Politics and snow removal have been intertwined in Chicago ever since the Blizzard of ’79 that buried then-Mayor Michael Bilandic.

After an early blizzard wreaked havoc with Thanksgiving Day weekend return travel, mayoral candidates weighed in Monday on the time-honored “dibs” system.

That’s where people lay claim to parking spaces they’ve shoveled out — using what Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls “sweat equity” – by placing lawn chairs, old furniture and toys in the street.

Mayoral candidate Gery Chico initially tried to avoid taking a position on dibs, well aware it’s a political minefield.

“You mean the chair? I’m not answering that question,” he said.

After being told that his rivals had all declared their positions, Chico came out four-square behind the space-saving tradition.

“I used to do it myself. When I’d shovel out my parking space, I’d put a chair. I’d put a bench. I’d put a two-by-four — whatever I had there,” Chico said, proving that he was a Chicagoan, born and raised.

“If you’re gonna spend an hour shoveling out your space, you ought to be able to use it.”

He added, “The history of snow and politics in this city is known by all of you. So anybody who’s going to be mayor had better be on his or her toes…I intend to have the best cabinet this city has seen in the last half-century at least. And I will have a person there who is ready to go, anticipates, uses the best technology, the best deployment methods and the best people to pick up the snow.”

Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy is the fired Chicago Police superintendent who came here from New York, but has yet to shed the New York accent.

He proved it again by declaring his opposition to dibs.

“That’s a bad idea. It just causes conflict. Anything that causes conflict, I think, is a bad idea,” McCarthy said.

Told that opposing the sweat-equity tradition was a politically risky move, McCarthy said: “I didn’t know that it was a campaign issue. I’ll work on it.”

McCarthy was asked if he has any new strategies in mind to handle blizzards.

“Stay indoors. Plow the streets. And make sure that you have day care set up the night before, like I did last night because you guys almost saw me here with a baby in my arms. And it would not have been a political thing. It would have been the fact that they closed his day care today,” McCarthy said.

RELATED:

* A game of 21: Mendoza, Brown join crowded mayoral field — now who will fold?
• Chico calls Mendoza ‘unfit’ for mayor’s job — she stays ‘focused on … future’
• Latest list of Chicago mayoral candidates who are in, considering

Like Chico, Bill Daley at first tried to dodge the issue.

“I’m nowhere on dibs. Where are you on dibs?” Daley said with a smile.

In all seriousness, Daley was asked whether he would go so far as to prohibit an unwritten policy that has been known to trigger fistfights and turn some Chicago side-streets into mini-junk yards during snowy winter months.

“No. I wouldn’t outlaw dibs,” Daley said.

Mayoral candidate Dorothy Brown initially professed ignorance on the Chicago tradition.

“Dibs? I’m not familiar with that,” she said.

When the time-honored practice was described to her, she said: “That kind of dibs? We don’t do dibs in my neighborhood.”

But, she added: “If people have gentleman’s and lady’s agreements on dibs [and] they have chairs on dibs, it should be honored. I’m OK with people [reserving spaces]. If that’s your house and you live there and you’re paying your property taxes there, then I’m OK with you getting your dibs. So vote for me because I’m gonna let you have dibs.”

Two years ago, South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) suggested alternate-side-of-the-street parking as a potential solution to the dilemma of trying to clear snow from side streets after a storm.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said then he was open to the idea of requiring motorists to move their cars from one side of the street to the other whenever heavy snow is forecast.

It never happened, presumably because the city couldn’t find enough places in parking-starved neighborhoods where motorists could temporarily move their cars, allowing snow-removal crews to plow residential streets all the way to the curb.

Earlier this year, newly-appointed Streets and Sanitation Commissioner John Tully hinted that City Hall may revisit alternate-side-of-the-street parking or some other idea to bring quicker and better snow removal to side streets.

At the time, Tully made clear the changes would not put an end to Chicago’s time-honored “dibs” system.

“You’re talking about dibs. It doesn’t have anything to do with that. We ask people with dibs to be considerate of their neighbors,” he said.

Bill Daley on Wednesday unveiled a strategy to grow Chicago out of its financial crisis — to a population of 3 million within the next decade — even as he opened the door to a commuter tax and constitutional amendment to solve a looming pension crisis.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has emphatically and repeatedly ruled out a commuter tax for fear it would put the kibosh on his efforts to lure corporate headquarters downtown.

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Bill Daley’s brother, also opposed a commuter tax.

But in a luncheon address to the City Club of Chicago, Bill Daley argued that the $42 billion in unfunded pension liabilities at the local level — $35,000 for every Chicago household — will require the next mayor to consider the previously unthinkable.

“We must find new revenues and everything must be on the table. Marijuana, casinos, commuter taxes, real estate transfer taxes and reforms to the system must all be on the table,” Daley said to the applause of his standing-room-only audience of movers and shakers.

Daley said the only revenue source he’ll take off the table is yet another property tax increase after a $1.2 billion avalanche of them under Emanuel and the double-whammy of skyrocketing assessments.

“I am determined to avoid new property taxes next year and, over my four years, I promise the taxpayers of Chicago that, for every dollar of new property taxes, there will be a dollar of cuts first,” he said.

“We will overhaul every agency of government with the objective to cut the waste. … Government does not exist for the insiders. That’s the old way. … If existing programs work, great. If they don’t, we will end them because we do not have a dollar of taxpayers’ money to waste.”

Bill Daley’s wife, Bernadette Keller, joins in the applause for her husband as he speaks at a City Club of Chicago luncheon Wednesday. | Fran Spielman/Sun-Times

After the speech, Daley shrugged off concerns that a commuter tax would trigger a business exodus.

“They step up and pay their [fair share]. They’re paying it now. They’re paying enormous real estate taxes. Homeowners are. Businesses are paying that,” Daley said.

“They enjoy having a police department and a fire department to protect them. They enjoy getting workers from the city who go through our schools systems,” he added. “We’re all in this together.”

The Illinois Constitution’s pension protection clause states those benefits “shall not be diminished or impaired.” It’s why the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Emanuel’s plan to save two of four city employee pension funds.

Daley argued it’s high time to amend the state constitution.

“What we’re talking about is trying to save — not only the pension systems, but save government in the city. So everything has to be on the table,” he said.

Chicago Public Schools has 150,000 more seats than students. Much of that excess capacity is on the South and West Sides. Pressure is building for another round of school closings now that a five-year moratorium has expired.

Other mayoral candidates, except Paul Vallas, have run from the school-closing issue, well aware of the political price Emanuel paid for closing a record 50 public schools.

Not Daley. He called declining enrollment the “elephant in the room.”

“I have an opponent … who said, `We’re gonna re-open all the schools that were closed.’ That’s just politics speaking. There’s no logic to that. You shouldn’t lie to the people like that,” he said.

“We have 150,000 empty seats in our classrooms. In the private sector, you just saw Sears Roebuck close a whole bunch of stores because they have no business. Go out of business. That’s not gonna happen here.”

Ultimately, Daley said the answer lies in growing Chicago out of its financial crisis and reversing a black exodus tied to “crime and economic isolation.”

That will require a “major shake-up” at the Chicago Police Department, a laser-like focus on long-neglected inner-city neighborhoods and building “a bridge from the people to the jobs” that still exist, he said.

“We can target $1.5 billion in public projects to these communities over the next four years. If we’re strategic, we can turn $1.5 billion in public money into $5 billion or $6 billion in private money,” he said.

“We have state and federal tax credits…The Neighborhood [Opportunity] Fund. The affordable housing fund. TIFs. Federal opportunity zones in Chicago could be worth $1.5 billion. New Market Tax Credits could be another $50 million a year. Add it all up … and we can put $6 billion or $7 billion in struggling communities over the next four years.”

The capacity crowd underscored the business community’s concerns about Emanuel’s exit. They fear Chicago could make a sharp turn to the left, opening the door to instability and a host of anti-business tax increases.

In his speech, Daley played upon those fears.

“It is a moment of great promise and a moment of, equally great uncertainty,” Daley told those business leaders who desperately want stability. “In this critical moment, one path could take us forward. Another path could lead to … decline.”

One of the 21 candidates for mayor, Bill Daley, opened the door a few days ago to a commuter tax to help pay down Chicago’s crazy high debt.

Daley did not call for a commuter tax, or any other specific tax or fee, but he said a commuter tax must be “on the table” to avoid a worse fate — higher property taxes.

EDITORIAL

This editorial page has long opposed a commuter tax, which is a tax paid by people — or their employers — who work in the city but live in the burbs. A commuter tax, we believe, would simply discourage bigger businesses, which draw employees from the entire region, from not choosing a Chicago address, and many suburbs might retaliate in kind.

If Chicago were to tax suburbanites who work in the city, why wouldn’t suburbs tax Chicagoans who work in their towns?

That said, we appreciate Daley’s larger argument. Chicago must find a way to pay off, or otherwise reduce, $42 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. The notion that everything should be “on the table” is hard to argue with, and revenue from a commuter tax — unlike revenue from a hypothetical casino or recreational marijuana — is something the city might be able to pull in pretty quickly.

What we also know, for sure, is that this mayoral race is short and crowded. Expanded early voting begins in just six weeks, on Feb. 11, and Election Day is Feb. 26. We can’t wait until the field of candidates thins out, though it will, before digging into where the candidates stand on the biggest challenges facing Chicago.

So on Thursday, by email, we asked 18 of the candidates what their position is on a commuter tax.

Of the 14 candidates who replied (and we’ll just have to assume the others had nothing useful to say) only one, Robert “Bob” Fioretti, said he enthusiastically supports a commuter tax — a “very small” one.

“It’s a matter of being equitable,” Fioretti wrote. “If you are in the city working and depending on city services such as first responders, safe streets and quality infrastructure, whether your home address is in Chicago or the Chicagoland area, everyone should contribute.”

Among the other candidates who replied, seven emphatically oppose such a tax. They are Amara Enyia, La Shawn Ford, Paul Vallas, Lori Lightfoot, Toni Preckwinkle, Ja’Mal Green and Willie Wilson. A seventh candidate, Gery Chico, said he has “serious concerns” about the tax.

Enyia argued that many Chicago residents, especially those with lower incomes, commute to work in the suburbs because they can’t find jobs in the city. A Chicago commuter tax, she wrote, would open the door for suburbs to respond with their own commuter tax, and this would disproportionately hurt “those who have been harmed by the city’s failure to create a vibrant economy for all its residents.” A commuter tax, she wrote, also wrongly implies that suburban commuters “don’t contribute to our economy.”

Ford, echoing the general sentiment of Enyia’s reply, said a commuter tax would further Chicago’s “reputation” for “taxing working families” and hurt local retailers who rely on business from commuters.

Vallas pointed out that City Hall’s inspector general in 2010 warned that a commuter tax put in place in Philadelphia resulted in job losses in that city. Vallas quotes the inspector general’s warning that Philadelphia and two other cities that have commuter taxes — Cleveland and Detroit — “are generally considered economically stagnant and have lost a substantial percentage of their populations since 1950.”

Chico, echoing our own concerns, said a commuter tax would only “open a commuter war with the suburbs.”

And Preckwinkle, also said it’s “not good public policy.” Instead, she wrote, the city should work with Springfield to bring to town a casino, tax-increment financing reform, and “an appropriate local share of tax revenues” from the legalization of marijuana — “should the state choose that path.”

As for Lightfoot? All she wrote was, “I do not support this tax.”

Lightfoot is considered a top-tier candidate in this race. We wish she had said more.

Two other candidates, Jerry Joyce and Dorothy Brown, staked out middle grounds.

