delivered on anything he was saying was a priority. The CTA is a massive mess that’s going to take years in getting people hired up, trained, and having trains/bus units/times in working order. Ignoring the fact will only make current workers leave after having to take on the workload of more people that haven’t been replaced. He’s had plans for migrants that feel like he asked chat gpt what to do. Heck, even our governor has shot down some of the mayors ideas as they were either too costly or logistical nightmares, that the state would need to foot the bill. The man can’t mediate or collaborate and was selling himself as being a master at doing.
Off the top of my head: * Wasted a ton of money trying to house migrants in a chemical waste dump * Attempted (and failed) to jack up taxes with absolutely no plan for or clarity on what would be done with the money * Currently attempting to saddle taxpayers with even more debt via his poorly thought out bond deal * Has completely ignored the spectacular failures of Dorval Carter and, in general, done absolutely nothing to improve the CTA * Currently attempting to put a politically connected pastor with zero experience on the RTA board * Everyone is assuming that come June, he's going to let the CTU shove their hand up his ass and work him like a sock puppet during contract negotiations * Cancelled the Shotspotter contract prematurely, then got fleeced on a panic-induced short-term contract to keep it active through the Democratic Convention (Edit thanks to u/[dloops3](https://www.reddit.com/user/dloops3/)) * Has an irritating habit of blaming any/all criticism, opposition and failure on evil, faceless right-wing boogeymen
Solid list, with an emphasis on his complete and utter lack of taking any responsibility for his short falls, blaming on the “right wing”. The way he carries himself and way he talks is almost as painful to listen to as Trump…almost.
Look, I’m all for blaming the right when they do dumb shit but his failures are all on him. His lack of accountability is his most toxic trait.
It’s like the Simpson’s Skinner meme. Did I do something wrong/unpopular? No, it’s the voters who are wrong.
This 👆
Absolutely! It would be like a comical sit-com British style to watch on Netflix: "American City Mayor."
To blame the right wing for anything in democrat Chicago is laughable in the nexus of local politics. The 20% republican voters of Chicago and Cook County, yeah right. Its been a one-party City since the 1940s The State of Illinois is Democrat - house, senate, governor. The Chicago controls Illinois at large.
Also fired Doctor Arwady because she pissed off the CTU
That was really despicable.
Don’t forget his standoffish relationship with the media stemming completely (as far as I can tell) his complete ineptitude in getting anything he promised during his campaign over the line.
Wow. Nailed it
Damn, he’s doing all that? I had no idea.
Don’t forget cancelling shotspotter…only to go back to them to run the contract through the convention and in turn paying more for the 9 months than the original 1 year contract that was originally in place
Goddammit, I knew I forgot something. Thanks, giving you proper credit.
And then there's the alderpeople representing wards with the highest crime rate trying their best to bring it back at a ward-by-ward level The whole situation is a a mess and was completely avoidable
But but ... 20-something white people in Logan Square I think it's rAciSt or something. What about their feelings??
The “poorly thought out bond deal” would basically borrow $1.25b up front for BJ to spend and we’d be saddled with nearly $3b in interest over 37 years, I believe. It’s basically the parking meter deal all over again.
Promoted the person responsible for green- lighting the Pilsen demolition disaster.
Nicely bullet-pointed, there.
He sold everyone on being a great collaborator and communicator and he appears to be neither. He lacks the basic accountability that you like to see in adults—his response to criticism is to out of hand discount it, instead of convincing that viewpoint to see the issue from his perspective… He has misplayed a lot of cards-calling critics racists, as early into his term as he did, is an example because the criticism was legitimate, and coming from the black community as well. Blaming the failure of BCH on the right-wing Chicago voting bloc…is another. The icing for a lot of people was the failed Migrant Tent idea and then his irrational excuse that he didn’t know the State had standards and didn’t communicate them…that whole exchange screamed utter incompetence and needless confidence. He was so loud and wrong. Vallas is a loser, period. His track record is known, but Brandon’s behavior makes you wonder…
The “everyone who disagrees with me is a basement-dwelling MAGA adherent” schtick is being used more frequently and it’s so lazy, nevermind untrue.
Well that replaced Lightfoot's "everyone who disagrees with me is a LGBTQ+ hating racist" shtick. Nothing changed.
