Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, Rahm slayer.
Ah, Chicago, my birth town, home of my favorite sports teams (and those of my son, because I'm a perfect dad) and one of the coolest places on earth when it's not winter. Also, it's the latest place that Rahm Emanuel is stinking up.
You guys don't need a rundown on Rahm's escapades. He was virulently anti-immigration when running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and was essentially the reason the issue didn't move forward during Obama's first term when he served as the president's chief of staff. He once said that liberals were "fucking retarded" for wanting to push the president to the left. He was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's biggest ally in bailing out the banks with zero reciprocity for taxpayers.
About the best thing that could be said about Rahm's mayoralship was that it got him the fuck away from D.C., and good riddance. But that still leaves the little problem of that asshole screwing up Chicago, and that's not fair to our nation's third largest city where the mayor has closed 50 public schools while focusing his efforts on the downtown business core while ignoring its vibrant neighborhoods. He truly is a mayor for the 1 percent. So how about we help boot his ass into the private sector?
City reformers and activists have coalesced around Cook County Commissioner Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia. (You want to learn about him, this is a great piece.) The Chicago Teacher's Union is enthusiastically backing Garcia, and has polling to support its efforts.
[O]n a three-way ballot including Emanuel, Garcia and Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), Emanuel would take 33 percent of the vote, Garcia 18 and Fioretti 13. A vote total of 50 percent plus one is needed to avoid a runoff election.
In a head-to-head between Garcia and Emanuel, the difference narrowed to five points with Emanuel at 36 percent and Garcia at 31.
Rahm is far from the 50 percent he needs to avoid a runoff during this February primary, which is shocking given his near-universal name ID. He's sitting on $9 million, and the business community will shower him with millions more, but he's built little goodwill or core base of support during his first term. Garcia, a long-time community organizer, was a city council supporter of groundbreaking Mayor Harold Washington, later ousted by the Daley machine, the same machine now backing Rahm.
Garcia won't raise $9 million, much less whatever total Rahm ends up with by the time votes are cast. But he doesn't need to. People have either decided they want an alternative, or are open to one. And those undecideds really don't care for Rahm:
By a more than a two-to-one margin, undecided voters view Rahm more unfavorably (62 percent) than favorably (26 percent). […]
Chicagoans are dissatisfied with the direction of the city with just 35 percent say things are headed in the right direction, while 50 percent say things are heading in the wrong direction, according to the poll.
Garcia's job will be to have enough money to get his message out, and to withstand the shit Rahm will throw his way. And that's where we can help him. If you are local in the Windy City, consider
volunteering. Everyone else, take a look at what Rahm Emanuel has done to our party and progressive politics over the past decade, and then say "fuck you" by
throwing $3 into Garcia's campaign.
You want a better Democratic Party? These primaries are the place to make that happen.