Joyce, like Daley, said a commuter tax should be “on the table” as part of a “comprehensive package” to increase city revenue and cut costs. While the city “cannot tax its way out” of its problems, he wrote, it needs “breathing room” to “govern and grow” its way out.

Brown said she would “consider” a commuter tax, but she jumped quickly to her preferred solution — a city-sponsored lottery.

That idea — a city lottery — is one that deserves its own day in court. Perhaps we’ll explore it in an editorial at greater length later. But here’s our initial thought: Lotteries, especially at the municipal level, are a miserably regressive tax on the poor.

And then there was Susana Mendoza. Asked to share her views on a commuter tax, she gave us 37 words of dodgeball:

“Absent a thoughtful, robust conversation with communities throughout Chicago about our priorities moving forward and resources available to address them, we should avoid knee-jerk proposals that are void of real policy with real revenue and real benefits.”

Give us a break. Chicago’s been having this “robust conversation” forever. There’s nothing “knee-jerk” about candidates taking a stand now on specific proposals, such as a commuter tax. Better now than after the election.

As for Garry McCarthy, the former Chicago Police superintendent, his folks told us he needed more time to fill out the “questionnaire.” But it wasn’t a questionnaire. It was a single question.

We urge Chicago voters to visit the campaign websites of all the candidates who have them — not all do— to read more about where they stand on this issue and others. We could only touch on their views here.

You owe it to your city, and to your property tax bill, to bone up now.

Bill Daley: daleyformayor.com
Paul Vallas: vallasforallchicago.com
Gery Chico: chicoformayor.com
Amara Enyia: amaraenyia.com
Robert “Bob” Fioretti: bobforchicago.com
La Shawn Ford: fordforchicago.com
Willie Wilson: williewilsonformayor.com
Ja’Mal Green: greenforchicago.com
Dorothy Brown: dorothyformayor.com/2019
Susana Mendoza: susanamendoza.com
Jerry Joyce: jerryjoyce2019.com
Lori Lightfoot: lightfootforchicago.com
Toni Preckwinkle: toniforchicago.com
Garry McCarthy: garryformayor.com
Neal Sales-Griffin: nealformayor.com
John Kenneth Kozlar: johnkozlar.com
Roger L. Washington: www.washingtonformayor.com

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com

Bill’s going!

Mayoral hopeful Bill Daley, former U.S. commerce secretary during the Clinton administration, is flying to the nation’s capital Tuesday to honor a man he very much admired: former President George Herbert Walker Bush — the Republican president defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992.

Daley, who tells Sneed he had a long and very friendly relationship with Bush, plans to attend his memorial services.

“I first met him in the early 1990s during the Bush-Clinton debate in 1992,” said Daley, who eventually became President Barack Obama’s chief of staff. “He came over and said ‘hi’ to me and Rich (former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley).

“Off and on he called me when I was commerce secretary, including once to tell me about a problem with lobster fishermen in Maine. [Bush lived in Kennebunkport, Maine., from May to October.]

“He was the first one who called me when I went to work for SBC in Texas — and this was only a year after the Bush-Gore election and I was the chair of [Al] Gore’s [presidential] campaign. He hosted a dinner party for me in Houston with Jim Baker and Lloyd Bentsen and others.

“We stayed in touch and a few years ago, when my wife and I were vacationing in Maine, we went to visit him in Kennebunkport. He was always very nice and kind and gracious. He will be missed.”

On Wednesday morning, family and friends will gather at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for a memorial service. President Donald Trump has designated Wednesday as a national day of mourning, the White House announced.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Hold ‘em & fold ‘em!

Great news.

Legendary Bears coach Mike Ditka, who was released from a hospital in Naples, Florida, recently following a heart attack and pacemaker implant, is up to his old tricks.

But not on the links this time. (Close . . . but no cigar!)

Sneed is told Da Coach was seen playing gin rummy with his buddies at the Olde Florida Golf Club, where he is a member — and where he had gone the day before Thanksgiving to golf shortly before complaining about not feeling well, and being rushed to a hospital.

Go Grabowski!

Susana Mendoza shows off the pin worn by former Mayor Jane Byrne on the day Byrne took office. | Provided/Susana Mendoza

Pin it!

You asked for it: Several readers asked to see a close-up of the pin worn by Jane Byrne when she was sworn in to office as the city’s first female mayor in 1979 that Sneed wrote about over the weekend. Byrne’s daughter, Kathy Byrne, gave it to current mayoral candidate Susana Mendoza to wear on the campaign trail as a good-luck charm. The younger Byrne is Mendoza’s campaign manager.

You got it: Here it is!

Sneedlings . . .

Condolences to the family of attorney/sports agent Steve Zucker, who died Sunday night at the age of 78. He recently published a book about his career titled: “Playing Games is Serious Business.”  … I spy: “Chicago Med actors Brian Tee, Yaya DaCosta and Torrey DeVitto spotted at TAO over the weekend. … Ditto for Chicago PD” and “Fire” stars Jesse Lee Soffer, Annie Ilonzeh and Taylor Kinney. . . . Comedian George “Cheers” Wendt dining at Harry Caray’s on Kinzie on Sunday. . . . Today’s birthdays: Jay-Z, 49; Tyra Banks, 45; and Marisa Tomei, 54.

A lawyer for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle filed petition challenges Monday against state comptroller Susana Mendoza and four other women candidates for mayor as the process of paring down the field of 21 got underway.

Preckwinkle election lawyer Keri-Lyn Krafthefer denied the campaign was targeting women for removal from the ballot, even though the only female opponents left unchallenged were Amara Enyia, the community organizer backed by Chance the Rapper, and obscure candidate Sandra L. Mallory.

Mendoza’s supporters accused Preckwinkle and other mayoral opponents of ganging up on her to keep her out of the race.

Declaring Mendoza to be the “frontrunner” in the race for mayor, her campaign co-chairs Marty Castro and Kathy Byrne predicted the effort to discredit Mendoza’s nominating petitions will fail.

But after challenging the validity of 16,746 of the 25,660 signatures that Mendoza submitted a week ago, Krafthefer said there was no coordinated attack on Mendoza’s campaign.

If anything, she said, “a lot of different candidates have identified the same flaws as we have.”

Candidates for mayor need signatures from 12,500 registered Chicago voters to earn a spot on the ballot. Most try to submit petitions containing at least three times that many to withstand any legal challenge.

That’s why Mendoza’s petitions have received extra scrutiny after she submitted what would generally be considered a low total for a serious candidate.

Mendoza received a surprise ally with her petition problems Monday from former Chicago Public School Board president Gery Chico, who said Preckwinkle should leave her alone and let the voters decide.

“While Mendoza has little to complain about given her own long history in the same political machine which Preckwinkle now controls, I also believe that if she wants to be a candidate, we should have a robust debate, and voters should reach their own conclusions,” said Chico, who could be expected to benefit as much as anyone if the only other Latino candidate were removed from the race.

But there is a general consensus among other campaigns that Mendoza’s candidacy is in trouble because of her petitions.

Burton Odelson, a lawyer for former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas, said he didn’t bother to challenge Mendoza’s petitions because “that’s a done deal. She’s going to be way below” the 12,500 minimum.

Former state Sen. Rickey Hendon, the campaign manager for businessman Willie Wilson, agreed.

“They’re going to get her,” he said.

Odelson filed one challenge on Vallas’ behalf — against the nominating petitions of former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

Representatives from Paul Vallas’ mayoral campaign get ready to challenge the petitons of rival candidate Garry McCarthy. Photo by Rachel Hinton.

Hendon arranged to file challenges against Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown Cook, state Rep. Lashawn Ford, Ja’Mal Green, Neal Sales-Griffin and Roger Washington.

Hendon said he filed the challenges against Wilson’s wishes, because Wilson does not believe in removing opponents from the ballot.

In addition to Mendoza, Preckwinkle also challenged the nominating petitions of Brown Cook, as well as former Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot and two other obscure candidates, Conrien Hykes Clark and Dorothy Brown D’Tycoon.

Krafthefer said the common denominator in Preckwinkle’s challenges was that the five candidates did not have enough signatures. She said no effort was made to investigate Enyia’s petitions because she submitted 62,000 signatures.

But Hendon offered a more forthcoming explanation for why all candidates file challenges.

“You go after the people you think are going to take votes from you,” Hendon said.

That’s why lawyer Jerry Joyce filed a challenge to former White House chief of staff Bill Daley. It’s also why it was a surprise that Daley filed no challenges after his campaign closely scrutinized the petitions of several opponents.

Supporters of mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce file objections against petitions of Bill Daley. Photo by Rachel Hinton.

Daley’s campaign manager Jorge Neri issued a statement saying Daley opted in favor of “greater access to the ballot” — and made mysterious allegations against Joyce’s campaign.

“We have not seen the Joyce challenge,” Neri said. “However, we are looking into questionable tactics surrounding the Joyce campaign’s challenge and our team will take appropriate action with the proper authorities as necessary.”

Green took offense to Hendon’s tactics and called a news conference to say he had recorded him threatening to knock off all the black candidates.

“I’m not knocking off all the blacks just selective ones like Ja’Mal Green,” responded Hendon, who called Green a “rat snitch fink” for secretly recording their conversation.

With Mendoza out of town on vacation, it was left to her campaign to defend her.

Byrne, the daughter of Chicago’s only woman mayor Jane Byrne, said Preckwinkle’s attack on Mendoza shows “you don’t have to be a man to join the old boys club.”

But Mendoza’s opponents noted she has engaged in the petition challenge process in the past.

Lawyer Andrew Finko files a challenge to signatures for LaShawn K. Ford. Photo by Rachel Hinton.

No challenges had been filed against nine of the 21 candidates who submitted petitions to run for mayor, according to the latest information provided by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Unchallenged so far are Chico, Enyia, Preckwinkle, Vallas, Wilson, Joyce, Mallory and former Ald. Bob Fioretti and former aldermanic candidate John Kozlar.

RELATED

• Mendoza gets $100K campaign donation from part owner of clout-heavy scrap yard
• Chico calls Mendoza ‘unfit’ for mayor’s job — she stays ‘focused on … future’
• A game of 21: Mendoza, Brown join crowded mayoral field — now who will fold?
• Mayoral debate: Preckwinkle and Mendoza tangle over crime, taxes, Joe Berrios
• Preckwinkle ‘appalled’ by ex-aide’s behavior—Mendoza ‘horrified’ by its handling
• Susana Mendoza already on the defensive on day one of mayoral campaign

Bill Daley is running for mayor of Chicago, and now wants to propose a tax on suburban commuters who work in the city. He forgets that we suburbanites pay county taxes and state taxes that get eaten up by Chicago. One could say lots of citizens already leave Chicago due to unsafe neighborhoods. If Chicago ever gets that tax on the books, more people will escape from the tax burden by leaving Illinois for good. Then businesses will leave Chicago for lack of workers.

Carl F. Rollberg, Calumet Park

SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes.

Investigate high EpiPen prices 

Your key point in Tuesday’s editorial, that a robust free market and more competitors selling Epipens providing the best solution to sky-high prices, is well-taken. It is hard to see why that it not happening now. You would provide a great service to your readers with some investigative reporting about what is holding that up.

Richard E. Ralston, executive director, Americans for Free Choice in Medicine
Newport Beach, California

“Ban the box” is the right thing to do

The American public education system has always held the promise of civic and economic opportunity, regardless of background or means. It is foundational to economic and social mobility, and a public university should strive to address racial, residential, and economic inequalities. This is why last Tuesday’s editorial about removing criminal history questions on admissions applications is so important.