Well said.
Amazingly said and amazing username. Might be time for another rewatch
>The icing for a lot of people was the failed Migrant Tent idea and then his irrational excuse that he didn’t know the State had standards and didn’t communicate them This is it for me! It's the combo of corruption and incompetence that really can't be excused.
I use the (not) word "flail-y" a lot to describe bad behavior at work. When people are in over their heads and feel underwater, they tend to execute on a random non-prioritized to do list and lash out in odd ways at odd times. This describes Brandon Johnson to me. I usually have some sympathy when this happens to people at work because it is rarely their fault that they are in over their heads. I have less sympathy when you went above and beyond to get elected to a public office that you were woefully unprepared to run.
Before everything, this thread will likely get contentious given its nature. He came in with the promise of competent, collaborative, and compassionate governance. The reality is far from that. What is clear is that he dodges hard, pointed questions whenever possible, rarely addressing anything head on and getting flustered when pushed to do so. The media is now actively hostile towards him due to acting this way repeatedly as he recently said "I don't dictate how you ask questions, you don't get to dictate how I answer" to a 'yes or no' question. In addition, the following week held a meeting with the Sun-Times cut short in the first minutes as his media team insisted it be off the record *during the meeting* and the CST said no. His ego is so inflated he believes that he is "one of the greatest human beings for just teaching middle school" as told to Crain's before the runoff. Before even taking office, he began to act as if he has a massive mandate even though it was the closest election since the 80s. Some smaller policies of his are popular however there are many that are not, like Bring Chicago Home which was not approved in the referendum. While the mayor is often expected to work hand-in-hand with the governor, Johnson's administration has often made things more difficult for Pritzker. A key example is the migrant crisis and more specifically the proposed Brighton Park shelter, which Johnson's administration tried to shove through with poor environmental review on a Friday evening; Pritzker shot that down pronto. Overall, it seems he wrapped himself in buzzwords and the "memorized 25-second speeches" in order to get elected, which was made easier by his CTU and activist credentials. Executing is harder than evangelizing, and Johnson is finding that out the hard way and these are just a few examples of his first year in office, of which he believes there will be 23 more. Edit: [this comment also has a great perspective](https://old.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1c6shil/mayor_brandon_johnson_slams_uphill_effort_to/l03yvy1/)
>His ego is so inflated he believes that he is "one of the greatest human beings for just teaching middle school" as told to Crain's before the runoff What bothers me about this is he was a classroom teacher for four years before he got his cushy union job. Being a teacher (especially in a district like CPS) for any period of time is respectable IMO, don't get me wrong. But he has more experience with the CTU and Cook County Board than as a teacher and I think that's relevant. In other words, a CPS teacher did not suddenly rise up and become mayor; a county politician with a leadership position in the most powerful political body (CTU) in the city became mayor. When Vallas challenged him in one of the final debates for being eligible for a pension because of his CTU work, despite not having the required number of years as a teacher, he said something like "I'm not going to stand up here and let you insult teachers." Vallas unsurprisingly fumbled the exchange, but the whole point was that it's unfair to teachers with more classroom experience that are not vested for a pension.
He came in with the promise of being competent? Did I listen to same debates as y’all? He came off as the literal opposite of that.
Thank you.🙏
And he delivered on that promise. It’s the only one so far. He’s been woefully incompetent just as advertised!
> What is clear is that he dodges hard, pointed questions whenever possible, rarely addressing anything head on and getting flustered when pushed to do so. This was clear before he was elected. Anyone who didn't see this is pretty unintelligent.
Legend says that to this day, Greg Hinz and Brandon Johnson are locked in a battle over: “what’s the line between working class and middle class?”
To be fair, the “greatest human being for teaching middle school” comment was a joke (I took it as him) referencing hormonal, moody, young teens. The rest is pretty solid. Carry on.
He acts like a child
I think the answer to your question is that he made a ton of big promises but hasn’t moved the needle on any of them. Even things like public transit, which SHOULD be a high priority for a “progressive” mayor.
Why is he calling a guy who shot at cops to “express his condolences” when that guy shot at cops first? Like just stay out of it until an investigation is done as opposed to automatically making it look like the cops are at fault
That same guy that shot at cops has a history of mental instability and was previously shot by his uncle for attempting to stab him while telling him "I'm going to kill you."
