Friday, January 30, 2015

Anti-Union Buses

Teachers Beware of Anti-Union Bus Companies
By Jim Vail


Latino Express bus company is against unions and has fired bus drivers unfairly.

One of the more memorable educational experiences for school children is going on field trips. 

I scheduled a trip to the Field Museum and I decided to Google a bus company we use all the time called Latino Express. Then rather than direct me to their contact info., I read this glaring headline:

"Latino Express Bus Drivers Still Fighting for Rights in Chicago."

I read that Latino Express has spent oodles of money in one legal battle after another to prevent their bus drivers from unionizing and fighting against unlawful terminations of bus drivers.

I called the Teamsters Local 777 who are fighting this company to ask what was going on. They said Latino Express is a particularly vicious company that spends unlimited funds to fight their workers, even though they lose every time.

The National Labor Relations Board ordered Latino Express to bargain in good faith with the Teamsters after Latino fought in the courts to prevent this.

"These drivers first sought representation with the Teamsters in 2011 because of company mistreatment, and management's vindictive and heartless behavior hasn't stopped," said James Glimco, president of Local 777, in a press release.

According to the Teamsters press release, after the drivers first unionized following four months of election delays initiated by the company, Latino has refused to pay lost wages to two unfairly fired drivers who were reinstated by the NLRB. NLRB also ordered Latino Express to reimburse workers for federal taxes owed on any outstanding wages following a termination and reinstatement, which Latino has appealed as well.

So I would like to tell my colleagues and fellow delegates to beware of vicious anti-union, anti-worker companies all around us who we patronize on behalf of the children.

Latino Express has been a subcontractor for the Chicago Public Schools for 17 years, managing about 85 bus routes throughout the school year.

I called another bus company instead. We all need to do the same and say no to Latino Express and union busting! 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Sun-Times Meegan Questionnaire

Teacher Tim Meegan Punctuates Fighting Power in Sun-Times Interview
By Jim Vail


Alderman candidate Tim Meegan.


Roosevelt history teacher Tim Meegan who is running for 33rd ward alderman against machinist Deb Mell answered the Sun-Times editorial board questions. His answers punched through the working man's plight and what is needed to fight the power! However, Deb Mell posters are appearing all over the ward to remind voters who has been king of these parts for a long time - her big daddy Dick Mell. When I questioned a friend who runs a small diner in the ward why he had Deb Mell's sign up, he said he's sick of politics and it doesn't matter anyway. Then he told me the story about when his friend was running for political office, so he put up his sign in the window. Then the precinct captain called within the hour and asked him to take the sign down. Go Tim!


Sun-Times Editorial Board Questionnaire for Alderman candidate Tim Meegan.

