Mayoral runoff debate finds Brandon Johnson blasting ‘Republican’ Paul Vallas

Brandon Johnson came out swinging Wednesday, accusing Paul Vallas of being a front man for “right-wing extremists” who were gearing up for an avalanche of property tax hikes with “accounting fraud” and raiding funds. pensions since Vallas’ days running the Chicago Public Schools. .

With less than four weeks to go before the April 4 election, Johnson, who finished second with 21.6% of the vote last week to Vallas’ 33%, was clearly the aggressor in their first televised debate of the mayoral runoff campaign. .

The Cook County commissioner repeatedly put Vallas on the defensive, especially on the financial issues Vallas sees as his forte.

“We’re in this predicament because of Mr. Vallas’ bad accounting measures … $2.5 billion in property tax increases because of Paul Vallas’ budget schemes. That’s why we’re in this structural deficit right now,” Johnson said of CPS’s financial picture.

“Paul Vallas worked with the Republican Party in 1995 to take the dollars that were going to pensions, people’s retirements and he took them away, didn’t pay the pensions, and as a result in 2017, a few years later, we were on the hook for 2.5 billion property tax dollars” increases.

Vallas dismissed the broad financial side as “nonsense” and a fictional account of his six-year tenure as CEO at CPS.

“When I took over Chicago Public Schools, pensions were 80% funded. When I left they were over 100% funded. This is a fact,” said Vallas.

Mayoral candidates Paul Vallas (left) and Brandon Johnson (right) prepare for their first one-on-one forum at the NBC 5 Studios in the Peacock Tower on Wednesday.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

“Pensions went south until the retirement holiday that was passed in 2009 or 2010, when they basically stopped making contributions. … Actuarial-based funding mandates were a very good idea because they allowed us to use money for things like teacher pay raises, after-school programs, and extended days.

“President Clinton called our programs a model for the nation. It allowed us to use extra money when we had it to invest in the classroom.”

The two candidates accused each other of trying to, as Vallas put it, “make the issue of race” in the campaign between black and white candidates where the African-American vote is likely to be decisive.

Johnson appeared to fan those flames when he accused Vallas of “associating with right-wing extremists who have attacked women” on the issue of abortion and opposing the teaching of black history in Chicago Public Schools.

“I am proud to have a multicultural, multi-generational campaign. Black, Brown, Asian, Young, Old. We’ve built a coalition across this city… But Paul Vallas has won the race. He has. Young people in the city of Chicago deserve black history. He’s the one who said this shouldn’t happen,” Johnson said.

Mayoral candidates Paul Vallas (right) and Brandon Johnson (left) prepare for their first runoff campaign forum Wednesday at the NBC 5 studios in the Peacock Tower.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Vallas dismissed the attack as “again just stupid”. He said he “integrated black history across the curriculum” at CPS and Afro Studies into the World History curriculum.

“Obviously Brandon wants to make the race an issue. I’m running to be mayor for all of Chicago,” he said.

Although Vallas spent most of the night playing defense, he tried to put Johnson on his heels for the $800 million tax increase the Cook County commissioner has proposed to fund social programs and for the role Johnson played. as a paid organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union. during the pandemic.

“Brandon was partially responsible for shutting down one of the nation’s poorest school systems with devastating consequences for 15 straight months and three times threatened to strike to force the mayor to keep schools closed.

“If you look at crime statistics, violence, displacement and declining test scores, you can see the results,” Vallas said.

Mayoral candidates Paul Vallas (left) and Brandon Johnson (right) prepare for their first one-on-one forum at the NBC 5 studios on Wednesday.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Johnson replied: “A 100-year pandemic was responsible for shutting everything down. But when you are supported by someone like [hedge-fund billionaire] Ken Griffin, who loves [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis, right-wing extremists in denial that we actually had a pandemic, that’s the problem we have when you’re part of the Republican Party. This is why the city of Chicago cannot afford Republicans like Paul Vallas.”

NBC5’s Mary Ann Ahern pressed the two candidates to explain how they can objectively represent the interests of Chicago taxpayers when Johnson is a paid organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union and Vallas helped negotiate the eight-year police contract that broke the longest labor stalemate in Chicago history.

Vallas said he owes nothing to the Fraternal Order of Police and has received no campaign contributions from the police union. In fact, the money the FOP would have paid him to help negotiate the police contract was donated to charity, Vallas said.

Johnson said he would resign from the CTU if elected mayor and represent the interests of the city — not the union — when the teachers’ contract expires next year.

“I have a fiduciary responsibility to the people of the city of Chicago. And after I’m mayor, I will no longer be a member of the Chicago Teachers Union,” Johnson said.

Rival mayoral candidates Paul Vallas (left) and Brandon Johnson (right) shake hands before their first runoff campaign forum at the NBC 5 studios in the Peacock Tower on Wednesday.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times