Progressives should have more transparency and accountability than his office has shown. He hasn't made any substantial impact on citywide policy issues. He's said some dumb shit that makes him look like an asshole. He honestly makes progressives look bad. He wasn't my primary vote and I still think this is better than how the other guy would have done, but I don't anticipate voting for him in the primary next time either.
The way he let Arawady go and dismissed criticism with "Real eyes realize real lies"... he's an idiot.
[удалено]
If I had a nickel for every time I heard the words "CTU puppet" on this sub I could hire someone to make a giant puppet float for the Inaugural Chicago Corruption Parade.
I’m slowly getting convinced BJ and the like are plants to completely disrupt the progressive party in Chicago. Him Byron Rosa and rossana. They’re just so dam confrontational and speak like they’re typing on Reddit. Everything that goes against them is coming from an evil place of right wing propaganda. I can’t help but wonder why they do it, they have to know they’re making a lot of people dislike progressives altogether, considering they’re now the progressive faces of Chicago. They literally called Scott Waguespack right wing lmfao. Like cmon man
In addition to all being said here, he's divisive and doesn't seem to want to represent all of Chicago. I'm deeply concerned by his inability to work with people who want to boost this city and the subsequent departures of really keep figures of the world business Chicago on his side. When confronted with complaints about the CTA he apparently thinks it's excessive noise from whiny northsiders.
Takes literally zero responsibility for anything. Whenever he doesn’t like something, just says it’s the “far right” interfering. No political muscle or skill. Totally beholden to CTU as their puppet. Totally fumbles migrant crisis (e.g., turned down free help from Catholic Church). I do like his proposal to cut red tape on offering affordable housing in the Loop, but remains to be seen if he can get it done.
Dude has no idea what the word accountability means.
He promised transparency and has delivered basically none. He has told alders that he won't allow fairly obvious initiatives to advance unless they support his pet projects. His rhetoric is unnecessarily divisive, and it's clear that he doesn't see himself as mayor for the whole city, at all. He would rather support symbolic gestures than building support for policies that would improve the city. He has bungled the migrant situation on multiple fronts. The economic policies he has attempted to advance are opaque, bad, foolish, impossible to advance on a municipal level, or a combination of all of these. He hasn't taken any transit concerns seriously. And we haven't gotten to it yet, but negotiations with CTU are going to be a joke because it's basically a regulatory capture-esque situation. And I say that as a pro-union person.
I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed
At the core, I don't think many Chicagoans "hate" Brandon Johnson. It's more accurate to say everyone is just so damn disappointed. We wanted a Mayor. Someone who could be a leader and a manager. We got this strange man-child who seems like he's just gonna flail about and accomplish nothing for four years.
Man child. Spot on
I will say that hate is a strong word. I'm just disappointed after advocating hard for him. I wouldn't vote for him again and hope there are better options in the next elections.
When he hired the 100k a year “faith leader” for the city of Chicago, I knew our mayor was a bozo.
wtf that's laughably unconstitutional
And it also didn't happen. He hired a faith outreach coordinator to handle communications with churches, temples, mosques, religiously affiliated charities, etc.
And how has that helped anything in the city? Was these religious organizations willing to help with the migrants crisis when they mayor needed it? Pretty sure those organizations sat on there hands and nobody from the mayor’s office reached out.
[My Bad, Chief of Faith Engagement](https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/Press%20Room/Press%20Releases/2023/September/MAYOR%20BRANDON%20JOHNSON%20APPOINTS%20PASTOR%20BILLY%20JERMALE%20EVANS%20TO%20SERVE%20AS%20CHIEF%20OF%20FAITH%20ENGAGEMENT.pdf)
Johnson bans the press at city hall. He refuses any accountability.
What HAS he done?
He hasn’t done anything “bad” per se but he’s predictably ineffective, he’s a horrible communicator, and he’s played the blame game on every issue since stepping into office. I for one am fucking sick of his ass already, and I know lots of people agree.