1) City Pensions
Q:Chicago's fire and police pensions are greatly underfunded, and the city is required by the state to make a $550 million payment into the pension funds by the end of 2015. Do you support restructuring the pension systems, inevitably reducing benefits, to put the funds on sound financial footing?
Yes or No: No
Please Explain: As a public sector worker, I care deeply about public pensions and the welfare of all public sector workers.  I stand against reducing pension benefits as a means of making up for payment shortfalls, which are caused by politicians who willfully ignored their obligation to pay into the pension fund for decades. The employees never missed a payment.  Not only is pension theft unconstitutional, it is an unsound policy: it takes from working families and pushes off the pension crisis into the future. I support creating new revenue streams, such as the LaSalle Street financial transaction tax, as a means of finding the revenue to fully fund pensions and will fight against the use of pension holidays in order to prevent this crisis from occurring in the future.
QChicago's pension systems for municipal workers and laborers already have been restructured, reducing benefits, but the city has yet to identify where it will find the revenue to sufficiently fund those systems. Under what circumstances would you support a property tax increase to raise the needed revenue for the fire and police pensions and/or the municipal workers and laborers pensions?
A: I would support an increase in property taxes only with proper exemptions and planning.  For example, expanding Illinois’ property tax circuit breaker beyond seniors and disabled people to include more middle- and low-income residents, who struggle equally with property tax increases.  This would ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share in property tax increases, rather than place the brunt of the burden on working people.  However, increasing property taxes is not a long-term solution to insufficient revenue for pensions, or any other public sector entity for that matter. Ultimately, property taxes are a regressive form of taxation, and I will fight to find revenue streams that make the very wealthy and corporations pay their fair share for the public services from which they benefit.  For this reason, I support the LaSalle Street financial transaction tax and commuter taxes.  Public-sector workers should not face the consequences for politicians willfully ignoring their responsibility to pay into the pension system and the very wealthy and corporations shirking their social responsibility to the public sector, from which they benefit.  
2) Chicago Public Schools pensions
QLarge and growing payments required to keep the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund solvent are squeezing CPS' budget, forcing cuts elsewhere and limiting investment. The Chicago Board of Education has increased property taxes, but it is not enough to keep up with the high annual costs. What measures do you support to ensure a solvent retirement system and to improve the district's finances?
A: The Chicago Teacher’s Pension Fund has averaged over 8.6% return over the past 35 years, including the recession.  We pay 9% of our salary into the pensions, but only 2% is actually taken from my paycheck.  The other 7% is held by CPS, under a deal worked out in the 1980s between CPS and CTU.  The idea was to provide a tax benefit to CPS.  But if CPS isn’t making its pension obligations, I am not only losing my pension benefit but an additional 7% of my salary; this amounts to wage theft.  CPS assumed responsibility for making payments in 1995, then promptly went on an almost-annual pension holiday for more than a decade.  
There are three solutions to the CPS budget shortfall.  First, restore the responsibility for making payments to City Council and their budget.  Second, eliminate the ability of the state to grant pension holidays and other gimmicks—no more games.  The reason we face balloon payments now is because of years of “holidays.”  Finally, we have a revenue crisis, not a pension crisis.  We need to identify new sources of revenue, such as the financial transaction tax.  We also need to stop toxic rate swaps and TIF theft from our schools, parks, and libraries.  CPS loses an estimated $250 million to TIFs annually.
The pension “crisis” has been deliberately created through irresponsible practices, such as pension holidays, approved by our elected leadership and their appointees—not the public sector workers of Chicago who pay into the pension system on time, every time.  Why is it that the people who contract with the City to make pension investments contribute to politicians like Rahm and Rauner, who want to destroy public pensions?  It is because they see lucrative opportunities for themselves to profit from the transfer of money from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans.  They will use fees and manipulate the market to steal the life savings of public sector workers.  Privatization does not produce a better service, nor does it come at a lower cost.  This is the case whether you’re talking about pensions, custodial services, or charter schools, etc.  It serves only to enrich the campaign contributors of politicians like Emanuel and Rauner. 
3) Revenue
QIn light of the financial issues discussed above, do you support any or all of the following measures, each of which would require, at a minimum, approval by the Illinois Legislature?
A statewide expansion of the sales tax base to include more consumer services
Yes or No:  Yes
A tax on non-Chicago residents who work in the city
Yes or No:  Yes
A tax on electronic financial transactions on Chicago’s trading exchanges, known as the “LaSalle Street tax”
Yes or No:  Yes
Please explain your views, if you wish, on any of these three revenue-generating measures.
The cause of Chicago’s budget shortfalls is a failure on the part of our elected officials to fairly tax the very wealthy and corporations.  Chicago’s economic development strategy has depended on a narrow toolkit, which includes subsidies to the wealthy and corporations, and privatization deals.  These policies have been pursued to create jobs and increase the tax base along with city revenue; however, they have proven time and again to fail on both accounts, though they have tremendously benefited the private corporations that receive subsidy packages and city contracts.  This narrow economic development toolkit has siphoned money from the public sector, creating the “need” to cut public services.  Ultimately, a strong economic base relies on a well-funded public sector that generates both middle-class jobs and the physical and social infrastructure that companies look for when moving to cities.  Solving our budget crises and moving toward a fully-funded, quality public sector requires that we find ways to tax the very rich and corporations whose wealth-creation depends on Chicago’s public sector workers and public services.  For this reason, I support a financial transaction tax and a commuter tax, which act as more creative and meaningful solutions to Chicago’s budget problems. 
