Lewis did not unilaterally declare a strike for the CTU, the teachers voted on it three times. They first voted that they would take that action, then they voted that they would strike, then they voted to confirm.
Lewis gets a lot of flack for being a big, brassy black woman who does not talk the Queen’s English. I wouldn’t say that she doesn’t have an ego (how could she not?) but she is a tough negotiator, a strong figure, and a hard worker. I know people who had Lewis as a teacher and they’ve told me that she was a very good teacher who pushed them, made them better students, and made the class enjoyable.
And that’s in addition to the ‘black site,’ the closing of dozens of public schools, and the use of public resources for the benefit of a private university.
The Rahm in a cardigan “I’m really a nice guy, I just care to much” ads are a complete hoot! I doubt anyone is likely to fall for them.
In any case, I doubt it will be long before he reverts to normal behavior and does something totally dickish out of frustration at being in this runoff. I saw something yesterday about how his campaign is planning to go after Garcia really hard and paint him in as negative a light as possible.
I really hope they are stupid enough to go that route because I’m comfortably certain it will blow up in Rahm’s arrogant face.
The blog you linked to claims that Mr. Emmanuel screamed at some activists. However, the blog links to a facebook page :smack:, which links to an actual video of the Mayor on another blog on NBC5 Chicago.
I find it amusing that the Rahm apologists in this thread waste no time jumping all over the story of the staged confrontation with Mayor 1% but conveniently ignore the well sourced article about his corruption and favors doled out to his wealthy friends that was so kindly provided by Brain Glutton and quoted by RTFirefly.
Oh, gee, another “New Democrat” is a corrupt Thatcheresque ass who relies on the votes of well-heeled constituents who fear someone too low-class and redistributionist.
Hopefully, in a few months, he can have a job on FoxNews as a token Democrat explaining how the party should be run. Or would it be NBC?
In this context, “staged” != “fake.” They wanted to grill Rahm in a public venue on-camera so they picked one and crashed it. Aggressive tactics, but not in any way dishonest. And how were they “masquerading as activists”?
Yes, someone does. Employers have been fleeing the city for years, taking their jobs to the suburbs or to Indiana. First Daley, and now Rahm, are fighting that trend. People need jobs, and the City needs people to have jobs for its own revenue. Yes, he is a corrupt ass, but I agree with Dale that he is good for the economy of Chicago.
I’ll take benevolent corruption over enlightened incompetence any day. As Sean Connery said in “The Untouchables,” that’s the Chicago way.