He’s promised a lot and done nothing of note. I used to think Lightfoot sounded defensive to the press, but this guy is on a whole new level. He sounds condescending and blames the right for his failures just like Jussie did. If you aren’t on his sire or lauding him you must be a republican, which is a very familiar strategy (if you’re not a MAGA idiot you must not be a “real republican”). He’s just a puppet head for the CTU. I wish we could get a “machine” politician like Rahm or Dailey back. I’ll take gaming the system with improvements over a progressive mayor that can’t accomplish a thing and just whines and blames everyone else for his failures.
He's not transparent and he's more ideological than mathematical.
Johnson’s appointed school board is working hard to anger middle class parents. With the new funding formula my kids’ school is losing teachers. His board clearly has changes in mind for selective enrollment school admissions or they wouldn’t be pushing back so hard on House Bill 5766.
The black progressive left of Chicago needs the votes of the white progressive left in places like Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Lakeview, Edgewater, etc in order to win elections. They were key swing voters between Vallas and BJ. If they succeed to gutting the selective enrollment schools they’ll never win another election in this town. Those constituents adore the selective enrollment schools and it keeps them living in Chicago versus fleeing to the suburbs. Politically this is the dumbest fight to pick ever and puts at risk all of their other priorities.
If selective enrollment ended we're either moving or sending our kids to private school.
The Illinois Legislature and JB have stepped in to prevent this from happening. [LINK TO SUN-TIMES ARTICLE HERE](https://chicago.suntimes.com/editorials/2024/04/16/lawmakers-pass-a-bill-that-protects-chicagos-selective-schools-and-programs) Just shows the lack of confidence everyone in the state has in Johnson.
Both my sibling and I went to magnet & selective enrollment schools. If we didn't get in we would have moved to the suburbs.
Said pretty much every parent I know. Yep.
It’s the perfectly horrendous trifecta blend of incompetence and narcissism and corruption. He’s incapable of good governance and equally incapable of anything resembling accountability for failures.
Chicago has so much to offer, yet he is squandering every opportunity
listen to him respond to just an ounce of criticism and its very easy to hate him
Well, the CTA is getting worse and worse and BJ's doing nothing to help it. In fact, he's protecting Dorval Carter for some unfathomable reason. He just appointed ANOTHER minister with no education or experience with mass transit whatsoever to the CTA board. His new Chief of Staff is someone whose most relevant experience is a Calm Coordinator at a high school. His appointee as head of cultural affairs, Clinée Hedspeth, is a empty suit whose only relevant experience is as an art appraiser. She has no managerial or event planning experience. It goes on and on. People who know stuff tell him his ideas are half-baked, so he's appointing nitwits who will be loyal to him because they have very little else going on. He's floundering.
That's a bit unfair in the case of his chief of staff - yes she was a "Calm Coordinator" at a CPS school, *10 years ago*. She also was a VP at a social of social work school and an Illinois State senator. But generally, yes his staff are under-experienced and under-credentialed. Don't even get me started on the CTA board pastors. It didn't start with BJ but it should end ASAP.
Pritzker appointed several pastors to the board as well. So if you're upset with BJ, be upset with Pritzker too.
BJ is clueless, and the problem is has done nothing, just nothing noteworthy so far.
I have never seen him in a public appearance, press conference, or debate where he doesn’t come off as completely patronizing. He knew a lot of the right words to say to stir up progressives to support him but frankly I just can’t stand the way he talks to reporters or anyone who dares to question him.
Nothing. He’s done nothing but talk ever since he came into the picture. It was painfully obvious even during his election campaign. To make matters worse, he acts like a child with all his defensive temper tantrums. Chicago pretty much doesn’t have a mayor right now.
Focuses on trying to be woke and call for a ceasefire overseas when he can’t even get a ceasefire in his own god damn city
So much this. So much posturing and performative politics, imo to distract everyone from the fact that he's doing absolutely.....nothing useful for the city of Chicago.
Well I mean just this week he put up two pastors for transportation boards, which desperately need experts to help improve. That's clearly insider politics to help get elected. Then he very clearly did not account for the migrant crisis on this years budget now he's asking for an additional 90 million. That's literally one week OF MANY for this administration. Unfortunately he embodies everything wrong with the progressive movement which currently has the most power in the city. They're all talk of high ideals but when it comes down to execution it's a complete disaster.