4) Crime
QDo you support hiring more police officers to combat crime and gun violence in Chicago?
Yes or No:  It depends.
Please explain:   The most cost-effective means of encouraging public safety are policies that can attack the root social issues that cause crime.  These policies include a $15 minimum wage and a fully-funded public sector, which would strengthen schools with extra-curricular programs, stronger social services, and more full-time, well-paid job opportunities.  Closing clinics and schools is a tried and true method to destabilize neighborhoods.  I also believe that police should be required to engage more directly with the communities they serve and protect.  Patrolling the streets from their vehicles is an ineffective way to build the strong relationships necessary to diminish crime.  Police should remain in their beats and should spend two to four shifts a month walking their beats, getting to know residents and building trust in the community.  Relocating police to high-crime areas is not effective and can be distressing to law-abiding residents in those areas.
Q:What legislation in Springfield would you support to try to stem the flow of illegal guns into Chicago?
A: Anyone who sells a weapon should be accountable for who they sell it to.  Guns should have titles like automobiles or real estate do.  Right now legal gun owners purchase from legal dealers and then sell weapons on the black market with no accountability.  I would support legislation that requires all gun sales to be reported to the state, so weapons recovered by police can be traced back to the arms dealers.  
5) Elected school board
QAn advisory referendum on switching Chicago to an elected school board, rather than an appointed board, is expected to be on the ballot in more than 30 wards on Feb. 24. Currently, the mayor appoints all seven board members and the Schools CEO. Do you support a change to an elected school board?
Yes or No:  Yes
Please explain:  Our campaign was instrumental in getting the referendum on the ballot in the 33rd ward.  I strongly support an elected representative school board (ERSB), and am, to my knowledge, the only candidate in this aldermanic race to do so.
Our current, appointed board is unaccountable to any person except for the mayor, and it shows.  As community members and parents across the city plead, petitioned, and cried to the board as they considered dozens of school closings, virtually everything they had to say to the board fell on deaf ears.  At the board meetings I have attended, board members have texted or even fallen asleep while parents, students, and teachers were speaking.  The mayor and other defenders of an appointed board charge that CPS will be further politicized if board members are elected by the public.  This is ridiculous.  Education is political, and it always has been; mayoral control did not change that.  Far from being the magic bullet in solving educational challenges, mayoral control has been the primary catalyst for privatization of our public schools.  I wrote about the perils of privatization for the Sun-Times in an editorial published last year (“CPS Starving Its Schools to Justify Privatization”).  The mayor is able to give direct control of our school system to bankers and hedge fund managers, whose interests are in liquidating public assets to make money for themselves, not a genuine interest in improving education for the residents and children of Chicago.  Their expertise is in finance and profit-making, not in education policy.  Deborah Quazzo and her clear conflict of interest is a perfect example of why we need an elected board. 
6) Tax-increment financing districts
QTIFs are the primary economic development tool of the city. In a TIF district, taxes from the growth in property values are set aside for 23 years to be used for public projects and private development. Do you support increasing the annual TIF surplus that the mayor and the City Council have declared in each of the last few years, money that goes to the schools and other city agencies?
Yes or No: Yes, I support increasing the TIF surplus to 100%
QWhat reforms would you propose for the city's TIF program?
A: I argue for the abolishment, not reform, of TIF.  Existing TIF districts should be allowed to sunset (as was the original intent of TIF), to make way for more planned, democratic forms of development finance.  In the short term, any TIF surpluses should be placed back into the city agencies they were taken from; i.e., schools, parks, and libraries.  While TIF began with good intentions of solving urban blight, in the 1990s, it transformed into the City’s primary form of economic development.  Since the TIF process is extremely opaque, it is easy for moneyed developers and elected officials to push through unnecessary development that benefit their individual needs while diverting money from our public schools, transit, and other essential services.  The $55 million allotment of TIF funds for the Marriott and DePaul basketball arena provides an apt example. Despite widespread outcry, the City pushed through this TIF allotment while later claiming TIF surplus funds could not be secured to shore up the CPS budget gap.  TIF money comes from our property taxes and is often advanced through selling bonds.  Abolishing TIF, therefore, will only mean fewer competing TIF districts, which serve to fracture these revenue sources and hamper democratic say in how they are spent.  Additionally, if TIFs continue to exist, funds should not be portable to contiguous districts.  Neighborhood money is used to fund downtown projects in this manner. 
7) Neighborhood economic development
QWhat would you do as alderman to boost economic development in your ward, and bring jobs to your community?