As a parent of two students in Illinois universities, I want those universities to promote and support people to live positive and productive lives, not teach my children to judge or fear others. I am not worried that my children will be unsafe if these invasive and humiliating questions are not asked, because there is no evidence that asking the question helps make campus safer.

It is important to remember the criminal-legal system and the education system are two separate entities. Our colleges and universities should be where people with records are welcomed and empowered to turn their lives around, not discouraged from applying by an unnecessary question on the application.

In fact, both the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the United States Department of Education have urged universities to remove these questions from admissions applications. They emphasized the importance of an education to achieve the American Dream and said, “without inclusion, there is no true excellence.” I couldn’t agree more.

Laura Vavrin, Champaign

Attorney Jerry Joyce will appear first on the crowded ballot for Chicago’s mayor in the February election — with former aldermanic candidate John Kozlar taking the final position following a ballot lottery on Wednesday afternoon.

The lottery was extended to candidates who filed their petitions “simultaneously” on Nov. 19, and for those who filed last on Nov. 26. Their names were placed in a lottery box and spun in prescription bottles in the basement of 69 W. Washington St.

Rounding out the top of the Feb. 26 ballot was Joyce, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, philanthropist and businessman Willie Wilson, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and activist Catherine Brown D’Tycoon. D’Tycoon, however, must survive several ballot challenges to stay on the ballot.

Candidates’ names were placed in a ballot lottery box and spun in prescription bottles in the basement of 69 W. Washington St. | Tina Sfondeles

The top spot is a boost to Joyce’s campaign as he tries to differentiate himself in a packed field. There are 21 declared candidates vying to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel — and 13 of them are facing petition challenges, according to the city’s Board of Elections.

Candidates also jockeyed for the last spot on the ballot. Kozlar pulled the last spot, with community activist Ja’Mal Green, former Ald. Bob Fioretti, former Police Board President Lori Lightfoot and entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin to appear above Kozlar should they survive petition challenges.

“We wanted to be first because the experts say that’s worth a point or two or three on Election Day, and in a close election like this, any point counts,” Joyce said. “…With so many people in the race, we’ll take any luck we get.”

Joyce is among many candidates challenging the signatures of others, including those of former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley.

Hearings on the objections begin on Dec. 10 and are open to the public. Candidates for mayor need signatures from 12,500 registered Chicago voters to earn a spot on the ballot. Most try to submit petitions containing at least three times that many to withstand any legal challenge.

WASHINGTON — There was a tense, awkward  moment at the state funeral of former President George Herbert Walker Bush, when President Donald Trump and first lady Melania arrived at the pew where the four former presidents — and one almost – sat with their spouses, but after that, it was a celebration on Wednesday of the remarkable life of the 41^st president.

Bush biographer Jon Meacham fondly remembered in his eulogy Bush’s fast pace, from speed golf to his speedboat and the self-deprecating humor for which the East Coast patrician turned Texas oilman was known.

Bush, whose children include the 43^rd president, George W. Bush, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, died Friday at the age of 94 in Houston.

“On the primary campaign trail in New Hampshire once, he grabbed the hand of a department store mannequin asking for votes. When he realized his mistake,” Meacham recalled, mimicking Bush — or comic Dana Carvey — he said, ‘“Never know. Gotta ask.'” The audience laughed.

Bush, the son of Sen. Prescott Bush and born to wealth, enlisted in the Navy when he was 18 and became a pilot, deferring enrollment at Yale.  Bush “was America’s last great soldier-statesman,” said Meacham in his eulogy. “….He stood in the breach in Washington against unthinking partisanship,” Meacham said.

Whether or not you take some remarks from Meacham and others at the Bush funeral as a jab at Trump likely depends on where you stand on the matter of how destructive you think Trump is when it comes to his tearing down the norms of our democratic institutions. Paying tribute to Bush is not rebuking Trump; rather it is making obvious the differences between Bush and the present occupant of the Oval Office.

The funeral was at the magnificent National Cathedral, an inspiring combination of orchestrated formal military and Episcopal religious ritual, from the moment the hearse arrived at the gothic masterpiece and the casket was removed to “Hail to the Chief.”

The invited attendees included Trump and first lady Melania; Barack and Michelle Obama; Bill and Hillary Clinton; and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

This group has not been together since Trump’s inauguration. The Trumps were not invited to the Sept. 1 funeral of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at the National Cathedral. Bush wanted Trump at his funeral.

When Trump and Melania got to the pew, the Obamas, Clintons and Carters were already in place. Melania shook hands with the Obamas, who were seated next to them. After sitting down, Trump leaned over and shook hands with Obama and Michelle — who tore into Trump in her new memoir, “Becoming,” for his birther lies.

Trump, still trying to lock up his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, did not try to shake hands with the Clintons. Bill threw Trump a glance; otherwise, the Clintons did not acknowledge him, staring straight ahead. The Carters likewise were disinterested in Trump.

After George W. Bush and his family were seated, he came over and worked the presidential row, greeting all the members of the world’s most exclusive club.

Granddaughters Lauren Bush Lauren and Ashley Walker Bush read from Isaiah; another granddaughter, Jenna Bush Hager, quoted Revelation, followed by eulogies from Meacham; former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney; former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wy., with the final tribute from George W. Bush.

Trump could only suffer from the implicit comparisons offered by Mulroney and Simpson.

Mulroney spoke about how Bush got the ball rolling for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was finalized under Clinton. Trump has made a priority of ending NAFTA, renouncing the name of the pact with Canada and Mexico.

Mulroney would have none of that, referring to NAFTA as not killed but “recently modernized and improved by new administrations — which created the largest and richest free trade area in the history of the world.”

Simpson, well known for his wit, did not disappoint.

“Relax, George told me I only had ten minutes,” Simpson quipped as he started his tribute.

Speaking about Bush’s humility, Simpson said, “He knew what his mother and my mother always knew: Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in.”

George W. Bush summed up the father of an American political dynasty.

Said Bush, “Dad could relate to people from all walks of life. He was an empathetic man. He valued character over pedigree. And he was no cynic. He looked for the good in each person — and usually found it.”

Footnote:  Among the dignitaries filling the massive sanctuary in the iconic cathedral — the second largest in the U.S. — were members of Congress; the Supreme Court; current and former vice presidents; Prince Charles; German Chancellor Angela Merkel and members of the Bush 41 and 43 administrations. Plus, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner; Chicago mayoral contender and former Obama Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Illinois House Republicans Adam Kinzinger, Peter Roskam and Randy Hultgren.

—

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 22-year aversion to raising property taxes kept them unrealistically low compared to surrounding suburbs and laid the groundwork for Chicago’s $28 billion pension crisis.

Now, the former mayor’s brother is promising more of the same, at least for one year, maybe more, even with a looming, $1 billion spike in pension payments.

The pledge to freeze property taxes is the cornerstone of Bill Daley’s first television commercial of the mayoral campaign.

Daley has taken an overwhelming lead in fundraising, with $2.7 million; the next-highest is Gery Chico’s nearly $1.2 million.

Now, Daley’s putting it to use by becoming only the second candidate to hit the television airwaves, joining millionaire businessman Willie Wilson.

“All I can deal with right now is the first year. … I’m not gonna give you a blanket guarantee that it’s forever,” Daley said Thursday.

“A lot of people say, `In the end, you can go to property taxes. That’s not where we should start here, folks. … Hopefully after the first year, the legislature will have acted.”

Richard M. Daley had a phobia to property tax increases. He raised them only twice in 22 years; the total increase was under two percent.

Meanwhile, a report he commissioned outlining the magnitude of the pension crisis that pushed Chicago to the financial brink sat on a shelf, gathering dust.

On Thursday, Bill Daley acknowledged his brother’s decision to steer clear of raising property taxes and punt the pension crisis set the stage for a $1.2 billion avalanche of property tax increases under Emanuel made worse by skyrocketing assessments.

As mayor, Bill Daley’s brother raised property taxes only twice in 22 years, helping create the fiscal crisis Chicago now is trying to climb out of. Bill Daley said there’s plenty of blame to go around for that, but he wants to promise no property tax hike for at least his first year in office. | Screenshot

“He obviously kept them low for reasons that he had. The City Council and the unions and everyone went along with it, OK? We’re in a different situation today. We have to approach things differently. Decisions made 10, 20, 30 years ago — God bless all the people who were in those decisions. That’s not my interest right now,” he said.

“Those who wish that property taxes had been raised for the last 50 years, that’s their business. I’m saying at this point going forward, here’s what I believe. … If you want to deal with the past every time we talk, that’s fine. All I’m saying is this is what I believe. This is what I want to do.”

Ever since his speech last week to the City Club of Chicago, Daley has been hammered by mayoral rivals and newspaper editorials alike for opening the door to a commuter tax on suburbanites to solve the pension crisis.

Emanuel has emphatically and repeatedly ruled out a commuter tax for fear it would put the kibosh on his widely-acclaimed efforts to lure corporate headquarters downtown.

Richard M. Daley also opposed a commuter tax.

Bill Daley didn’t flinch, in spite of the heat he took.

Bill Daley’s first television ad focus on taxes, crime and violence. | Screenshot

“Fine, I’ll get hammered for a lot of things. I don’t mind being hammered if we make some progress on some of these issues that are presenting some enormous problems for the city going forward,” he said.

He added: “There’s a whole host of reasons why we’re in the mess. Every mayor, every governor, every legislator through the whole history. The pension problem today is worse than it was eight years ago [when Emanuel took office]. So it’s nobody’s fault. It’s everybody’s fault. Now’s the time we’ve got to all see this as a crisis and deal with it.”

Chico accused Daley of following an “ill-conceived” commuter tax proposal that would “spark a guaranteed commuter war” with an “irresponsible property tax freeze” that would “hurt low-income and working families” by locking in a tax structure that benefits the rich and super-rich.

“We shouldn’t be freezing property taxes for everyone. We should be forcing the wealthiest and owners of skyscrapers to pay their fair share, while lowering taxes for low-income and citizens living paycheck-to-paycheck,” Chico said in a statement.

Daley’s TV commercial is part of what he calls a “healthy” pre-Christmas buy.

The spot features Daley talking to white, black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters in both video and still photos. The words, “PROPERTY TAX FREEZE” appear twice in capital letters. The words, “Stop GUNS. Stop GANGS,” appear once.

“Let’s get real, Chicago. Crime and taxes are up while fancy buildings rise inside the Loop. Families are being driven out of our neighborhoods every day,” an announcer says.

“Bill Daley has spent his whole life in Chicago. It’s in his blood. He knows Chicago only thrives when all our 77 neighborhoods thrive. Bill will put a moratorium on tax hikes to keep families in our homes. And he’ll make getting guns and gangs off our streets priority number one. Bill Daley. No more excuses.”

A pledge to freeze property taxes is the cornerstone of Bill Daley’s first television commercial of the 2019 mayoral campaign. Daley has raised about $2.7 million; the next-highest candidate is Gery Chico, with nearly $1.2 million. | Screenshot

Mayoral candidate Gery Chico on Friday announced his campaign had raked in about $429,000 in donations over the last month, bringing his war chest to over $1.5 million.

That’s still a distant second in the crowded field to Bill Daley, who dipped into his $2.7 million campaign fund on Thursday to launch his first television ads ahead of the Feb. 26 election.

Chico said he’d use his $429,000 cash infusion to air TV ads of his own in the coming weeks.

About $300,000 of the windfall was the result of 114 donations of $1,000 or more collected in the last week, according to Illinois Board of Elections records.

That includes $25,000 from Wheels Inc. chairman Jim Frank; $14,000 from retiree Rose Gonzalez; and $10,000 apiece from One Chicago Fund president Sarah Pang and Weigel Broadcasting executive Lilli Scheye.