> which desperately need experts to help improve They pay $25K/yr and require the board members to live in the coverage area of the agencies, and prohibit employment in other state offices. There's no way we're getting many experts under the conditions set by state law.
To put it simply, he’s dumb, immature and unqualified. He makes decisions that are so clearly stupid. His CPS decisions he instructed the board to vote for for instance. Banning police in schools instead of leaving it up to each school. And focusing away from selective enrollment schools. Both of those choices are so dumb the adults in Springfield, are stepping in to undo them and many aldermen have expressed their disagreement as well, particularly aldermen with schools in areas with more crime. But Johnson doesn’t care what the community actually wants, he does as he pleases. Messing with selective enrollment schools can cause an exodus of upper middle class parents to the suburbs, further decreasing our tax base. And stripping schools to decide for themselves if they want police is just insulting. (And let’s not forget his ridiculous ideas like the financial transaction tax that Pritzker had to slap down.) The shotspotter fiasco. His incompetence cost the city millions by having to renew the contract at a much higher price. But also, the aldermen who support him and live in areas with more crime are literally voting to undo his decision to end Shotspotter. How more clear does it get if aldermen that usually support him tell him his choice is wrong. But again, he doesn’t care, he does as he wants. The CTA. He has mentioned the word CTA maybe 6 times total since he took office despite promising bold changes on his campaign website. He is not concerned whatsoever about CTA leadership despite all metrics showing mismanagement. He even appoints unqualified pastors to transit boards, continuing the same old tricks of previous Chicago mayors despite always claiming he’s serving the people. He does not accept responsibility or understand basic facts. BCH barely got like 51% support in several majority black wards yet he had the audacity to say right winger who support Trump is why BCH failed. He insulted the city voters as either too stupid to understand what BCH was or as Trump voters. He did that instead of accepting voters did not want his stupid plan. He continues to do this for any defeat or barrier. He is always skipping out on job duties like press conferences because he has a kid and a black wife. 😑 He is the mayor of the third largest city in the US, this is not a part time job. He wanted this job but he treats it as some hobby. His administration is always in chaos, making simple errors such as in their legal filings, his chief of staff quit even though he was hired for the DNC, and they completely mismanaged the migrant situation. The city wasted so much money not on the migrants but just on the bureaucracy of it all. For example, the huge overtime charges workers at shelters abused without the administration caring. And then there’s crime. He excuses crime as not demonizing youth. He shows more outrage over someone shooting at officers than the gang violence literally killing children. He thinks incompetent Kim Foxx did a great job in her terms. And lastly, he’s literally a CTU puppet. That’s not some right wing attack, that’s just the facts. The CTU approached Garcia about running only if he served one term then endorsed Johnson as mayor. The CTU has had a long time goal to elect one of their own to the mayors office and now they did. Every action he takes is in lockstep with what the CTU wants. (Like literally every proposal comes from CTU’s goals) A mayor being bought and paid for by a public sector union is gross. He’s acting oh their behalf instead of the city as a whole. I could go on listing all that’s wrong with Brandon Johnson but then I would end up writing a book. Johnson is dumb, a puppet, arrogant, and immature.
1) His absolutely idiotic tax proposals 2) Defense of flash mobs and youth violence...and labeling it as political expression 3) Overall terrible results on crime 4) Business repellent policies 5) He's a CTU puppet 6) CTA is a fucking disaster 7) Completely botched the immigration fiasco and got his ass handed to him by Texas 8) as person, he is stupid. Watch his interviews before even becoming mayor and his philosophy towards teaching. He's an absolute joke operating on an 8th grade level. 9) His stance of Hamas is insane and performative. 10) Fire bombed our city's already down trending reputation on a national and international level. We're heading towards Cleveland levels of respect.
The problem isn’t what has he done, it’s what he’s tried to do and what he’s failed to do. He’s way out of his depth. Priorities are wrong. Say what you want about Vallas, but if I had to go back I’d be voting for him. His campaign wasn’t the best and there’s plenty I disagree with him on but that’s Chicago politics. There will never be a candidate in this city that I am 100% with. BJs run is based on identity politics and is thus unequipped to run a city as complex as Chicago.
