Natalia Chi
Paul Vallas stepped out of his technocratic shell and hit back at Brandon Johnson in a heated debate on Thursday, blaming Johnson for his past support for the idea of defunding the police and “investing in people.” He stood on the spot about his current plan to raise $800 million in taxes for ”
During their first televised debate last week, Johnson was the undisputed attacker.
He accused Ballas of standing before “right-wing extremists” and setting the stage for an avalanche of property tax increases with “accounting gimmicks” and pension fund raids.
Vallas was careful not to get into trouble that night. His main reaction to Johnson’s broadsides was to call those criticisms “nonsense.”
It was a dramatically different Varras who showed up for the finals opponent debate at ABC7 Chicago on Thursday.
As the race got tougher, even in his campaign’s internal polls, Varras brought words into the fight that rivaled his boxing gloves.
In response to the first question of the night, Vallas threw a verbal punch about Johnson’s history of speaking favorably about the political goal of defunding the police.
Johnson says no more. But he’s not yet going to commit to fully funding his $1.94 billion budget for the Chicago Police Department. In fact, by cutting the number of supervisors, he promises to cut the CPD budget by at least $150 million.
“The opponent wants the police to defend him. I don’t want to.
“Smart Policing” or Defunding the Police?
Johnson countered. he never said ”
Instead, the Cook County Commissioner promoted 200 detectives to solve violent crimes, freeing police officers from the burden of responding to 40% of 911 calls for mental health and other non-police emergencies. He stressed plans for “smart policing”, including
“We are asking police officers not only to do their work, but to do someone else’s work. They are not social workers. They are not counselors. [or] marriage therapist. I have served on the front lines as a public school teacher in the City of Chicago. I’ve seen firsthand what that trauma entails,” Johnson said.
Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson (left) and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas (right) prepare for the mayors debate Thursday in the studio on WLS-TV ABC Channel 7.
Tyler Paciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
“We need to free up law enforcement so they can focus on more violent crimes. Most police officers don’t know who they call every day.”
Valas stood his ground.
“Smart policing is not stopping police funding. Smart policing is not [not] Fill 1,100 vacancies. Smart policing thinks he can solve the problem he’s not promoting 200 detectives. …smart he’s policing vacancies, pushing police officers to his beat locally so he can respond to 911 calls in minutes,” Vallas said.
business, budget, millionaire
Valas also targeted an $800 million tax increase to support $1 billion worth of “investment in people,” the cornerstone of Johnson’s anti-violence strategy.
“By reimposing the poll tax that levies small businesses, we are not going to promote them. It is not a tax on the wealthy. It’s part of a billion-dollar tax plan: Hotels and motels already pay the highest taxes in the country and will hardly survive even as we get closer to recovering from COVID,” Vallas said.
Johnson said a billion dollar investment in social services is “what a better, stronger city needs.” He claimed that his tax plan was based on “fundamental democratic principles.”
“Democrats across the country think the wealthy in this city and this country should get in more games and pay their fair share in taxes. President Biden says teachers and firefighters are billionaires. He said he should not pay the same tax rate as
Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson (left) and Paul Ballas (right) just before Thursday night’s debate.
Tyler Paciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
“The reason Paul Vallas avoids this dynamic is because he is backed by billionaires. The way out of this structural deficit is to do what works. It’s about getting rid of the deficits we’ve caused, creating up to $1 billion in new investments, and doing it without raising property taxes.”
Varas did not take the attack, either.
“Oh my god, I haven’t been the head of the budget for 20 years,” said Vallas, referring to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
After Johnson criticized Vallas’ handling of school budgets in jobs across the country, Vallas replied: … So don’t preach me about managing a budget. “
Johnson said, “Here’s what I know about budgets: Paul’s not good at it.”
Chicago mayoral rivals Brandon Johnson (left) and Paul Ballas (right) shake hands before attending the forum on Thursday.
Tyler Paciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