An online ad for Gery Chico, running on Facebook, Google and on his campaign website, takes credit for his accomplishments at Chicago Public Schools without mentioning that mayoral rival Paul Vallas was CPS CEO at the time. | Screenshot

The remainder came from contributions of less than $1,000 — which candidates don’t have to report to the Board of Elections until the end of December — from nearly 800 donors, according to Chico.

“People are responding very broadly to our campaign and our message,” said Chico, who served as chief of staff and Chicago Board of Education president under former Mayor Richard M. Daley. “They believe in our ability to win, and more importantly our ability to govern.”

Chico and Bill Daley are the only candidates so far to raise more than $1 million, though former Chicago Police Board president Lori Lightfoot was close to $992,000 and former CPD Supt. Garry McCarthy sat near $937,000 as of Friday night.

Entrepreneur Willie Wilson and former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas each have raised more than $800,000, while Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza had $670,100 in the bank and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle had over $596,000.

There are 21 declared candidates vying to replace Mayor Rahm Emanue; 13 of them face petition challenges.

Let this sink in about Chicago property taxes: Roughly one in every three dollars is not spent on what you might expect. 

Not on public safety or fixing potholes or sprucing up the park down the street.

Instead, a third of Chicago’s property taxes are siphoned off each year — $660 million last year, $561 million the year before — to create a special fund for the mayor to spend more or less as he sees fit.

It’s called tax increment financing money and, critics complain, it is too often used to benefit fancy downtown and North Side projects such as Navy Pier and Lincoln Yards, while South and West Side neighborhoods go begging.

This year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel also is continuing his practice of using a TIF money surplus to shore up the city and schools budgets.

Our own view is that the next mayor and City Council should be considerably stingier with TIF subsidies, spending much more of the money to uplift truly struggling neighborhoods. As we wrote in an editorial last week, it is galling that Target is closing two South Side stores while getting $13 million in TIF money to open a store on the Far North Side.

With all this mind, we asked 19 of the 21 mayoral candidates, via email, a simple question: As mayor, what would you do about TIFs?

EDITORIAL

In general, all 16 candidates who replied agree that the TIF program should be reined in to deliver more of the money to impoverished communities that might otherwise not attract new development. By state law, that’s the basic purpose of TIF districts.

Here’s a brief summary of where the candidates stand on TIFs. To read their full replies to our question, click here.

Cut back on TIF districts: Candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Ja’Mal Green would get rid of TIF districts altogether.

“We’ve really got to look at unwinding as many of those TIFs as we possibly can and turning the resources back to Chicago Public Schools,” Preckwinkle said last Monday, a day before she won the Chicago Teachers Union endorsement. She said she would give all annual TIF surpluses to the schools until all 144 TIF districts are phased out.

Green said Chicago should simply “abolish” TIFs and create a new tax subsidy entity that is laser-focused on impoverished communities.

Lori Lightfoot, Robert “Bob” Fioretti and LaShawn Ford called for a moratorium on creating new TIF districts.

”When I am mayor, the city will not create new TIF districts until we have fully analyzed the performance of existing districts to ensure that they are meeting their intended objectives and that the private recipients of TIF funds are satisfying their contractual obligations,” Lightfoot wrote.

Spread the surplus money around: Fioretti, Garry McCarthy, Dorothy Brown and Gery Chico, like Preckwinkle, want to use surplus TIF dollars to shore up city finances.

McCarthy would spend ”the $1.4 billion sitting in Chicago’s various TIF funds” on a $400 million property tax cut, a $130 million restoration of city retirees’ health benefits, a $275 million infusion of money for CPS and a transfer of up to $500 million from TIFs in affluent neighborhoods to those in poor communities.

Fioretti would “reopen our mental health clinics, shore up some of our school budgets, make a payment into our beleaguered pension fund, turn some of the closed schools into community centers that drive economic development and begin meaningful economic development programs.”

Chico would return the money to CPS “and other taxing bodies.”

Get-tough measures: To a greater or lesser degree, every candidate vowed to make sure TIF money goes where it’s supposed to go. Lightfoot provided us with a detailed list of reforms, including “performance thresholds,” for judging a TIF’s effectiveness, tougher standards for determining whether an area is “blighted” and “clawing back TIF funds” from ineffective districts.

Paul Vallas vowed to “implement a new paradigm” with “clearer TIF guidelines for developers.” Vallas would dedicate a third of TIF revenue to a Chicago Equity Investment Fund to be used in blighted areas.

Amara Enyia would give the City Council the power to approve — or vote down — “porting,” a process the mayor’s office uses to steer TIF money to favored projects.

Keeping the public informed. Every candidate promised more “transparency” than Emanuel, whose administration put in place a TIF web portal that includes maps and lists of projects. 

“Transparency is more than just dumping PDFs online,” Enyia wrote. “It also includes making information easily accessible and digestible.”

And Susana Mendoza wrote that she would “build on the existing TIF web portal to list projects under consideration for TIFs,” not just approved projects.

Vallas, Lightfoot and others also offered specific ideas for opening up the process to the public.

For more basic information about how TIFS work, visit the Cook County clerk office’s website. And most importantly, we urge Chicago voters to visit the websites of all the candidates and read more about where they stand on TIFs and other major issues.

No matter who is elected Chicago’s next mayor, TIFs — that financial monster of a program that controls a third of Chicago’s property tax dollars — looks to be in for a major overhaul.

Bill Daley: daleyformayor.com
Paul Vallas: vallasforallchicago.com
Gery Chico: chicoformayor.com
Amara Enyia: amaraenyia.com
Robert “Bob” Fioretti: bobforchicago.com
La Shawn Ford: fordforchicago.com
Willie Wilson: williewilsonformayor.com
Ja’Mal Green: greenforchicago.com
Dorothy Brown: dorothyformayor.com/2019
Susana Mendoza: susanamendoza.com
Jerry Joyce: jerryjoyce2019.com
Lori Lightfoot: lightfootforchicago.com
Toni Preckwinkle: toniforchicago.com
Garry McCarthy: garryformayor.com
Neal Sales-Griffin: nealformayor.com
John Kenneth Kozlar: johnkozlar.com
Roger L. Washington: www.washingtonformayor.com

Here are the mayoral candidates’ responses to our emailed question: As mayor, what would you do about TIFs?

The responses are published in alphabetical order.

DOROTHY BROWN

Dorothy Brown. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Revamp the TIF program to focus on truly neglected communities. In 1983, the City of Chicago created the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program to promote economic growth and increase the value of real estate in the City. However, in its current form, TIF is an arm of ward-based development and has helped create a Chicago of haves and have- nots. Furthermore, a good portion of the taxpayer-financed program has subsidized private developments at the expense of Chicago homeowners and businesses.

The time has come to revamp the TIF program to focus on truly neglected communities. The goal of TIF is to help create a rising tide of wealth for all Chicagoans. To achieve this goal, I will reform TIF as follows:

•  I will have an analysis performed on each TIF District to determine once and for all if the public has benefitted, or if funding has simply rewarded private developers. This analysis will be shared with the general public.
• Future TIF funding will support the goals of my Comprehensive Economic Development Plan and the eight (8) Economic District development plans.1
• TIF funds will be used for economic development in neglected neighborhoods.
• TIF funds will be used to finance public infrastructure and facilities improvement 
projects in blighted areas, such as renovations of Chicago Public Schools, parks and open 
space projects at the Chicago Park District, and track and station renovations at the CTA.
• TIF funds will be used to help finance the extension of the CTA Red line beyond 95th I will work with the City Council to create an appropriate TIF district for the Red 
Line extension initiative and similar projects.
• TIF surplus funds will be designated for Chicago Public Schools, pension obligations and 
community development projects.

GERY CHICO

Gery Chico. | Rich Hein / Sun-Times

TIFs can be an essential tool in breathing new life into a neighborhood. The long-standing problem with TIFs is that many elected officials have used them as a slush fund for pet projects. That must — and will — come to an end when I become mayor. We will be more strategic and scrupulous in using TIF dollars by ensuring they are directed to long ignored neighborhoods in our city, and when combined with opportunity zone capital. TIFs will be an essential tool in rebuilding communities. This means we can build new train stations, libraries, schools, shopping and offices where they’re lacking. Surplus TIF funds must be returned to CPS and the other taxing bodies for their needs.

BILL DALEY

Bill Daley. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

TIFs are a tool, and as Mayor, I will employ them as part of a coordinated strategy to drive economic development in the South and West sides. We must sync our public spending on things like infrastructure, parks, and new TIFs, with private investments through New Market Tax Credits, and Economic Opportunity Zones.

TIFs are part of this strategy, but they must be used transparently. I will improve reports to account for TIF spending across the city and focus on areas of the city that need help. Coordinated and bold investments are key to growing Chicago to 3 million people. We are also looking at additional reforms.

AMARA ENYIA

Amara Enyia. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The City of Chicago has stretched its use of TIFs far beyond the stated purpose of spurring economic development in ‘blighted’ communities. TIFs, when used properly could actually be an effective tool to spur economic investment and growth. But the program lacks three major components: transparency, consistency and equity in its use, and accountability for how tax dollars are used.

Transparency: For a long time, I participated in the TIF Illumination project, an initiative that sought to educate residents in all 50 wards on how their TIF dollars are being spent (note: Tom Tresser, founder of CivicLab, launched the TIF Illumination project). That process involved teams of researchers reviewing hundreds of pages of TIF documents online to decipher the full details of each TIF district. Transparency is more than just dumping PDFs online. It also includes making information easily accessible and digestible.

The public should know both the individuals that make up the committee determining TIF allocation decisions, mandated public meetings in advance of any decisions to allocate TIF dollars, and data on how TIFs are used by ward — which projects/recipients, the terms of the agreement, and how closely the agreement to receive TIF dollars is adhered to.

There must be full City Council review of TIF funds during the budget approval process, and even aldermen should be properly educated on how TIFs are used in their wards. Public education is not just for the public, it should also be for public servants.Aldermen should be briefed on the ins and outs of TIFs if they are to be effective stewards of any TIF processes in their wards.

Consistency and equity in use: Last year, Chicago reported $146 million in TIF surplus. An equitable economy development plan would determine how to best allocate those funds to the neighborhoods in most need – communities that struggle to attract private investment.

Porting: This creative tactic is used by the city to steer TIF dollars  to favored projects (i.e. the $55 million that was steered to Navy Pier for improvements). Unfortunately, porting rarely seems to go from TIFs flush with cash to those in blighted areas. Porting decisions should be approved by aldermen and if the city is committed to equity, TIF dollars should be steered to the community areas that are in dire need of economic investment.

Accountability:  Follow through is a must for any entities receiving TIF dollars. Most recently, we had a big box retailer that closed stores on the South Side of the city while opening up stores on the North side, all while requesting public dollars. Public dollars must be tied to public benefit – meaning the number of jobs created, quality wages and working conditions for companies receiving public dollars, etc. And if those sorts of criteria are not met, the city should have a clawback provision to recoup public dollars that have been spent.

From my standpoint as an economic development professional, TIFs can be an effective tool for economic development but it requires us to actually steer the public dollars to the communities that need it most. The program must be transparent and subject to oversight that fosters accountability for how those dollars are used. That is the only way to have an economic development process  with integrity and that equitably allocates our city financial resources.

BOB FIORETTI

Bob Fioretti. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Chicago is overrun by TIFs which drain property taxes from essential services such as schools, parks and social services, often with the money subsidizing private developers. TIFs were originally designed to improve blighted areas by attracting construction and jobs, but they have turned into a slush fund for the Mayor.