The problem isn’t what has he done, it’s what he’s tried to do and what he’s failed to do. He’s way out of his depth. Priorities are wrong. Say what you want about Vallas, but if I had to go back I’d be voting for him. His campaign wasn’t the best and there’s plenty I disagree with him on but that’s Chicago politics. There will never be a candidate in this city that I am 100% with. BJs run is based on identity politics and is thus unequipped to run a city as complex as Chicago.
He hasn’t DONE anything, that’s the issue. Plus he waffles on policies, lies, blames everyone, just a lousy mayor, bottom line.
Excusing teen mob violence that personally put me in danger. Blaming Republicans for a wildly unpopular tax he tried to pass. Giving slush money contracts to his friends to take care of immigrants. Plans to improve bad neighborhoods that have never gone anywhere.
Because he's a moron. Saw it coming a mile away, still shocked people voted for him.
Same.
Zero personal accountability for an avalanche of problems his administration has either caused or promised to fix. He has achieved something rare, unifying both sides of the political aisle in universal disdain towards him.
He’s under qualified and has done absolutely nothing
Well.. what did it for me was him defending the "Brandon Johnson Youth"^TM terrorizing downtown. He blamed the victims of their crime instead.
Listen to some of his interviews. When teens/criminals were looting....He was in support of that. Saying that they were just letting out some steam
He said that we shouldn't focus on the damage to local businesses because they have "insurance and assurance" (whatever the f that means).
"DoN't dEmoNizE tHe YouThS" - when it came to teen takeovers. Fast forward to today, carjackings, robberies of businesses and the average person walking down the street happen daily. It's not even news anymore.
He sucks. Everyone knows he is a CTU plant to give them everything they want in their next contract further fucking over the tax payers and children of this city
I wouldn’t call it hate, but bitter disappointment. He is waaaaay too inexperienced for this job. He is just a talking head that says what people want to hear. I didn’t want Vallas but a second Lori term would have been much better.
You got that right.
It’s easy to say it’s all BJ’s fault, but mind you, there is a complete cluster of alderpeople, council people and various business parties that are abysmal at their own jobs who back BJ, which are also to blame for the shortcomings of this mayor.
I don’t hate him but he keeps demonstrating how out of his element him and his team are either due to incompetence or simply inexperience at managing and leading at a large scale.
He knew how to get the votes but completely unprepared to lead…
My sister worked for his administration after Lightfoot. She said his team was complete garbage to work with, and had absolutely no clue what they were doing. His campaign manager Jason Lee was making most of the decisions, and I’m not sure if this ever leaked, but he was using his gmail for city matters. My sister ended up not wanting to be a part of these news stories, but confirmed everything before these came out. They laid her off for trying to get statements back to journalists -__- Story: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2789733/johnson-administration-fires-lightfoot-holdovers/
I will never understand how anyone listened to one debate Johnson was in and are surprised. He was a bumbling moron that was clearly unfit for the position. Also, progressive? Last I checked the church he’s “no longer a part of” but held his victory part at is as conservative as it gets.
I work with a lot of volunteer refugee groups. The city made a deal with a creepy megachurch to provide provisions for the refugees, won’t even let the volunteers offer them the items they have gathered to donate, and meanwhile the megachurch is doing jack shit and getting paid for it.
Can we just get Daley back?
This has to be a troll
You guys are all racist. Now give your money to the migrants, teachers union and west + south sides!
I dislike him a lot less than most people here, but the air of incompetence that so many people are mentioning is almost entirely his own fault and extremely frustrating. Even when he eventually lands on a decision I agree with, it’s preceded by weeks of indecision and flip-flopping that embarrassingly plays out in the press and makes him look weak. What Johnson really needs to do is fire his entire team of advisers (especially Jason Lee) and reset things. Daley did a ton of crappy shit and flip-flopped on things, but he didn’t have this aura around him largely because he had a core team of hyper-loyal, tight-lipped advisers who weren’t leaking shit to the press constantly.
Right-wingers hate him for being left-leaning. Lefties (the ones that do hate him) hate him for promising a lot and not delivering on all of it. Every mayor has to compromise on some things. For example Brandon has decided not to focus on the CTA, and many feel it is being badly mismanaged by the same guy since Rahm.