A: I believe a strong economic development strategy in my ward will be achieved in two ways.  First through a fully funded public sector: fully funding the public school system, for instance, creates a well-educated workforce and puts in place programs that help prepare people for jobs; a fully funded and more robust public transit system creates greater access to jobs that do or could exist in the neighborhoods.  These types of policies promote the kind of healthy physical and social infrastructure that employers seek out when making locational decisions.  Secondly, I advocate for improved services in the ward through reprioritizing the city budget to direct funding to our neighborhoods, and not just to the downtown.  Chicago’s current economic development strategy has poured the lion’s share of city resources into the downtown and away from our neighborhoods and has relied on public subsidies and tax breaks to lure private corporations to the Loop.  This strategy has succeeded in using public funds for the enrichment of private corporations, but it has failed in creating good paying jobs for working people and, more importantly, it has taken money away from fully funded public services in all neighborhoods.  As a result, the majority of Chicagoans are left with closed schools, shuddered clinics, and a dilapidated transit system.  As a CPS teacher and a member the Chicago Teachers Union I have fought to ensure that all residents have equal access to quality public schools.  As an Alderman I will be able to expand this political project to advocate for a fully funded public sector to ensure residents of the 33rd Ward and Chicago have equal access to the public services they need and deserve.  A fully funded public sector (schools, transit, social services, etc) is not only possible through sustainable revenue policies, such as progressive taxes, but it is necessary to create the sound infrastructure for sustainable economic development and a high quality of life in the 33rd Ward and all of Chicago. 
8) Size of the Chicago City Council
QThe City Council has 50 members, but civic groups and other regularly argue for reducing the size of the Council. What should the size of the Council be? Please provide a specific number. And why?
A: Chicago’s ward system is an inefficient political system that allows competition between neighborhoods to drive development and distribution of city funds.  Although I believe Chicago would benefit from a reduction in the number of alderman, there are other more pressing, winnable issues that can resolve the problems created by the ward system.  For example, competition between neighborhoods for scarce funding can be alleviated through sustainable, fair, and progressive revenue generation, which would provide more money for essential public services for all neighborhoods.  Moreover, I advocate for increased democratic decision-making and an end to mayoral control of all city agencies.  Democratically elected boards for CPS, the City Colleges, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the Chicago Transit Authority would allow for a more centralized and city-wide democratic forum to overcome the shortfalls of our 50-ward system. 
9) A Chicago casino
QDo you support, in general concept, establishing a gambling casino in Chicago?
Yes or No: Depends
Please explain:  Gambling is not a sound revenue generation policy.  It acts as yet another form of regressive taxation, disproportionately taking from working people.  I advocate for taxing the very wealthy and corporations in the City of Chicago and I will fight for a LaSalle Street financial transaction tax.   On the other hand, Chicago is surrounded by casinos; arguments that we are missing out on a much needed revenue source and that some jobs would be created locally by a casino appear to have merit.  So I am undecided at this time until I further study the issue. 
10) Red light and speed cameras
QDoes the city have an acceptable number of red light and speed cameras currently, and are they properly employed?
Yes or No:  No
Please explain:  I oppose the red light camera program.  First, it’s regressive taxation; they are another form of revenue generation disproportionately coming from the pockets of working families and working people in the 33rd Ward and the city.  As an elected official, I will fight for more creative and sustainable forms of revenue, such as the financial transaction tax, which can more effectively raise money for our city.  Secondly, the red light program demonstrates a troubling trend in City policy: the privatization of city services.  In selling off essential city services to private companies, our elected leaders have transformed the City government’s responsibility from providing services towards ensuring profit and revenue for private companies, often the mayor’s campaign contributors.  The red light camera, as well as the parking meter and Ventra debacle, are all examples of this trend.  I will fight for a moratorium on privatization and more sustainable, fair forms of revenue creation.
The manipulation of yellow light times by the city suggests that the primary intention of the program is revenue, not safety.  Rahm’s motorcade routinely blows off red light tickets while the rest of us must pay.
11) Ward issues
QWhat are the top three issues in your ward — the ones you talk about most on the campaign trail?
A: 1.  Economic justice, including a $15 minimum wage and more affordable housing, is a top issue.  Sixty percent of ward residents work in the service sector, often at low-paying jobs; one in five families with children are below the poverty level.  Working people shouldn’t have to live in poverty.  A living wage keeps families in their homes, it keeps children from going hungry, and it boosts the local economy.
2.  We want property values to increase and the neighborhood to improve, but not at the expense of the people who already live here. The 33rd ward is one of the most diverse in the city, and we want to protect and strengthen that.  That’s why we support investing in people, not in property.  That means fully funded schools and universal, quality Pre-K programs at neighborhood schools, and public services, such as clinics, that ward residents rely on.
3.  Finally, we want more transparency and democracy at the ward level, as well as in the City Council.  That’s why we support a ward advisory council with public meetings and public minutes, as well as participatory budgeting practices.  We oppose the nepotism and political dynasties that have tainted ward politics for too long; we are running a legitimately independent campaign.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Film Review