TIFs exploded in the 1990s and 2000s to claim more than $6 billion from city property taxes. In 2017, Chicago had at least 143 TIFs covering one-third of the city that devour $660 million each year that should pay to educate our children and for the care of our most fragile citizens.

Our central business district is hardly blighted. Yet, the Loop, Near North Side, Near South Side and Near West Side have taken nearly $1.28 billion of the $2.25 billion in TIF dollars spent from to Only $4.8 million was spent collectively in Pullman, Riverdale, Roseland and West Pullman, far South Side communities where blight is prevalent and economic development scarce. In addition, according to reports, tens of

The TIF process is fundamentally broken, which is why I will call for an immediate moratorium on any new TIFs. If we freeze the TIF program, it will allow us time to conduct a complete audit to find out exactly where our money has gone and what the benefits are. This audit should be done by a completely independent body and be made public, giving independent experts, media and the people of Chicago the ability to weigh in on the best uses of this money.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised his administration would be “more accountable, open, and transparent” than any other administration. The TIF Data Portal on the City’s website, while a beginning, falls far short of anything most people would call transparency. Independent research has shown millions in unaccounted for money, and the Department of Planning has not answered demands to account for these dollars. I will call for a complete overhaul of the system to ensure true transparency.

Meanwhile, estimates say the City may currently have $1.4 to $1.7 billion in unused TIF funds. I will declare a TIF surplus with the vast sum that is not committed to any specific projects or debt. That money could then be used to reopen our mental health clinics, shore up some of our school budgets, make a payment into our beleaguered pension fund,  turn some of the closed schools into community centers that drive economic development and begin meaningful neighborhood economic development programs.

I would support the use of TIF funds with local support to assist in creating development and jobs in our communities. Thoughtful development can put vacant properties and parcels back on the property tax rolls, simultaneously generating tax revenue, creating jobs and fostering safe streets and strong neighborhoods. The first step in addressing our city’s financial crisis is to use TIF money for its original purpose: lifting our least-developed neighborhoods out of blight and poverty to create opportunities across all of our communities.

LA SHAWN FORD

LaShawn Ford. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

As mayor, I would start with a moratorium on TIFs. The statute must be amended in Springfield with public hearings to improve the current law. We must add protections against the current abuses that continue gentrification in parts of the city while ignoring development and job opportunities in the hardest hit communities. We must ensure that there is equity in the utilization of TIF dollars by local small businesses in the tax districts.

JA’MAL GREEN

Ja’Mal Green. | Screenshot

TIFs has been corrupted since Harold Washington died. We must abolish TIFs creating a new financial tool linking the development from downtown to the south, west, and east sides of Chicago. Abolishing TIFs would cause for a flush that would give millions to CPS, Park districts etc. The new fund would be called the DBE (Downtown Benefits Everybody) fund. We would create DBE districts in only impoverished communities. Instead of funding these districts by freezing property taxes we would fund them by imposing a special tax on development projects downtown, take a small portion of the sales tax, and a percentage of the lasalle street tax after we find the loophole to get it passed.

JERRY JOYCE

Jerry Joyce. | Tina Sfondeles

TIFs can be an important economic development tool, but in Chicago it is clear that there have been abuses.  The current lack of accountability and transparency in the TIF process is a tremendous problem that the next Mayor must identify as a priority. As Mayor, I would conduct a comprehensive review of the TIF process, including public input, to ensure that TIF dollars are only being used for their intended purpose.

KENNETH KOZLAR

TIFs were intended to be used for blighted areas, however, they were not used for blighted areas. For example, millions of dollars were spent in the Willis Tower and Block 37, both located in downtown Chicago. What we have seen is neighborhoods being ignored, namely those on the South, Southeast, and West sides of our city. Our residents continue to feel disenfranchised due to the lack of investment inside of their neighborhoods. As a result of the abuse of the TIF funds, the areas that received the benefits of TIFs look beautiful, and the ones that were ignored are filled with empty lots and boarded up storefronts. This has resulted in violence pouring in all across the city,  generational families moving out of Chicago, and the machine style of politics staying intact. If TIFs are still available, which we need to reassess to see if any funds remain, then we must invest in our neighborhoods throughout the City of Chicago, and not just downtown. I will redirect the funds to go to areas for its intended purpose — blighted areas. This will result in all of Chicago being treated fairly, funds going directly inside of neighborhood for long-term investments, and we can thereby aid in reducing the violence in our streets.

LORI LIGHTFOOT

Lori Lightfoot. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Chicago must bring real transparency to all aspects of tax increment financing (“TIF”), an economic development tool that diverts more than $650 million in property taxes annually.

When I am mayor, the city will not create new TIF districts until we have fully analyzed the performance of existing districts to ensure that they are meeting their intended objectives and that private recipients of TIF funds are satisfying their contractual obligations. The city will set performance thresholds for each TIF district, and each district will be reviewed at least every five years to determine whether those thresholds are being met. If they are not being met, then the city will, after soliciting public input, determine whether to close a district, revise its objectives or make other changes. In addition, the city will impose penalties on private recipients of TIF funds that do not meet their contractual obligations.

Before any new TIF is created, the city must strengthen the standards for determining whether a district qualifies for TIF. The city will no longer loosely apply the test for determining whether an area is “blighted,” and it will raise the bar for clearing the “but for” test, which requires one to show that private projects and investment would not happen without TIF investment. Only then will the city consider creating new TIF districts that meet these more rigorous standards.

For any new TIF district, the city will clearly describe the justifications for creating the TIF, and it will do so in publicly available documents and in town hall meetings in the proposed district where citizens can provide input. In addition, the city will closely monitor private developers to ensure they are meeting their obligations under redevelopment agreements, including those related to job creation and minority and women business enterprise requirements. If a private developer fails to meet its obligations, the city will enforce penalty provisions contained in the redevelopment agreement, including clawing back TIF funds.

I will address additional TIF-related reforms as the campaign progresses.

 GARRY MCCARTHY

Garry McCarthy. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Chicago’s rising property taxes are not translating into better services and quality of life for Chicago families because the mayor and the city council use Chicago’s TIF program as their personal political slush fund, splurging on flashy downtown development at the wholesale neglect of blighted communities. Schools are closing, violent crime is rampant and the communities most in need of reinvestment are carrying the tax burden while experiencing the very worst of these plights. This is not fair.

We can stop the inside trading by allocating TIF funds to address our most serious challenges, like reducing property taxes. We can usher in a new era of fairness by ushering out the era of political spending that only benefits the friends and allies of powerful politicians. As mayor, I will audit our TIF program to achieve full budget transparency and ensure TIF funds are used to build up blighted communities and reinvest in the future of Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Reallocating TIF funds to address critical funding priorities:

• Implement a $400 million property tax cut by reallocating 30% of Chicago’s $1.4 billion currently sitting in TIF funds back into the corporate treasury.
• Restore City retirees’ healthcare by reallocating $130 million of TIF funds to pension benefits.
• Transfer up to $500 million in TIF surpluses from affluent communities into TIFs in poor communities to combat blight and poverty.
• Restore the $276 million back to Chicago Public Schools that was siphoned away by TIFs.

In 2017, the top ten TIFs collected a total of $238 million in property taxes. These TIFs in downtown and city center communities are currently holding $583 million in property taxes as of January 1, 2018. The Kinzie TIF alone is holding $97.3 million in unused surplus. At the start of 2018 there was $1.4 billion dollars sitting in Chicago’s various TIF funds.

SUSANA MENDOZA

Susana Mendoza. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

As we work to expand economic development funding tools under the constraints of reduced state funding, TIF programs have an important role in building the next generation of infrastructure, schools and a diverse workforce. But we must make the program more transparent and more accountable. To start, I would set clear rules that prohibit profitable corporations and developers from accessing public funding as an incentive to move downtown. TIFs are meant to improve public assets, like infrastructure and schools, not to serve as giveaways to wealthy corporations shopping around for new office subsidies. I would also build on the existing TIF web portal to list projects under consideration for TIFs, instead of just projects that have already been approved.  This will ultimately give the public the opportunity to scrutinize deals and offer input before they are complete.

TONI PRECKWINKLE

Toni Preckwinkle. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Preckwinkle wants the annual TIF surplus earmarked exclusively for CPS, instead of giving city government a cut of that money. That would continue until all 144 TIFs are abolished, if she is elected mayor.

“About a third of our property taxes go into TIF districts. We’ve really got to look at unwinding as many of those TIFs as we possibly can and turning the resources back to Chicago Public Schools,” she told the Sun-Times.

PAUL VALLAS

Paul Vallas. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

The City needs to implement a new paradigm for using TIF funds to support new development and its TIF program. Large-scale redevelopment projects, essential for the City to thrive, need to have clearer TIF guidelines for developers and also should provide opportunities for the City to leverage that growth to help poor and long-neglected communities. Furthermore, the new paradigm needs to provide taxpayers with the transparency to clearly understand how their taxpayer money is being used.

The critical components of that paradigm are as follows:

• Existing successful TIF’s should be evaluated for possible accelerated expiration so that local governments and schools can reap the benefits of an expanded tax base.
• A minimum of one-third of all TIF proceeds should be dedicated to a Chicago Equity Investment Fund (CEIF) to provide capital for investment in blighted areas of the City, with priority given to the 133 Federally-designated Opportunity Zones (see my previously released Economic Development Plan).
• TIF revenues and other City subsidies and grants to businesses and developers should be in the form of an “equity investment,” allowing the City to realize a return on its investment that can be used for future investments.
• Full transparency in the drawing of TIF’s to ensure that they are being drawn in a way that does not divert “existing” property tax revenues away from the schools and other local governments, which only increases taxes on other taxpayers.
• Full transparency on what TIF proceeds will be used for, and protections and security to ensure that developers and businesses that receive direct or indirect City support live up to their commitments (avoidance of another Target store controversy).

This new paradigm for TIF investment will not diminish development, but will provide a structure to ensure greater transparency and accountability in City investment, while also ensuring benefits are shared in poorer communities.

WILLIE WILSON

Willie Wilson. | Jane Recker/Chicago Sun-Times

Everyone knows and many say that the TIF dollars are taken from the communities tax base and funneled into downtown and a few neighborhoods favored by Rahm, directly at his own discretion. I would call for a forensic audit of the program, but such examinations have yet to materialize. The mayor and his staffers who handle the TIF program fight requests to release information clarifying the way TIF funds have been expended.

I would stop plowing all that money into downtown, the riverwalk and the tourist areas and redirect those funds back into the blighted neighborhoods that they were intended for. This will also create new jobs and opportunities in those areas that will help reduce violence. These funds were designed to help the poorest communities and should be used for the ideas above. My more extensive 10 point plan for chicago contains these ideas as well as additional ideas on how to increase revenues, without raising taxes, to fund all of my initiatives….

It is no mystery, if you pass through a neighborhood where residents have jobs, the business community flourishes, where the unemployment is high, stores are vacant, schools are closed and young men are in the streets foraging for a way to survive, by whatever means. Everyone must eat and they will do what they must, not always by choice, to feed their families. We must put resources into the roughly eight communities that are indeed, ‘blighted’.

ROGER L. WASHINGTON

Roger Washington. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

I agree with and support the initial intended mission of TIF dollars being used for the purpose of helping to induce economic development in blighted areas of Chicago. However, the problems arise when our officials are not 1) transparent with the use of TIF financing and 2) when TIF dollars are used to benefit projects or districts that are not facing dire economic conditions. In the case of Marshfield Plaza on the Far South Side of the City, TIF funds were able to provide a significant jolt of economic development to an otherwise forgotten and financially devastated community. This is a good example of the positive benefits of the use of TIF funding to help impoverished communities. However, when TIF funds are funneled to benefit special projects such as enhancements at Navy Pier and to benefit other projects that do not fit the description of financial hardship, I believe that TIFs should not be used in this fashion. Certainly, the public should be clearly informed concerning the use of TIF dollars because ultimately, they will have to be responsible for the total debt that is assumed. In short, TIF financing should only be used in accordance with its original,  initial intended purpose of helping areas facing significant economic distress, and not diverted towards special projects for wealthy businesses.

