Chuy Garcia Wakes Up and Hits Rahm Hard in Second Debate
After a sleepy first round, the mayoral challenger came alive and challenged Rahm—a lot—during last night’s match.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chuy Garcia met for their second debate last night and, my take, watching the hour-long matchup closely on television, is Chuy saved his hide.
Did someone give him a triple espresso before airtime?
Garcia’s performance during the first televised debate on March 16 with NBC5’s Carol Marin moderating was so sleepy, so lacking in detail, confidence and energy, that, with polls showing 18 percent of the city’s potential voters undecided, a repeat nonperformance would have sent enough voters Rahm’s way to ensure a victory.
Broadcast on Fox with the station’s seasoned political editor Mike Flannery moderating, the hour passed quickly; it was a much more even match this time. Chuy didn’t let Rahm consume what seemed, last time, like two-thirds of the air time. When Rahm touted his having produced four balanced budgets in four years, Chuy shot back that Rahm “balanced them on the backs of ordinary Chicagoans” with fees, fines and penalties—and red light cameras.
The Tribune’s editorial writer opined after the first debate that the last hour-long matchup didn’t merit watching past 15 minutes. This one was worth watching to the end.
Some observations:
If the mayor of America’s third largest city deserves some respect, Chuy was having none of that. Not only did he outright laugh at the Mayor’s answers, and drop in the phrase “C’mon Rahm,” he accused him of “lying.” When Rahm credited himself with closing a coal plant in Little Village, Chuy pounced, arguing that people in Little Village, Pilsen, Canaryville, and Bridgeport had worked for years to close that plant—years before Rahm moved back to the city from D.C. Rahm took credit for a park in Little Village and Chuy shot back that all Rahm did was cut a ribbon. “He’s grandstanding.”
When Flannery questioned Chuy on his flip-flop position on the Obama library (something I also asked him recently), Chuy countered that he did no such thing and admonished Flannery, “Let me represent my own positions.” While Rahm defended bringing the Lucas Museum to the lakefront, claiming that it will bring “thousands of jobs,” Chuy called it a “monument to Darth Vader.”
Rahm seemed tired, and so did his material. His recitation of full-day kindergarten, universal pre-K, expanded school day, expanded school year, free community college for high school graduates with a B average, were delivered in a staccato monotone and lessened the impact of some real achievements. The lines, “They [students] don’t get a do-over,” are old and need refreshing. Chuy was able to make the point that an extended day and year don’t necessarily mean more education. “You failed to fund the district; you cut back on libraries.”
As usual, Garcia talked much more about spending money—on additional cops on the streets, on reopening the neighborhood mental health centers that Rahm closed—than on where that money is going to come from, although he did mention expanding the sales tax on luxury items, such as boats and fur storage. Chuy also reverted to his usual talk of audits—of CPS of CPD, and of opening the books and letting Chicagoans see how money is spent. He couched it in terms of his being a collaborative person who will invite neighborhood people into the process, listen to them, and use his vast network of neighborhood contacts to engage people and turn the neighborhoods into the vibrant life blood of the city—funneling the energy that flows from the city’s neighborhoods to charge the downtown—kind of a reverse trickle down.
Somehow, last night, Rahm’s talk of the jobs and the companies that he’s brought downtown, and the resulting new families that will find homes in the neighborhoods, didn’t resonate; perhaps because those people aren’t moving to neighborhoods like Little Village, where Chuy lives, or to the ailing south and west side neighborhoods.
There was much talk about the dangerous finances of CPS, the bond downgrades (Chuy’s mentions), and the looming teachers contract and possibility of a strike. Flannery asked if parents should be “lining up babysitters.” Rahm, not surprising, said no, he’ll work things out and again pointed to the full-day kindergarten, longer school day and year, etc. Chuy called out Rahm’s latest appointed school board member, Deborah Quazzo, and suggested that her companies are profiting from school-related contracts. (CPS officials have strongly denied this claim.) Chuy blasted Rahm for “failed leadership,” a board “riddled with conflicts of interests.” and suggested, again, auditing CPS finances and going to Springfield for help.
When Flannery pointed out that Gov. Rauner has promised to cut funding everywhere, Rahm responded that Rauner had promised specifically to increase school funding. “The Governor said he’ll increase funding and I told him we’ll keep him to his word.” (To my mind, when Rahm said this, came the vision of Rauner and Rahm talking school finances over thatinfamous $600 bottle of wine.)
Chuy claimed that he wouldn’t kowtow to his biggest supporter, the Chuy Garcia Wakes Up and Hits Rahm Hard in Second Debate | Chicago magazine | Felsenthal Files March 2015:
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