LEVIATHAN: A FILM WHICH AROUSES STRONG HEAT IN RUSSIA
By Stephen Wilson





'I don't like it,' grunts the indignantly prudish, meddling and menacing Russian Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky. Despite the fact that this film has won much praise and an almost uninterrupted string of prizes, such as being short-listed for an Oscar, a prize for best script at Cannes and a London critics Film award, the film has not been applauded by the Russian establishment. On the contrary, the film director and many of the cast have been pillorised. The film has been described as 'obscene', 'immoral' and 'anti-Russian'. There have even been calls to ban the film as well as  fire some actors. Vladimir Medinsky expressed regret at having funded the film! One poor actor, who plays the role of a corrupt priest, Valery Grishko, has been subject to a lot of unpleasant abuse, and threats. 


Extreme nationalists accused him of not loving his homeland and being unpatriotic. They even called for him to be fired from his post as a director in the theatre! Valery Grishko felt deeply offended at those accusations stating 'I'm taking those people
to court for my honour and dignity because I can't forgive those who accuse me of not loving my motherland'. Many of the Orthodox church have begun to join in the baiting. Much of this anger has reached a hysterical level. Much of it is senseless. One recent survey carried out found that although 48% of respondents claimed the film was unpatriotic, they admitted they had not watched the film.


