With 11 weeks to go until the city election, Chicago's mayoral hopefuls are elbowing each other out of the way to plant flags on issues like education and ethics, though the specifics have yet to catch up to the campaign rhetoric.
First up was Ald. Bob Fioretti, 2nd, who offered his education platform on his campaign website Tuesday. He was quickly followed by Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who called a City Hall news conference where he said he would unveil the "first plank" of his education plan.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, meanwhile, has been talking for weeks about his intention to deliver five "policy speeches" on education and other topics before the Feb. 24 election. The first one won't be a speech, but the mayor will take questions about ethics and government reform at an event hosted by the Better Government Association next week.
The approach allows Emanuel to try to set the campaign agenda by bringing individual issues to the forefront as he sees fit while his challengers, who have less money and don't enjoy the bully pulpit of incumbency, try to make their voices heard.
Not that Emanuel is loath to talk about education. The mayor has touted his education accomplishments almost whenever he is asked a question about the upcoming election. During a Wednesday news conference, he repeatedly referred to two federal grants the city won this week that he said would pay for pre-kindergarten for 2,200 children. "This reinforces a series of things the city of Chicago has done," Emanuel said before reciting his moves in the area of early childhood education.
For Fioretti and Garcia, education policy may come down largely to trying to outdo each other in standing against Emanuel's controversial school decisions.
Both are seeking to draw support from voters who supported the Chicago Teachers Union in its 2012 strike and who bristled at Emanuel's decision to close dozens of public schools. And both challengers are loudly proclaiming their intention, if elected, to push state lawmakers to give Chicago an elected school board. It's a change Emanuel strongly opposes.
Fioretti promises on his website to press for an elected school board while continuing his drumbeat of accusing Emanuel of taking care of wealthy, well-connected supporters at the expense of regular Chicagoans.
Fioretti also said he intends to "end wasteful spending on excessive standardized tests." Many of the tests that have drawn the ire of parents groups in recent years are required by the state or the federal government, however, so it's unclear how he would accomplish that.
On the heels of Fioretti's education platform launch, Garcia held his own City Hall news conference on education Wednesday. But when he stepped to the microphones near an elevator bank outside City Council chambers, Garcia simply restated his support for an elected school board. He underscored the strength of his commitment to the idea by insisting he would make it a top priority to go to Springfield to push it and promised he would file a federal lawsuit if the General Assembly didn't act.
The jockeying takes place as little-known mayoral candidate Amara Enyia, a municipal consultant from East Garfield Park, withdrew from the contest and threw her support behind Fioretti. The validity of Enyia's petition signatures had been challenged, and there was a hearing on the challenge scheduled to take place Wednesday, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
jebyrne@tribpub.com
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