Finally, complete transparency helps to prevent misuse of TIF dollars by allowing the public to be aware and to challenge the intended use of TIF dollars before appropriated.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com

Keep your eye on Amara Enyia, an “impressive” candidate with the power to excite notoriously-indifferent millennials.

Susana Mendoza is a formidable candidate, but she may not overcome a petition challenge.

Toni Preckwinkle’s union endorsements make her a powerhouse. But she has “base problems” and temperament troubles.

Bill Daley has “base issues,” too.

Welcome to a handicapping of the Chicago mayoral sweepstakes, courtesy of David Axelrod.

The former Obama presidential adviser, now director and co-founder of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, sat down with the Chicago Sun-Times to discuss the wide-open race to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

A CNN commentor, Axelrod said he “got out of the prediction business” after he was blindsided by the election of President Donald Trump.

But if he had to predict who would make the runoff, it would likely be Preckwinkle and Mendoza, provided Mendoza can survive a “serious challenge” to her nominating petitions.

Preckwinkle has a base diminished by the black exodus from Chicago. But she has also has “competition from within that base,” he said.

“Willie Wilson will get votes. Lori Lightfoot will get votes. Amara Enyia, if she’s on the ballot, is a very bright, engaged person. And as you look around the country, these young women of color have emerged as stars in various venues. I would watch her as a factor in this race,” Axelrod said.

Mayoral candidate Amara Enyia speaks at a City Hall press conference in October after Chance The Rapper endorsed her. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

“If you’re Preckwinkle, you have to look over your shoulder and not assume that you have an undivided base. What she does have that is not to be discounted is the endorsement of the Chicago Teachers Union, the endorsement of the SEIU, probably the two most powerful political forces in labor in the city. That is no small advantage.”

As a resident of Chicago, Axelrod said he can only hope the next mayor of Chicago is “someone who can govern the city.”

Preckwinkle sure falls into that category, having spent 19 years in the City Council and eight years as county board president.

Still, Axelrod said he can’t understand why Preckwinkle even wants the job.

“There are clearly parts of it that she doesn’t love. And part of it is dealing with people like you” in the media, Axelrod said.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle thanks SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana and the Chicago Teachers Union for their endorsements Thursday in her campaign for mayor. | Rachel Hinton/Sun-Times

“The County Board presidency is sort of like a sleepy outpost. When you’re mayor, there’s a room full of people whose job it is to keep an eye on you throughout. You’re asked to comment on everything. You can’t duck anything. And she’s not particularly good at hiding her displeasure. That irascibility is something that can plague her in the campaign. And it can bedevil as mayor, if she gets elected.”

Axelrod was asked whether he believes celebrity endorsements from Chance the Rapper and Kanye West will excite millennials who flexed their political muscle in November.

“The history of mayoral races is that it hasn’t engaged young people in the city. That would be a challenge for her,” he said.

RELATED: Axelrod reminisces on covering mayors Byrne, Washington

“Where she could benefit is from televised debates. [But] when you have a field so large, it’s difficult for anyone to really rise up in debates. Trump did it. But he did it sort of in conjunction with a full-court blitz of other media.”

Axelrod served as the political strategist for six of Richard M. Daley’s mayoral campaigns. He “likes and respects” Bill Daley and considers him a longtime friend.

“He’s got a name that is a blessing and a curse. It gets him in the game. But he bears the burden of a long-term legacy that is positive, but also the sense of dynasty that trails him,” Axelrod said.

Bill Daley (left) with former Mayor Richard M. Daley shared a laugh as they waited for the start of the Chicago White Sox opening-day game in April 2016. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Axelrod said he’s not surprised that Daley has taken an overwhelming lead in the fundraising sweepstakes, with $2.7 million and counting. Gery Chico is second at $1.54 million after a $400,000 money drop late Friday.

“There are a lot of people in the business community who trust him,” Axelrod said of Daley.

Still, Daley has “base issues,” with Garry McCarthy and Paul Vallas certain to carve into Daley’s votes in predominantly-white Southwest and Northwest Side wards dominated by police officers, firefighters and other city workers.

Axelrod said Daley’s overriding challenge is to convince Chicago voters his administration would be a break from the corruption scandals, contract cronyism and financial mismanagement that plagued his brother’s administration.

“He’s a very competent guy. A very experienced guy. He clearly knows the city and loves the city. But whether people see Daley as the future — that’s what he has to address,” he said.

“And he has to convince people … that he’ll be committed to the revitalization of neighborhoods because there is a concern in some neighborhoods about too much of a focus on downtown.”

As for Emanuel, Axelrod’s longtime friend and colleague in the Obama White House, Axelrod said he “did the right thing” by calling it quits.

Axelrod believes that Emanuel would have been re-elected, in spite of his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video and the $2 billion avalanche of tax increases that have only begun to solve the pension crisis. But, it would have been a bloody battle that would have made it difficult for him to govern, particularly because Emanuel would have been a lame duck going into a third-term.

“He’ll be remembered more fondly because of the way he’s leaving. And that was one of the advantages of leaving, as you say, on his own steam. People can look more objectively at his legacy,” Axelrod said.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, joined by his wife, Amy Rule, at his announcement in September that he would not seek re-election. | Rahul Parikh/Sun-Times

If Emanuel serves again in public office, it will likely be in a cabinet position — not in a campaign for the U.S. Senate if incumbent Dick Durbin calls it quits, Axelrod said.

“Any mayor of Chicago would have difficulties running statewide because there are these traditional resistances to mayors,” Axelrod said.

“Ed Koch was a popular mayor of New York. Ran for governor of New York. Mario Cuomo was a very distant second when that race started. And he beat Koch in a primary. Why? Because people around the rest of the state didn’t want a mayor with that much power.”

Daley’s ire!

Ding!

It’s the big boys boxing ring … and the gloves are off.

• Round one: Mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce, who was one of the first to toss his hat in the mayoral ring, is the son of former 19th Ward alderman and state Sen. Jeremiah Joyce, a brilliant political strategist for former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

• Round two: Then former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley — and brother of Richard M. Daley, decided to toss his hat in the ring.

• Round three: Political pundits opined Daley expected Joyce to drop out of the race because the families had once been politically tied at the hip and they expected loyalty to royalty.

That didn’t happen.

• Round four: Not only has Joyce Jr. refused to exit the race but challenged Daley’s nominating petitions, which Sneed is told included the signatures of Richard M. Daley’s daughter and Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley’s son and daughter-in-law.

“It’s taken a nasty personal turn, and this one may have crossed the line,” said a top Daley source.

“Former State Sen. Jeremiah Joyce has been a key player in the Daley family political history for years, but it looks like the split is official — and permanent.”

Over and out!?

WASHINGTON – Mayoral candidate Bill Daley hits Boston and Washington in a fundraising swing this week, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned, tapping into an extensive network of donors stemming from his years working in national politics and his stints with Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Barack Obama.

Heading into the February Chicago mayoral vote, Daley has proven to be a formidable fundraiser in the crowded field of contenders.

On Thursday, Daley will be in Boston for a small event hosted by Jack Connors, an influential Boston philanthropist and political power-broker who is the founder of Hill Holliday, a marketing firm.

On Friday, Daley has two funders in Washington and briefings on urban issues from The Brookings Institution policy experts.

There is a lunchtime fundraiser at The Dewey Square Group, with tickets ranging from $100 to $500, according to an invitation obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

The hosts for the Dewey Square event have worked with Daley in national politics for years.

Daley steered NAFTA negotiations for President Clinton and then was his Commerce Secretary. In 2000, Daley managed then Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign and oversaw the dramatic recount battle in Florida between Gore and the eventual winner, former President George W. Bush. Daley also served as a chief of staff to former President Barack Obama.

The Dewey Square hosts listed on the invite are Charlie Baker, Maria Cardona, Jason Cohen, John Giesser, Ginny Terzano, Katie Whelan, Michael Whouley and Laura Hartigan, a veteran of Democratic campaigns who is the daughter of former Illinois Attorney General Neil Hartigan.

A higher dollar funder will be held Friday evening with tickets ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 with a who’s who among the hosts, including Clinton White House veteran Susan Brophy: Washington powerbroker Vernon Jordan; former Defense Sec. William Cohen and his wife, Janet Langhart Cohen (years ago, a model in Chicago); former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Ct.; former Obama Education Sec. Arne Duncan; former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; former Clinton chief of staff Mack McLarty; Harold Ickes, former Bill and Hillary Clinton adviser; Tim Shriver, and Jeff Zients, who was Director of the National Economic Council.

Daley’s east coast swing is being handled by his Washington based fundraising firm, Berger Hirschberg Strategies.

Mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce on Wednesday ditched his petition challenge against Bill Daley — claiming although his team found a “widespread pattern of forgery and fraud” the campaign’s manpower and resources must be spent elsewhere.

The withdrawal of the challenge means Daley — the former U.S. Commerce Secretary — will be on the Feb. 26 ballot, since no one else challenged his petitions.

Joyce’s campaign said the challenge was complicated because Daley’s petition circulators disappeared.

“It’s so hard to find them,” Joyce spokesman Graeme Zielinski said. “Volunteers are driving, spending the day chasing down these guys who, you know, were instructed or they knew to go to ground. They’re not there.”

Jerry Joyce. File Photo. | Tina Sfondeles

Joyce’s campaign in a statement threw in some digs about Daley’s signatures, claiming three people collected more than 11,000 signatures, all using the same notary. The Joyce campaign claims Daley’s petitions included “thousands of examples” of incorrect addresses, unregistered voters, forged names and duplicate signers.

“In the end, we’re withdrawing our challenge,” Zielinski said in a statement. “We can’t spend the next months scouring the earth for purported circulators who, in many cases, are gone with the wind or who don’t live at the addresses that were provided.”

Daley’s campaign aides declined to respond until they receive official word of Joyce’s withdrawal from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Those who filed petition challenges are trying to match up voter registrations and are also looking at signatures filed with the board of elections. They’re also looking for a pattern of fraud, which is hard to prove.

Last week, Joyce landed the first spot on the crowded ballot after a lottery. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in February, the top two will face each other in an April 2 runoff.

Other petition challenges include former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas challenging former Chicago Police Dept. Supt. Garry McCarthy’s signatures; Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle challenging Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s petitions, as well as those of philanthropist and businessman Willie Wilson and former Chicago Police Board president Lori Lightfoot; and other mayoral candidates challenging the signatures provided by Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and activist Catherine Brown D’Tycoon. Wilson is also challenging the petitions of activist Ja’Mal Green.

Hearings on the objections began on Monday and are open to the public.

Candidates for mayor need signatures from 12,500 registered Chicago voters to earn a spot on the ballot. Most try to submit petitions containing at least three times that many signatures to provide a buffer to withstand any legal challenge.

When he filed on the last day of the period last month, Daley, the son and brother of Chicago mayors, submitted an estimated 45,000 signatures. That means Joyce would have had to prove that more than 32,000 of them were invalid to knock Daley from the ballot.

RELATED:

• Joyce, Daley mayoral match-up goes another round, threatens families’ ties
• Attorney Jerry Joyce takes first spot on crowded mayoral ballot
• Preckwinkle’s petition pounce: Challenges Mendoza, four other women
• Signature accomplishments: A mix of strategy and superstition in petition filing
• ‘Now the games begin’: Five officially enter mayor’s race — 13 more to go?
• A game of 21: Mendoza, Brown join crowded mayoral field — now who will fold?

