Vallas is the man with the law-and-order plan. But he can't say if he's really running for Mayor.
Vallas is the man with the law-and-order plan. But he can't say if he's really running for Mayor.
'Keep kids in school til 8 p.m. so they won't carjack.'
I’ll say one thing for Paul Vallas. He may be a perennial political loser, but he knows how to get media play. His problem is, the more play he gets, the more he loses. The more people get to know about him, the more they dislike him. I would venture to guess that there’s no one who’s been fired from more top education jobs along with losing more elections than he has.
Vallas gets a half-page in today’s Sun-Times, which is just enough space for him to claim he has all the answers to Chicago’s crime and education problems, but that he won’t decide whether or not he’s officially running for mayor until Memorial Day. Until then, Chicago’s masses will just have to hold their collective breath in anticipation and wonderment.
As for Vallas’s announced crime-fighting strategy, it doesn’t sound much different from the two other announced law-and-order candidates, F.O.P Prez John Catanzara and 15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez. Vallas actually works as a consultant for Catanzara and the F.O.P. Vallas claims that the trust he built with a police union that has been at loggerheads with Mayor Lori Lightfoot would help persuade demoralized officers to stay on the job.
His strategy begins with the firing of Supt. David Brown who he claims is “dazed and confused.” Next, he wants to pass a “nuisance ordinance” that uses heavy fines and vehicle impoundment to punish “looters, flash mobs and others for the “lesser crimes” he claims the state’s attorney won’t prosecute.
Finally he says he’ll stop carjackings by keeping kids in school each day until 8 p.m. If they still want to carjack, they’ll have to do it late at night or on the weekends, I suppose. I’m still waiting to see the research behind Vallas’s crime-fighting strategy.
As for the schools themselves? That will be an even simpler problem for Mayor Vallas to solve, because he’s had so much experience at it. Privatize them and give parents vouchers to use for private school tuition.
Vallas’s main critique of Lightfoot is “her caving to the teachers union” by keeping schools closed during the height of the pandemic. I’m not sure CTU leaders will concur on that one.
It seems to me that a guy like Vallas, who has all the answers to the toughest of the city’s problems, has a moral duty to run. Besides, he can’t do much worse than he did when he ran last time and drew 5.4% of the vote. So what’s he waiting for?