Embattled Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel got a big push this week from the Washington Post editorial board, which took the opportunity to slam the Windy City’s far left for backing government employee labor unions in their fight against Emanuel’s attempts at fiscal reform.
“Democratic Party purists and special interest groups have reached the startling conclusion that the able and decidedly liberal incumbent is not liberal enough, and they are intent on punishing him for not toeing their line,” the board wrote after Emanuel was forced into an unexpected runoff in his re-election campaign.
The board warned, “If there is no room in the party for a pragmatic progressive like Mr. Emanuel, who was President Obama’s first chief of staff in the White House, then the party, and by extension the country, are in trouble.”
Emanuel is facing a tough re-election campaign against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who makes up for his lack of name recognition with backing from powerful unions and left-wing special interest groups.
The Post’s editorial board went on to blame Emanuel’s election troubles on his having gone after the city’s unions.
“Instead of ignoring, for example, the grossly underfunded pensions of government employees that threaten to drive the city into bankruptcy, Mr. Emanuel engineered sensible reforms to the municipal and laborers pensions and is intent on fixing the police and firefighter funds,” the ed board wrote.
The rest of the editorial suggests Emanuel’s efforts to reform the city’s dilapidated school system, and the significant pushback he faced from teacher’s unions, are why he’s fighting to hold onto his position in city hall.
But Chicagoans must “see the bigger picture,” the Post’s editorial board pleads, arguing that Emanuel’s efforts to reform the Windy City’s schools has actually produced favorable results.
“Mr. Emanuel is not the only Democrat who, faced with choices in governing, has opted for the general welfare over special interests and as a result incurred their wrath,” the board said, citing also New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimond.
The board added: “What unites these progressive Democrats is not an allegiance to corporations, as the slurs might have you think, but a recognition that their predecessors made unaffordable deals that can’t be fully honored without harming people who lack powerful advocates: poor students, people who use city playgrounds, patients in public clinics.”
Emanuel will face off again against his Democratic challenger on April 7.