Ald. Ed Burke is up against it.

He’s fighting the toughest re-election challenge of his career, with four Latino candidates running against him in a Southwest Side ward that has grown heavily Latino.

The feds are going after him. They raided his City Hall and 14th Ward offices on Nov. 29, and they raided the City Hall office again on Thursday.

EDITORIAL

On Wednesday, the City Council’s Progressive Caucus called for Burke to be stripped of his control of the city’s $100-million-a-year workers’ compensation program.

And then there is this: If Burke survives all that, he may still get a rude reception from the next mayor of Chicago.

At least 10 of the 21 candidates for mayor, including all but one of the presumed front-runners, tell us that it’s way past time Burke was stripped of a big source of his political power — his ability to manage the city’s workers’ comp program like a secretive fiefdom. The program, eight of the candidates add, should be moved to the executive branch of government.

As to whether Burke himself should go or stay — booted as chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee or left alone — there is less consensus.

One candidate for mayor forthrightly acknowledged Burke’s an old friend. Several others said it would be unfair to force Burke out as chairman unless the feds can produce proof of a crime.

Still others said nothing at all, perhaps in keeping with that old City Hall tradition of never crossing Burke. Because he knows stuff.

By email last weekend, we asked 19 of the 21 candidates what they thought should be done about Burke. Fourteen replied. Only one of the top tier of candidates, Garry McCarthy, did not.

Those who said they support moving the workers’ comp program from the Council to the executive branch were Dorothy Brown, Gery Chico, Bill Daley, Jerry Joyce, Lori Lightfoot, Toni Preckwinkle, Amara Enyia and Paul Vallas. Three other candidates — Susana Mendoza, Bob Fioretti and Willie Wilson — said Burke should be stripped of his oversight of the program but did not say they favor moving it out of the City Council altogether.

Burke “has been a friend for years,” Chico wrote, praising the alderman for “cooperating with the current federal investigation.” But Chico made clear he would want to shift the workers’ comp program out of the Council.

“We need to start fresh and consolidate all executive functions into the executive branch of city government — just like other major municipalities,” Chico wrote, “where they can be operated with efficiency and transparency.”

Daley argued that moving the workers’ comp program to the executive branch would allow the city inspector general, currently Joe Ferguson, to keep an eye on it. “Keeping this program under the Finance Committee,” Daley wrote, “removes vital oversight and keeps accountability away from the mayor. Voters deserve to know that funds like this are carefully managed.”

Daley did not address the question of whether Burke should step down or be stripped of his powers.

Enyia said she favors taking the program out of Burke’s hands, but she emphasized another point: Real reform requires changes in institutional structures. In this case, she wrote, that would mean “shifting the program to a separate agency” and giving Ferguson oversight powers.

Lightfoot wrote that Burke should be “stripped of his job” if he does not step down as head of the Finance Committee, but she took it further. As long as Burke is under federal investigation, she said, he also “should not play a role in vetting judges” for the Cook County Democratic Party.

Burke is so secretive in the way he runs the workers’ comp program, Lightfoot wrote, “that even some City Council members have said they do not know exactly how it operates.” The result, she said, is “cynicism among the taxpaying public.”

Among the 14 candidates for mayor who responded to our question, Preckwinkle was among the most pointed in calling Burke out. She cited the FBI raid and noted that Burke has built up “significant personal wealth related to his tax appeals practice.” She pointed out that he regularly has to recuse himself from Council votes because of conflicts of interest.

And for good and disdainful measure, she tossed in the fact that Burke represented President Donald Trump in property tax appeals.

Our own view, which we expressed in an editorial two weeks ago, is that Burke should resign as Finance Committee chair, or be pushed out, not because of the federal investigation, but because of his old-school political machine management of the workers’ comp program for many years. Several media investigations, including by the Sun-Times, have revealed abuses in the program — patronage hiring, as well as favoritism in cutting disability checks.

Where the candidates for mayor — and alderman — stand on this issue will be an important consideration as we size whom to endorse in the coming elections. We urge you, the voters, take it into account as well.

To read the candidates’ full replies to our questions about Burke and the workers’ comp program, click here. And we urge you to visit their campaign websites to learn more.

Bill Daley: daleyformayor.com
Paul Vallas: vallasforallchicago.com
Gery Chico: chicoformayor.com
Amara Enyia: amaraenyia.com
Robert “Bob” Fioretti: bobforchicago.com
La Shawn Ford: fordforchicago.com
Willie Wilson: williewilsonformayor.com
Ja’Mal Green: greenforchicago.com
Dorothy Brown: dorothyformayor.com/2019
Susana Mendoza: susanamendoza.com
Jerry Joyce: jerryjoyce2019.com
Lori Lightfoot: lightfootforchicago.com
Toni Preckwinkle: toniforchicago.com
Garry McCarthy: garryformayor.com
Neal Sales-Griffin: nealformayor.com
John Kenneth Kozlar: johnkozlar.com
Roger L. Washington: washingtonformayor.com

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com.

Here are 14 mayoral candidates’ responses to our question: We believe Ald. Ed Burke should step down as head of the Finance Committee, where he oversees the workers compensation program. If he does not, we believe the City Council and the mayor should strip him of the job and/or move the workers comp program out of the City Council and into the executive branch, which is the norm elsewhere. What’s your position on this?

The responses are published in alphabetical order.

DOROTHY BROWN

Dorothy Brown. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

For the City of Chicago, I would structure the administration of the workers’ compensation program along the same lines as used by Cook County, which have been in place since I took office, since 2000. At the County, the Department of Risk Management is responsible for the administration and payment of workers’ compensation benefits for injuries or illness sustained on the job. The department determines compensability of each claim in compliance with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation and Workers’ Occupational Disease acts, and maintains a data system for monitoring and controlling workers’ compensation claims. The department reports directly to the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, who is accountable to the citizens of Cook County.

On a periodic basis, workers’ compensation cases are reviewed by the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The board can question the Department of Risk Management about excessively high settlements, look for patterns of use and abuse in workers’ compensation claims, and hold county department heads and officials accountable for improving the health and safety of all employees. This process is rigorous and has helped to ensure strict controls over workers’ compensation claims. As mayor, I will create a similar structure and process for administering workers compensation claims for the City of Chicago.

GERY CHICO

Gery Chico. | Rich Hein / Sun-Times

Ed Burke has been a friend for years and as I’ve said, I am pleased that he has committed to cooperating with the current federal investigation.

As mayor, we will not operate executive programs such as the workers’ compensation program from City Council. We need to start fresh and consolidate all executive functions into the executive branch of city government — just like other major municipalities — where they can be operated with efficiency and transparency.

BILL DALEY

Bill Daley. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

I support administering workers’ compensation in the executive branch. The City Inspector General investigated the workers’ compensation program and was unable to get access to relevant data. Keeping this program under the finance committee removes vital oversight and keeps accountability away from the mayor. Voters deserve to know that funds like this are carefully managed.

AMARA ENYIA

Amara Enyia. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The workers’ compensation program being moved from Ald. Ed Burke’s purview should not be contingent on the outcome of the current FBI investigation on the alderman’s office — it’s a matter of good government. It is absolutely unacceptable that the program is administered by an alderman and without the oversight and monitoring of the inspector general’s office. Moreover, it’s mind-boggling for the inspector general to have faced such vociferous resistance to the modest information requests made of Ald. Burke regarding data from the workers’ compensation program.

Ald. Burke should step down from his role as chair of the finance committee regardless of the outcome of the current investigation he’s under, and regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election, simply because his role chairing the finance committee epitomizes the consolidation of power that thwarts transparency, oversight, and government that is supposed to operate in the interests of the residents of this city. The workers’ compensation program should be moved to a separate agency, not overseen by a member of the legislative body. Moreover, the inspector general must be given the appropriate oversight to ensure that this $100 million a year program is administered fairly and effectively with the interests of city workers and city residents in mind, not the interests of those seeking to curry favor or consolidate power.

If we are serious about addressing the deep-seated issues of corruption in our city, it’s not enough to change the people in leadership (i.e. demanding that Ald. Burke step down). We must change our institutions. Putting in place necessary checks and balances, like inspector general oversight and shifting the program to a separate agency, similar to the formats in place at the county and state level, are institutional measures that strengthen the program, mitigate corruption and the appearance of impropriety, and make government work for the people — not just for politicians.

ROBERT “BOB” FIORETTI

Bob Fioretti. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

These are two separate questions. Ald. Ed Burke is a walking, talking conflict of interest and he makes the case perfectly for term limits. When I am mayor, I will seek to have a new finance chairman. As an attorney, however, I firmly believe in the presumption of innocence as a bedrock of our society, and therefore I do not believe he should step down either as alderman or finance committee chairman because of an investigation, unless there are further developments on those issues.

The workers’ compensation program is another matter entirely. This program should never have been set up so that one person, no matter who they are, has complete and total control. My opposition to the way this is run predates the FBI investigation by a decade or more. From my first day in the City Council, I have been a vocal proponent of completely reforming the way the workers’ compensation program is run.

This program, like all others, should have complete transparency, of which it currently has none. There should also be zero patronage involved in a program such as this. In other words, it should be run in a professional manner, as is done in every other city in America.

LA SHAWN FORD

La Shawn Ford. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

When whistleblowers and the media expose evidence of patronage or favoritism in the city of Chicago’s workers compensation program, no one should be able to block the city’s inspector general from auditing and investigating the finance committee. The books need to be opened, taxpayers need to know the truth, and an unbiased and thorough report should drive efforts for reform, for the benefit of taxpayers and for those who are truly injured on the job.

The current investigation of Mr. Burke should be separated from the public policy issue of what is best for the people of Chicago. A full and fair investigation and response from Mr. Burke is in order.

It makes sense to consider the proposal that the city’s corporation counsel could handle workers’ compensation cases, with oversight from a City Council committee.

JERRY JOYCE

Jerry Joyce. | Tina Sfondeles

Though there is a serious cloud surrounding this federal probe, authorities have not provided any public details of the investigation and nobody has been charged with any crime at this time. It is up to Ald. Burke and the City Council to decide whether or not he should step aside as the probe plays out. Ald. Burke may decide it’s in his own best interest to step away, but it’s his decision and he’s entitled to a presumption of innocence.

As to the second question, there have been thoughtful proposals over the years to move workers’ comp away from the finance committee. I strongly support moving the Chicago Workers’ Compensation Program out of the purview of the committee on finance and into the executive branch of city government, with proper professional oversight and independent review.

This program costs Chicago taxpayers $100 million per year and it should be administered by workers’ compensation professionals for optimal management. In all other major U.S. cities besides Chicago, the executive branch oversees workers’ compensation and Chicago needs to follow suit.

JOHN KENNETH KOZLAR

John Kozlar. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

If Chicago wants the same result, then Chicago will elect the same people. Nothing will change if we elect the same elitist, machine-style politicians over and over again. This is the reason why I am running for mayor. We simply need a fresh, new approach to politics in Chicago. For too long, we have elected people who say all of the right things and who go to all of the right places during election year. However, when they get elected, they take more care of their friends and political networks than they do our neighborhoods and communities. It is time we put Chicago first, and not the deep-pocketed donors. It is our time to shine as community members and neighborhoods, and put our elitist, long-termed politicians out of office. We need terms limits for all of City Council, so we can limit events like this from happening again.