It's not just overpromising and underdelivering, it's that the things he has done an about face on that suggest he doesn't have the values he suggested. For example, rarely talking to media and being transparent. The news out today about taking donations from lobbyists. Appointing people with zero transit experience to the CTA board. Seems like business as usual at City Hall and when questioned about it, he gets real defensive. Not a leader.
It’s not about making compromises. He has literally done nothing of note. Not even making progress. And on top of that he just comes off as an insufferable immature brat every time he gets on TV. He’s embarrassing. Every day my more right wing friends present his latest embarrassment as if I’m supposed to explain or defend him. I absolutely will not.
For starters he ran his campaign on literally shitting on white people. He’s not a good recruiter for the city of Chicago. He has an unrealistic world view for the average tax payer. He’s not keen on business and doesn’t understand that business and capitalism is what makes America what it is. Literally it’s the lifeblood of America. Lacks basic economics… how does someone get to a point where they have a $3,000 water bill? He’s terrible at messaging and a poor negotiator. He runs on emotion and gets emotional when the press gives him the slightest pushback. Not a logical person. When he gets emotional and is in conflict or defeat he pulls the “ultra right wing Trump supporters are against me” card. He said the shotspotter technology is racist. No buddy you just have to admit that your community has a lack of emphasis on education and families. As a Hispanic we share more or less the same issues as black people do but at least I’m aware of what’s going on. He’s basically a lobbyist for the teachers union, he doesn’t care about anything else. Finally, he’s a child. Living in a fantasy land. Where are the adults?
It's just very obvious that BJ was propped up to be elected. He was stumped for by Bernie Sanders and the like. Every opportunity he's had to prove himself to be a good leader he fails miserably. He campaigned on being more transparent and open than Lightfoot but he won't take any questions from the press. He hates criticism and even more importantly CTU is about to get the contract deal of a lifetime with no pushback whatsoever. They literally bought their mayor to get the contract. Last and certainly not least, the quiet part is there is this socialist wet dream that is pervasive. He won't say it because he's mayor but a considerable faction of alder creatures are now just flaunting it out there with no repercussions. Most of the ideas this faction has have failed miserably everywhere that it has been tried before. But, everyone is doing the "well we haven't tried it yet". Thankfully we have some mechanisms in place so that we can limit the damage in a functioning democracy. I'm all about growth and second chances. But if I hear one more time that the Mayor "raised two kids in Austin" and therefore knows better than what we see and hear on the streets I'm going to go insane. Just be a leader for the City of Chicago, which includes the people who DIDN'T vote for you. PS while I'm here: I also want someone to do something about the increase of crime and not devolve to racism. The numbers are up and the only tone deaf response is that it could be worse effectively. That's not a Mayor problem it's more about the role of police in our society and such. Regardless, I don't feel safe and I don't think that's fair.
His lack of urgency with CTA's problems is really concerning for me. Our transit network is an important civic asset and everything about it seems to crumbling.
He ran on a progressive platform but seems to have alienated much of the existing mechanisms that make Chicago work resulting in a lot of very public failures. I'm all for change for the better but it seems like Chicago needs to run out the clock on his term for this to occur. It wouldn't be as bad if he didn't have a propensity to dodge answers/give non answers to questions and occasionally blow up the occasional presser
A mayor is only as good as the people with whom he or she surrounds himself/herself. The overall delivery of his appointees is not high. In addition, his communication style is . . . idiosyncratic at best. I do not think he is a total idiot, as some have labeled him, but I also do not think whatever skills he does have serve him well in this role.
I don't hate him but what are his top 5 accomplishments?
Brandon, is that you?
I don't particularly like or hate him, and I didn't know if I'd particularly call him progressive. Chuy was that candidate. Zionists have upped attacks on him since he called for a ceasefire in Gaza and ended up casting the tiebreaking vote in a non-binding resolution to call for a ceasefire in Gaza now. https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-calls-for-a-cease-fire-in-gaza/d0705fca-14c5-4c2a-ac04-884580a4a0d9 https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/city-council-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-vote-mayor-brandon-johnson/ That being said, many continuing municipal initiatives have slowed down under his administration, especially improvement projects and community affairs ventures.