WHAT THE FILM IS ABOUT!
So why has this film aroused so many  deep passions in Russia? What is Andrei Zvyagintsev's film Leviathan about? The main theme of the film concerns the profound anguish and agony of a small business man called Kolya who refuses to sell his land to a corrupt mayor of the town. Kolya does not see why he should sell the land which his ancestors have dwelt on for many centuries. It is not just a strip of land, but a sacred birthright that is beyond any price. The cruel indifference of the mayor incenses Kolya who states, 'If he builds a palace here I will burn it down'. So the main plot of the film concerns a life and death struggle between the small man and an all powerful mayor. The mayor is a boorish, bloated and double faced corrupt politician. He has no real respect for anyone who inadvertently treads on his toes or foils his plans. He is too full of himself. He comes up unannounced to Kolya's house to say 'You are all insects. I can crush you'. The local police, the Orthodox church and the courts, all collude and conspire against Kolya. Even his lawyer is almost shot dead. The priests who bless the corrupt mayor are not portrayed in a flattering right but as downright hypocrites who are easily bought and bribed by the powers that be. But the film is by no means anti-religious or anti-Orthodox but in deed, is a highly spiritual film. In once scene, Kolya, who is grieving over his recently deceased wife, comes across a priest called Vasily who comforts him by comparing Kolya to Job in the Bible. Like Job, Kolya is asking many important questions such as 'Why do so many upright people suffer injustice while the corrupt reap fruit? 'The priest tells Kolya that Job loses everything, but God finally restores what he has lost and he lives to 140. 'It is just a fairy-tale' retorts Kolya. 'It is written in the Bible' shrugs the priest. Kolya's lawyer is pestered by local people who keep asking 'Do you believe in God?' The lawyer answers, 'I'm a lawyer who believes only in facts'. The main theme of the film is the formidable monsters which torment a powerless man such as Kolya, such as corrupt officials, policemen, priests and courts who surface everywhere.

I asked one young 17-year-old student, Nadia, what she thought of the film.

'I watched it at a pub which gave a secluded showing of it in Moscow.

'Everyone who watched it there liked it, but not everywhere. I think that while as many as 50% of people think the film depicts Russia as it is, another 50% think it does not. I think that people don't like the film here, especially those in authority because it tells the truth about Russia. A lot of those politicians are very corrupt.'

Those who oppose the film state it depicts Russia as being a totally negative and awful country where everything is bleak. Russia is seen as rotten to the core. The Ministry of culture, Vladimir Medinsky, a historian by profession, thinks the film projects a falsely misleading image of Russia. While the film is being officially shown in just two cinemas in Moscow, Medinsky's own books about Russia are advertised just about everywhere. The historian is the author of three books called 'Myths about Russia'. For instance, the first one, deals with the myths about drunkenness, laziness and cruelty.'

In this book, Medinsky attempts to dispel what he sees as misleading negative stereotypes of Russians with which the west misjudges Russia.

Medinsky claims that not all Russians drink vodka, and questions whether vodka is a Russian drink at all and believes the degree of drunkenness by Russians is wildly exaggerated. This is why he takes exception to the fact that many of the characters in the film drink vodka all the time.

This is a strange form of film criticism. Firstly, the intention of
the film director is not to offer a portrait of Russia or some
partisan ideological statement. This is not a documentary. The film
is simply a story about a small man struggling against all powerful
and corrupt authorities. This is a universal and not just Russian heme. And this is happening all around us. Over half of Russia's main opposition figures are either in jail, abroad or even dead.

Many opposition figures have been jailed on trumped up charges. This can't be swept under the carpet. If you begin to ban films on the basis they portray Russia in a highly unflattering light then you may as well also forbid films based on Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment,' as well as 'The Idiot'  because both these films show Russians in a highly negative light. One critic claims Dostoyevsky shows Russia as 'a lunatic asylum.'  Taken to its
absurd conclusion, Denmark ought to ban Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet ' as one line states 'Denmark is a prison'.

Thankfully , the film has not been banned, and it is set to be broadcasted minus the swear words.

But surely whether a film depicts people in a pleasant or unpleasant way is beside the point. In the fact, this point is irrelevant.

Leviathan is a great film because it is beautifully shot, has a cast which acts very well, delivers a good script, keeps a simple plot and has what so many other films lack. This film has an integrity of soul where the main heroes frankly speak their minds.

Russians ought to welcome a film which wins so many awards at a time when  fewer and fewer quality films are being made here. Most of the films currently being made in Russia have bad plots, cliche ridden scripts and are crude pretentious imitations of western films. At least Leviathan has its own original voice!