LORI LIGHTFOOT

Lori Lightfoot. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Ed Burke should step down as head of the finance committee. If he does not, the City Council and the mayor should strip him of the job. Additionally, while the investigation is pending, Burke should not play a role in vetting judges for the Cook County Democratic Party. I also support moving the workers’ compensation program out of the City Council and into the executive branch.

The City of Chicago’s $100 million-per-year workers’ compensation program cannot continue to be controlled by a single member of City Council, in the dark, without any meaningful oversight. So little is known about this program that even some City Council members have said they do not know exactly how it operates. According to a February 2016 resolution introduced in City Council, the workers’ compensation program “creates cynicism among the taxpaying public, undermining trust in the government of the City of Chicago and in [City Council].”

As mayor, I will introduce an ordinance that moves the workers’ compensation program from City Council to the executive branch, where a board composed of members from the city’s law department, chief financial officer’s office, and human resources will be responsible for hearing and adjudicating claims. In my administration, the workers’ compensation program, for the first time in decades, will be run in public view. Moreover, the workers’ compensation board will be subject to oversight from both City Council and the city’s Office of Inspector General.

SUSANA MENDOZA

Susana Mendoza. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

It’s time for Chairman Burke to step down as head of the Finance Committee and if he doesn’t, the City Council and the Mayor should remove him from this role.

TONI PRECKWINKLE

Toni Preckwinkle. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Recently, news broke that the offices of 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke had been raided by the FBI and that he had become the subject of a federal investigation.

As chairman of the finance committee, Ald. Burke has been able to amass a huge campaign war chest and significant personal wealth related to his tax appeals practice.

For decades, Ald. Burke has had to recuse himself from crucial votes due to his conflicts of interest. I am a firm believer that a public servant should avoid outside employment that prevents them from advocating and representing their constituency.

As a partner at the Chicago law firm Klafter and Burke, Ald. Burke represented President Donald Trump in property tax matters that favor the rich. At a time when black and brown communities are under attack, particularly from President Trump, our elected officials need to stand up and defend our most vulnerable communities.

As mayor, I will evaluate all chairmanships and move the $100 million workers’ comp program from the finance committee to the human resources department.

Throughout my career, I have always stood for responsible, ethical government and it is apparent that there is a need for leadership and voices, unmarred by conflict and special interests.

PAUL VALLAS

Paul Vallas. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

I believe that workers’ compensation should not be and never should have been in the finance committee. It should be permanently removed from the finance committee, regardless of whether or not Ald. Burke stays. As to whether or not he should remain chairman of the finance committee, if he indeed is the focus of the investigation, then he should resign or at least take a leave.

For the future of the finance committee, I as mayor am going to review all committee chairmanship assignments and I will solicit City Council input before deciding which chairmen should remain and which chairmen should be replaced and with whom. It is important that these appointees reflect the diversity of the city and have the support of the community.

ROGER L. WASHINGTON

Roger Washington. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

As a true Independent candidate for mayor, I call for Ald. Edward Burke to step aside as chairman of the city’s finance committee. Ald. Burke continues to hover over this city as a cloud of corruption and influence peddling. His influence over the last 50 years as alderman and chairman of finance ought to serve as a clear sign that this city needs term limits for its elected officials. His grip on the city’s finances including workers’ compensation is so strong that it is obvious why even machine heavyweights like Bill Daley, Toni Preckwinkle and Susan Mendoza dare say nothing to challenge him. In fact, since they’ve all benefited from Burke’s monetary contributions at one time or another, their silence is deafening!

Just as during Harold Washington’s years as mayor, with the FBI raid of his City Hall office just days ago, Ed Burke remains an embarrassment to the City of Chicago. Finally, a change in his ward’s demographics could possibly yield an end to his shenanigans, including racial polarization. Ald. Burke has been out of touch with most Chicagoans for quite some time, but his grip over progressives in his ward has been overwhelming. However, today is a new day. As Harold Washington once said, “You can run, but you cannot hide!” Apparently the FBI agrees. I join the Sun-Times Editorial Board in calling on Ald. Burke to resign as chairman of finance. If he refuses, once I’m elected mayor, I will do everything within my power to strip him of his current responsibilities as the chair of finance.

WILLIE WILSON

Willie Wilson. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Much like the superintendent of police and other members of Rahm’s administration, there has been too much controversy with Ald. Burke and his chairmanship of the finance committee for him to continue in that role. If he does not voluntarily resign that position, a new chair should be elected by the council.

Checks and balances throughout government are essential. My own plan for city operations includes empowering the inspector general and involving citizens in as many reviews, oversight activities and decisions as possible.

For example, I will call for a forensic audit of the TIF fund expenditures, publish accounting statements on the city’s website and ensure quarterly reviews of all departments and committee expenditures to seek out wrong-doing and white collar crime. Anyone serving the people in government has an obligation to report details of how they spend the peoples’ resources and anyone found mishandling the peoples’ funds should be prosecuted.

Until we achieve parity in spending and find ways to fulfill human needs of our citizens, there can be no peace in our City and no place to hide for wrongdoers.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com

“Bill will put a moratorium on tax hikes to keep families in their homes.” — TV ad for Bill Daley, Dec. 6, 2018

Bill Daley, the son of one former Chicago mayor and brother of another, is running for mayor in his own right with a pledge in his first TV campaign ad that suggests he’s following the family playbook.

In the ad, a narrator promises: “Bill will put a moratorium on tax hikes to keep families in their homes” as the words “PROPERTY TAX FREEZE” appear on the screen.

Daley’s mayoral kin, Richard J. and Richard M., often made similar sounding claims in unveiling annual city budgets. Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel has sometimes done the same.

But what the Daley ad fails to make clear is that he is only promising to freeze a portion of the various property tax levies that make up a typical bill, not the whole thing.

Property tax primer

First, it’s important to understand how property tax bills break down.

In Chicago, there are levies that fund city government and separate levies that fund schools, parks, Cook County government, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and a handful of other public agencies.

Last year, only about 25 percent of a typical Chicago property tax bill covered city government, according to the Cook County Clerk’s office. So holding the line on the city’s levy, as Daley proposes in his ad, might slow the growth of tax bills for property owners in the city but it wouldn’t contain them.

By contrast, school taxes comprised more than half of Chicago tax bills in 2017. If elected mayor, Bill Daley would gain the power to appoint the Board of Education and top schools officials and effectively control the city’s education apparatus. The same goes for the Chicago Park District, whose levy made up about 5 percent of the typical bill in 2017.

We asked Daley spokesman Peter Cunningham whether the candidate’s freeze pledge extended to those sister city agencies under a mayor’s thumb. Cunningham, in an email, said it did not, though he stressed Daley “will very aggressively push other taxing bodies to be efficient and to look for alternatives including new state funding — especially for schools.”

Cunningham served as a spokesman for the Chicago Public Schools when Daley’s brother, Richard M. Daley, was mayor. Property tax levies at CPS have annually risen even when city government holds the line.

That isn’t to say it would be politically or fiscally prudent to freeze the schools’ portion of the property tax. The district faces chronic financial woes, and often finds it hard to make ends meet even after raising its annual property tax levy to the amount allowed under state law.

It does suggest, however, that Daley’s ad skates around critical nuance of how property tax bills in Chicago are calculated.

Proposals like Daley’s also leave out the other big question raised by the possibility of a property tax freeze: how else to come up with revenue to cover spiraling projected costs, particularly for pensions.

Past mayors have managed to keep property taxes flat by employing a number of fiscal sleights of hand, including underfunding pensions.

What was once a much smaller problem for the city’s bottom line has “snowballed” over the years, said Amanda Kass, associate director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, forcing the city to make much more significant increases in order to catch up.

Kass said this practice has also led Chicago residents to expect the current level of services the city provides without an increase in property taxes.

“Residents weren’t feeling the full cost of services because the pensions were being underfunded,” she said.

Richard M. Daley also staved off property tax increases by spending proceeds from a controversial $1 billion long-term lease of the city’s parking meters to private investors.

The tradeoff in signing away decades of meter revenue was said to be the ability to invest and grow the lease proceeds for future city needs. By late 2010, his last full year in office, Richard Daley had spent almost all of the proceeds.

Our ruling

Bill Daley’s TV ad promises he would, as mayor, “put a moratorium on tax hikes to keep families in their homes.”

That claim is misleading. A spokesman for his campaign told us his freeze would apply only to taxes that directly fund city government. The promise does not extend to property taxes levied for schools, parks and other sister city agencies the mayor effectively controls though they comprise well over half of a typical bill.

So Daley is promising to freeze the city’s direct property tax levy — but not all of the city-level property taxes Chicago homeowners pay.

We rate Daley’s statement Half True.

The Better Government Association runs PolitiFact Illinois, the local arm of the nationally renowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking enterprise that rates the truthfulness of statements made by governmental leaders and politicians. BGA’s fact-checking service has teamed up weekly with the Sun-Times, in print and online. You can find all of the PolitiFact Illinois stories we’ve reported together here.

Sources

Campaign ad, Daley for Mayor, Dec. 6, 2018

Report: 2017 Cook County Tax Rates, Cook County Clerk’s Office, June 20, 2018

Email interview: Peter Cunningham, Daley spokesman, Dec. 11, 2018

Phone interview: Amanda Kass, associate director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Dec. 12, 2018

“Broken budget awaits another mayor,” Chicago Tribune, Dec. 18, 2010

Phone interview: Dick Simpson, political science professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Dec. 13, 2018

Bill Daley tried Wednesday to get the ball rolling on a series of mayoral debates, apparently hoping it’ll help him stand out from the crowd of candidates vying to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

In a letter to eight television station managers, Daley noted that there is “little time to waste.” Early voting starts in mid-January and election day is only 10 weeks away.

“Our city faces tough challenges on a broad range of issues — from crime and schools to finances and neighborhood growth,” Daley wrote.

“Chicago voters need and deserve an opportunity to evaluate the full field of candidates across these important issues before casting their vote.”

Daley goes on to propose that “all mayoral campaigns and Chicago media outlets come together to coordinate a series of prime-time television debates,” so voters can see the differences for themselves before casting their ballots.

He did not propose a specific number of debates. He simply said there needs to be enough debates to give all candidates a chance to participate.

Debates also need to be “structured and moderated in a way to elevate civic dialogue,” Daley said.

That means: “professional journalists selected by the media outlets with input from all candidates,” a “timed question-and-response format that incorporates both a candidate’s response and an opposing candidate’s rebuttal”’ and “some consensus around policy topics” so the “most salient issues get the most attention.”

Moderators should also “solicit questions and topics from the public,” Daley said.

“The people of Chicago deserve to hear how mayoral candidates will address the issues, so they can decide which candidate best represents their voices and can deliver on promises,” Daley wrote.

Mayoral debates in a field as crowded as Chicago’s — before petition challenges winnow the field —could have a diminished impact unless somebody makes a big mistake or has a break-out moment.

For Daley, debates may be a double-edged sword.

It’s an opportunity to prove that his governing style would be different than his brother’s and that his election would not mean more of the same.

But debates would also give Daley’s competitors an opportunity to remind voters of the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals that cast a giant shadow over former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 22-year administration and question whether Bill Daley’s election would bring more of the same.

Debates are equally risky for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. They’re a chance for competitors to hammer her about her now-repealed tax on sugary beverages and about her longstanding relationship with outgoing Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios.

Gery Chico will have to answer for his decades-long friendship with Ald. Edward Burke (14th), whose ward and City Hall offices were raided by federal investigators.

Fired Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy is certain to be hammered about the police shooting of Laquan McDonald that happened on his watch.

And Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza will have to answer for running for one office, shortly after being re-elected to another, and about her tough-on-crime voting record in Springfield that earned her the nickname “electric Suzy.”