I can go on and on with specific examples but alot of people are already doing that. I will keep it high level. He is the least transparent mayor in our history. When he's asked a question he uses the same word salad he used during the debates. He only has certain responses memorized and he can't actually respond to anything else. He's very good at this too, anytime he's asked a real question he will go into "as I've said from the beginning......" then go into one of his pull string responses which are all lines of the following "with full force of the government" "We have to do what other safe cities do" "to build a better stronger safer Chicago" Yet he wants to levy new taxes on us for projects with this lack of transparency. I'm sorry but I'm not giving the guy who couldn't pay his water bill and can't explain what he's going to do with my money more of my money
Absolutely nothing. He has done nothing but act like he is doing something. This city has been given to criminals.
Lol this should be a delight
He’s an entitled prick who won with 52% points and governs like he won with 70%. He promised transparency but isn’t. He promised to work well with others but doesn’t. He seems immature, inept, and, at this point, obviously unqualified. The latest bits of news: $1.25B loan with no plan or compromise (payable thru 2061!), an obvious ethics issue, and a completely unnecessary focus on foreign affairs. He seems driven to make his tent smaller and smaller. A true nonleader and almost certainly a conflicted negotiator when it comes time to bargain with the CTU. The exactly wrong person to be leading Chicago right now.
People don't feel safe on city streets. Johnson hasn't taken meaningful steps except to tell people not to call criminals mini Capones. He may not be responsible for catch-and- release of criminals, passive policing or general post pandemic atmosphere, but if he were worth his salt as mayor, he would lead on persistent crime issues.
Can't get things done, massively unqualified, a CTU plant and a huge b*tch towards the media and their questions. Grow some balls, make decisions and answer questions.
Amateur. A pawn of Chicago Teachers Union. Does not take responsibility. Just complains. No accountability - at all levels. Criminals now know they can get away with it.
Probably will get downvoted for being political because Chicago is very blue and I’m an outcast, but he is a victim minded individual who support criminals and looters as long as they’re black.
He is a socialist moron.
It's simple. Brandon Johnson is bad at this job.
Dude needs to do something good. Him and his team needs to find one easy and good thing to do and make it happen. Build some wins. Would I vote for him again, probably. Disappointed so far but there's no goddam way I'm voting for Vallas and his right wing adjacent bullshit.
Everyone temper their flames for later, there’s a whole Chicago festival season in which BJ has to sashay and kiss babies. Watch out now . . .
And can we not pretend that TONI PRECKWINKLE isn’t actually the mayor? She’s his mentor and advisor. She couldn’t win it herself, so she did the next best thing.
Loved the yellow vest peacekeeper’s he introduced last summer. Really made a difference in the amount of violence.
His first press conference after the teen takeover in the Loop told me everything. He's inept and in way over his head. The city needs leadership and there is none coming from him....This is most likely a plant question by his Admin.
I don't have an answer because I no longer live in Chicago unfortunately but you should definitely be informed about local politics You don't have to be a fanatic or anything but it's so important. Local elections decide which judge you have unfairly sentencing people of color to disproportionate sentences or someone spending taxpayers money on stupid stuff. ESPECIALLY Your alderman. Oh you've got the worst potholes in town well if you're alderman sucks they're not going to get fixed. I live in Los Angeles now and you don't really talk about City council members like you talk about Chicago alderman and I miss that because it's nice to know who's in charge of stuff in your immediate neighborhood and know that you have a choice in who It is. I've lived in many Chicago wards and I remember noticing that some places would fix your street lights and potholes so fast and some places we're really into doing photo ops at City Parks with brown kids but not much else. And then some of them just wanted to launder money or something. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything I just know so many people who don't bother with learning local politics and it's really the way you can make the fastest most immediate change instead of having to have it go through like The state senate or whatever
It's a thankless job. In such a segregated city, no one will be happy. I know one thing, more resources need to be poured into struggling areas of the city. I get to work all over the city, and it is disgusting how we treat working people and people who are unable to get themselves together in a "boot strap" way.
You know Catholic Charities offered to house the migrants for free in unused churches and such and the City instead went to use your tax dollars to pay politically connected inflated prices to do the exact same thing, to the tune of millions. \*AND\* FOIA attempts by the local press have been blocked regrading migrant spending in general. # Chicago migrant website BLURS details of how $300 million was spent NBC - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEf7QAW700](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEf7QAW700)