We ought to judge it on artistic merit alone!

Friday, January 23, 2015

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board Questionnaire for CTU Endorsed Alderman Candidate Ed Hershey 



CTU endorsed 25th ward alderman candidate Ed Hershey spoke with the Sun-Times.


The Chicago Sun-Times interviewed the alderman candidates. In this interview, the Chicago Teachers Union endorsed Ed Hershey, a science teacher and delegate at Lindblom High School, sounded the best for 25th ward alderman. His eloquent responses hit the mark to state what is wrong in society today, and what needs to be done. His opponents, in this humble reporter's opinion, sounded a bit weaker. Notice the questions the Sun-Times focuses on, the pension "crisis," and how incumbent Danny Solis avoids answering yes or no to most questions.    

Ed Hershey:  Candidate for 25th ward Alderman Questionnaire

1) City Pensions   
QChicago's fire and police pensions are greatly underfunded, and the city is required by the state to make a $550 million payment into the pension funds by the end of 2015. Do you support restructuring the pension systems, inevitably reducing benefits, to put the funds on sound financial footing?   
Yes or No: NO   
Please Explain:    Workers poured their lives into their work, and deserve a decent retirement from the city.  The City played with the money, not sufficiently funding the pension systems while the market was up.  Working people should not pay for the problems caused by the bankers financial crisis and the machinations of our politicians.          
QChicago's pension systems for municipal workers and laborers already have been restructured, reducing benefits, but the city has yet to identify where it will find the revenue to sufficiently fund those systems. Under what circumstances would you support a property tax increase to raise the needed revenue for the fire and police pensions and/or the municipal workers and laborers pensions?  
A: Under no circumstances.  Again working people did not cause the crisis in underfunding, and they should not be made to pay for that crisis.  The banks and the hedge funds are responsible for the crisis.  Moreover, those entities received gigantic taxpayer bailouts in order to stay solvent, and have reaped massive profits in the years since.  Money needs to be raised to support the pension systems – that money must come from those that have it, those responsible for the crisis:  the wealthy, the big corporations, the banks and the trading firms.    

