Emanuel returns to Chicago from serving his country in Washington DC, where he deserves much of the credit for taking a vaguely optimistic and undoubtedly historic figure in President Obama and taking him from his election day victory over John McCain to his current popularity.
Rahm has just the attitude to stand up to teacher's unions and he proved it while working for the Obama administration when he let it be clear in no uncertain turns that he wished to "F*** the UAW." This is a man who will not be intimidated by union thuggery.
Chicago faces some very difficult financial times ahead in part because of Mayor Daley's disastrous deal leasing city parking meters to a private company at a loss of over a billion dollars, but Rahm has shown he's not afraid to renegotiate a bad deal, saying just yesterday that he might want to cut pensions to current firemen, teachers, police and other city workers. Now, that's a shrewd negotiator. I must admit that this kind of talk impressed many of our members.
Rahm's plans for education reform are equally bold. As you know, LastStand has been at the forefront of the movement for bigger class size as a way to reduce the number of teachers and thus the number of bad teachers. Rahm has supported taking away the right of teachers to negotiate for class size, which is the first step towards our goal of 50-55 children in your average third grade classroom.
Teacher strikes also continue to big a major problem for the Chicago Public Schools, since the last one terrorized the Reagan administration in 1987. Rahm has supported a group of billionaire funded education reformers from Oregon in going after the right of teachers to strike and anybody who supports billionaires, we believe in supporting in kind.
Noticing that juvenile crime seems to spike in the hours between 3PM and 6PM when children are let out of school, Rahm has called for making the school day at least 45 minutes longer so that it will be darker when the children get out in winter time and automatic street lights will be on to illuminate their way home to safety and hot cocoa.
Rahm Emanuel has demonstrated his great love of Chicago by coming back to serve it. His large campaign war chest makes him an ideal choice to run for mayor. Unfortunately, while my wealth allows me to get involved in Chicago's education system, it doesn't allow me to vote in its elections. Never the less, Last Stand For Children First heartily endorses Rahm Emanuel for Mayor of Chicago
Myron Miner
I suggest Last Stand for Children review Gery Chico's history of education reform and balanced budgets. His qualifications far surpass Mr. Emanuel's.
ReplyDelete1987, the U.S. Secretary of Education called Chicago's schools "the worst in the nation." In 1995, Mayor Daley put Gery Chico at the helm of the effort to turn Chicago's schools around.
By 2001, Gery's leadership had transformed Chicago's public schools,—an achievement hailed by then-President Bill Clinton as a reform model for the nation.
View Gery's comprehensive education plan here: http://uvne.ws/gc-ac
I'm very fond of Gery's education plan. Anybody whose plan includes magically finding $300 million dollars lying around is off to a good start. The fact that he's had the good sense to advocate for many of the same things he was vehemently opposed to when he ran the schools makes him an excellent model for reform. As you correctly point out, without Chico's stewardship, the Chicago schools would not be the beacon of hope that they are now. Unfortunately, he's just not quite tough enough on teachers. Rahm goes the extra mile and that makes all the difference for us at Last Stand for Children First.
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