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TUESDAY, JAN. 25, 2010

Mayoral Candidates Respond to BGA Questionnaire

In an effort to shine a light on the major issues facing the next Mayor of Chicago, the Better Government Association (BGA) asked City Hall aspirants to respond to the 2011 BGA Chicago Mayoral Questionnaire.

All six of the current candidates in the Feb. 22 election have answered the questionnaire, which consists of 20 "yes or no" questions and three short-answer questions. These questions focus on an array of timely governance issues that are of interest to the BGA and the public at large.

Since the BGA is a non-partisan and non-profit organization, it will not endorse any candidate in the municipal election. Nonetheless, a major aspect of the BGA’s mission is encouraging open civic debate and holding public officials accountable.

By responding to the 2011 BGA Chicago Mayoral Questionnaire, the candidates contribute to a robust exchange of ideas about crucial subjects and community issues that will undoubtedly help shape the future of Chicago and Illinois. We encourage you to review all the responses.

UPDATE (Feb. 7, 2011): "Vox Populi: Regular Folks Respond To BGA Chicago Mayoral Questionnaire"

QUESTIONS 1-11 (YES or NO)	Rahm Emanuel	Miguel del Valle	Carol Moseley Braun	Gery J. Chico	Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins	William Walls, III
1. Would you accept campaign contributions from contractors, subcontractors or consultants who have city contracts?	*	No	No	No	Yes	No
2. Would you accept campaign contributions from city employees?	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
3. Would you consider reducing the salary of the mayor and aldermen?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
4. Would you support reducing the size of the City Council?	*	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
5. Would you expand the scope of an independent inspector general to investigate the legislative branch of city government?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
6. Would you hold public hearings and conduct independent financial analysis before selling public assets?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
7. Are there city departments that could be merged, streamlined or eliminated?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
8. Would you support realignment of police beats as a means to improve public safety and reduce costs?	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
9. Would you support a realignment of fire fighting manpower and resources as a means to improve service and reduce costs?	*	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
10. Would you support a realignment of trash and snow removal services as a means to improve service and reduce costs?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
11. Would you tighten restrictions on lobbyists?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
QUESTIONS 12-20 (YES or NO)	Rahm Emanuel	Miguel del Valle	Carol Moseley Braun	Gery J. Chico	Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins	William Walls, III
12. Would you require that appointees to city-related boards and commissions abstain from doing business with those agencies?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
13. Do you think appointees to city boards and commissions should have clients who do business with those agencies?	No	No	No	No	No	No
14. Should convicted felons be prohibited from working for city government?	*	No	No	No	No	No
15. Would you support a strict interpretation of "surplus" in the TIF statute as a means to ensure that unused and un-allotted funds get returned to the taxing bodies?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
16. Do you support listing the percentage of property taxes that go to TIF funds on the property tax bills of homeowners and businesses?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
17. Should pension and medical benefits for current city workers be reduced to ease entitlement costs for the city?	*	No	No	No	No	No
18. Should the city continue to build more neighborhood libraries and schools?	*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
19. Should the next Chicago Police Department chief come from the CPD ranks?	*	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
20. Will you publicly disclose your tax returns before the Feb. 22, 2011 election?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Candidates listed in the order they appear on the ballot					*Candidate did not answer the question within the requested parameters.

QUESTIONS 21-23 (SHORT ANSWER)
21. What areas of city government would you consider privatizing?
Rahm Emanuel	Chicago faces a chronic budget crisis that threatens critical services. To meet that crisis head on, City government has to deliver better services to residents and businesses and better value to Chicago taxpayers. All options for improving city services and reducing costs should be on the table including contracting operations to private companies. As part of my plan to improve services and cut costs, critical services will be prioritized and benchmarked against public and private sector top performers for both the quality and cost of service. Once performance benchmarks and service costs are set, comparisons and selection of options can be made in a transparent fashion on the merits.
Miguel del Valle	I would consider privatizing some services, such as recycling, as there are useful models, such as the Resource Center’s commercial and residential recycling programs. Additionally, I would consider the privatization of Midway Airport if part of the proceeds were used to support the City pension funds. There may be other areas that I would consider privatizing, but not our water supply. I am opposed to selling city assets or privatizing services to pay operating expenses. Any future asset sale or long-term lease must be structured in an entirely different way, putting funds in a lockbox or investing in infrastructure to benefit taxpayers and our labor force in the long-run, not to pay down short-term operating expenses.
Carol Moseley Braun	In general I do not support privatizing city assets. However, any privatizing measures, if they were to be taken, must only occur for non-essential city assets and follow an open procedure which allows for independent analysis, public input, and city-council approval.
Gery J. Chico	I am not philosophically opposed to privatizing public assets, but we must not allow another parking meter debacle. Before we even begin to discuss the sale or lease of any city asset, we must fully understand the benefits and costs to taxpayers and the city, and perform a transparent analysis of the transaction with the City Council and the public. Areas I would not consider privatizing are the 911 call center and our water supply. An example of an area I would consider privatizing is the city’s hiring process. This would both increase efficiency and remove political considerations from the hiring process.
Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins	I do not support privatization. We have clearly seen how privatization hurts residents, and future generations. I support efforts to increase the efficiency, innovation and productivity of our public assets to benefit all Chicagoans. I believe that if the city partners with private entities that living wages, benefits, fair working conditions, and a commitment to community investment along with conditions of continued public ownership and revenue sharing, must be built into any potential future agreements.
William Walls, III	I do not favor any Privatization deals. Privatization is a scheme Mayor Daley used to reward his friends, avoid the Shakman Decree and dismember the Unions. Properly supervised and motivated City employees can complete city related work and projects, more effectively and efficiently than employees of for-profit corporations.