2) Chicago Public Schools pensions   
QLarge and growing payments required to keep the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund solvent are squeezing CPS' budget, forcing cuts elsewhere and limiting investment. The Chicago Board of Education has increased property taxes, but it is not enough to keep up with the high annual costs. What measures do you support to ensure a solvent retirement system and to improve the district's finances?   
A: End the TIF program and return all TIF surplus funds to the schools and other city services.  Establish a tax on financial transfers, so the LaSalle trading firms have to support the life of the city that they profit from so handsomely.  Make the banks return all interest paid by the school district on the so-called “Toxic Swap” agreements – where the banks bamboozled the school district out of more than $100 million dollars in what were fraudulent agreements.  Establish an income tax on wealthy residents of Illinois.      
3) Revenue 
Q: In light of the financial issues discussed above, do you support any or all of the following measures, each of which would require, at a minimum, approval by the Illinois Legislature?   
A statewide expansion of the sales tax base to include more consumer services  Yes or No:  NO   
A tax on non-Chicago residents who work in the city 
Yes or No:   NO   
* A tax on electronic financial transactions on Chicago’s trading exchanges, known as the “LaSalle Street tax”   
Yes or No:    YES     
Please explain your views, if you wish, on any of these three revenue-generating measures.   See above regarding the “LaSalle Street Tax.”  The other taxes are on working people.  Working people should not pay additional taxes – they are taxed too heavily already.   
4) Crime   
QDo you support hiring more police officers to combat crime and gun violence in Chicago?   
Yes or No:  No   
Please explain:   A: The question is posed as if the problem of crime and violence is just about policing. This society has dealt with the problem by sending people to prison – the biggest proportion of its population of any in the world.  And that has not even solved the problem.    The problem of crime is a problem of entrenched poverty – which has led to a further problem of entrenched gangs.  The solution is not more police.  The solution is jobs for people, the solution is a good education for the entire working class, the solution is to offer a good life and a future to our youth.    A student of mine organized a protest on the South Side in the wake of Hadiya Pendleton’s murder.  Rahm’s response was to establish a very small summer jobs program.  A study of that program found that youth who took those jobs were 40% less likely to be involved in violent crime.  To really address violence, we ought to massively expand programs like this one.            
QWhat legislation in Springfield would you support to try to stem the flow of illegal guns into Chicago?   
A: Guns are not the problem of violence in Chicago.  The problems have much deeper roots – poverty and entrenched gang structures.      
5) Elected school board   
QAn advisory referendum on switching Chicago to an elected school board, rather than an appointed board, is expected to be on the ballot in more than 30 wards on Feb. 24. Currently, the mayor appoints all seven board members and the Schools CEO. Do you support a change to an elected school board?   
Yes or No:  YES   
Please explain:   
A: The school board ought to be elected, that would provide a measure of democratic accountability in a school district that is currently ruled as a dictatorship by the mayor.  However, we should not be under the illusion that an elected school board would solve our problems – our schools need money, and electing board members would not automatically generate additional money.    
6) Tax-increment financing districts   
QTIFs are the primary economic development tool of the city. In a TIF district, taxes from the growth in property values are set aside for 23 years to be used for public projects and private development. Do you support increasing the annual TIF surplus that the mayor and the City Council have declared in each of the last few years, money that goes to the schools and other city agencies? 
Yes or No: YES   
Q: What reforms would you propose for the city's TIF program? 
A: The TIF program diverts public money to private interests.  It takes money away from schools, parks and other services, so that politicians can make gifts to companies, like Target, Dominicks, and Marriott.  When TIF funds have been used for public services like schools, that money has gone disproportionately to schools service the middle and upper classes.  The program serves to divert funds from neighborhood schools that serve the working class, to hand it to schools that serve the privileged.        
7) Neighborhood economic development   
Q:  What would you do as alderman to boost economic development in your ward, and bring jobs to your community?   
A: Working people need to fight – they need to fight for higher wages, more jobs, and better public services.  Higher wages will not be given by the Democrats – workers will need to fight for them.  Better schools, more programs at the parks, longer hours at the libraries would mean more jobs in the community, and more people with money to spend.  That would result in more spending at neighborhood businesses, which would in turn mean more jobs.        
8) Size of the Chicago City Council   
QThe City Council has 50 members, but civic groups and other regularly argue for reducing the size of the Council. What should the size of the Council be? Please provide a specific number. And why? 
A: The City Council should not be reduced.  The current system means that residents can potentially have relatively easy in-person access to their representative on City Council.            
9) A Chicago casino   
QDo you support, in general concept, establishing a gambling casino in Chicago?   
Yes or No:   
Please explain:  NO. A casino is basically a tax on working people.  It would be a drain on resources in our community, and would come with heavy costs – increases in gambling addiction, bankruptcies, etc.        
10) Red light and speed cameras 
QDoes the city have an acceptable number of red light and speed cameras currently, and are they properly employed?   
Yes or No:  NO   
Please explain: My feeling is that the number of cameras is probably sufficient for any purposes of public safety.  But it is clear that the City has not had public safety in mind with this program.  They have used it to hand out a big contract to RedFlex, a contractor with close ties to certain politicians.  And they have used it to raise money – effectively as another tax on working people in the city, who are already overburdened with taxes, fees and fines of all colors and stripes.  The Tribune report showed clearly that the timing on the cameras was tampered with in order to raise more money.    
11) Ward issues   
QWhat are the top three issues in your ward — the ones you talk about most on the campaign trail?   
A: Wages, jobs, schools and other public services.  The working class needs higher wages and more jobs.  Working people need a good education – just like Rahm Emanuel received at New Trier, or that his kids receive at the Lab School.  And the infrastructure in working class communities like the 25th ward need to be maintained.