Chicago is where I was born and raised. I worked for the city for almost thirty years. I know this city and the real issues we face. Some are severe. Some are of crisis proportions.
I really detest anyone who runs for public office, criticizing my city when they know nothing about Chicago or urban issues. Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey falls into the know-nothing category. Bailey has no workable solutions to any of the serious issues Chicago faces. If you go on his website, you will find nothing of substance. Just livestock droppings.
Bailey espouses whatever he thinks certain fringe groups like to hear. When he talks about Chicago, he sounds like a less-on. (Lower than a moron) Where is Will Smith when we need him?
Bailey wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune. He put his total ignorance about urban affairs, crime, business, education, policing and Chicago on display for all the world to see. Bailey’s ignorance shone brightly. He is a true Know-nothing.
Bailey claims that rising crime drove Boeing, Caterpillar, and Ken Griffin out of Chicago. Caterpillar’s corporate headquarters was NOT in Chicago. It was in Deerfield. Maybe Bailey should study geography.
Boeing is moving its headquarters to Virginia for a specific reason. They are going out of the commercial airline manufacturing business. They are going to concentrate on building military aircraft. It makes sense to have their headquarters near Washington, D.C. They are keeping a corporate presence in the city. So, they did not leave.
Ken Griffin leaving Chicago is no significant loss . He is also keeping a presence here. The only ones who may lose out are the non-profits Griffin donates to. There will be no economic dent in the city’s economy.
Businesses come and go. If some leave, others replace them. That is the economic nature of big cities. Bailey knows nothing about urban economics. Boeing left, Google is expanding its footprint in Chicago. They bought the Thompson Center and will move into it after the building is refurbished.
Bailey thinks he can solve Chicago’s crime problems. He should read Civics for Dummies. The governor does not control the Chicago Police Department, Cook County Court system, or the State’s Attorney’s office. He railed against the passage of ending cash bail. Bailey is a legislator. Not once has he produced a bill to repeal the act. As governor, he will run into a super-majority Democratic legislature. How is he going to repeal or enact anything? More, how is he going to get anything done? Bailey is delusional.
Bailey wrote a whopper of a lie in his op-ed piece. He claimed Mayor Lori Lightfoot defunded the police. She increased the budget of the Chicago Police Department.
Bailey tossed out some data about education in Chicago. There was no context. There are other factors outside the education system that are failing too many CPS students. Poverty, lack of parental participation, food, and housing insecurity, and lack of early education, just to name a few. As I wrote, Bailey has no grasp of urban affairs.
Baily offers no substantive solutions because one, he has none, and two, he does not know what he is talking about.
Bailey should stick to what he knows. Farming, construction, postage stamp village life, and the Bible. By the way, no one elected the Great Comedian or appointed him to public office. Baily’s Christian Nationalism is a fish-flapping non-starter. Bailey does not realize he will run headlong into a woodchipper on Election Day.
Worse, the Chicago Tribune ran that pile of Bailey’s livestock droppings with no fact-checking.