22. How would you reduce the city’s multi-million-dollar deficit?
Rahm Emanuel	I have already outlined four parts of my balanced budget plan. It starts by improving service and reducing costs in Chicago’s trash collection system—estimated to save taxpayers as much as $65 million each year. I have also proposed moving our healthcare program to one focused on health and wellness, which will save the city about $50 million each year. Third, I announced a plan to reform our broken procurement system, which will save $40 million annually. Lastly, I favor significant TIF reform.
Miguel del Valle	We must identify new revenue and find additional cost savings while embracing fiscal responsibility. I will: Prioritize spending so budget allocations are aligned with core city and human services; maximize revenue without overburdening low income and middle class taxpayers; capture more state and federal funding, along with TIF surplus funds, leverage funding from the private sector; restructure debts, reevaluate privatization contracts, and reconsider current obligations to ensure highest return; create efficiencies, consolidate functions, and identify mismanagement.
Carol Moseley Braun	I support investing in enterprise content management to increase department efficiencies, the redeployment of sworn police officers from administrative to law enforcement activities, discounting the condo rebate program, rationalizing the property tax relief program, stricter enforcement for neglected property, implementing a moratorium on TIFs, implementing the same worker-to-management ratio as the private sector, and investing in more renewable energy.
Gery J. Chico	There is no silver bullet when it comes to reducing spending or increasing revenues. However, new leadership provides an opportunity to reevaluate the way city government functions. One of the first things I’ll do upon taking office is look at every agency and department and ask, what is the mission? Is this the correct mission? Is this necessary? If so, what is the best way to achieve this mission? Each agency will be reorganized to accomplish their mission in a manner that is efficient and effective. By changing the way we think about, and approach government, I will both reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins	We must implement socially and fiscally solutions to address our structural deficit. As mayor, I will conduct an independent forensic audit to look at long-term cost saving options. I will cut corruption out of my administration, which is estimated to cost the state $550 million annually. I will continue to support state level efforts to reform Illinois’ tax policy. A progressive increase in the state’ s income tax would increase the city’ s revenue and protect low-income families. If needed, I would explore a possible city income tax increase for higher-income residents. I would ensure that this action would only target our structural deficit and not over-tax residents or increase taxes for lower-income families.
William Walls, III	Chicago's 2011 Budget evidences greatly misplaced priorities. By Executive Order and amendment of administrative policies, I will place a 10% Cap on the profit margin of big government contractors and large companies doing businesses with the city. That will save taxpayers about $500 million dollars. In addition: An immediate Hiring Freeze and an across- the- board 10% spending cut. I will cut or delay all non-essential infrastructure construction, repair and beautification.

23. Should the next Chicago Public Schools leader be a CEO with a strong business background, or a superintendant with a strong educational background?
Rahm Emanuel	I would like to see a leadership team of CPS that includes people who have taught and led in a public school system, with a leader who both understands how to run a large organization and what actually happens in the classroom. The choice between a manager and an educator is a false choice: we need both.
Miguel del Valle	I believe the next CPS leader should be an educator with strong executive and managerial skills. The new superintendent must be a practitioner of educational best practices and capable of fostering innovative problem-solving throughout the educational system. The ability to handle fiscal matters is a high priority. The ideal candidate must have a solid track record of producing results in collaboration with school administrators, teachers, parents, and community members. Finding someone who can successfully handle this job is a tall order, but one that must be achieved.
Carol Moseley Braun	As mayor, I will appoint a superintendant for the Chicago Public Schools with a strong background and proven track-record in education.
Gery J. Chico	As Mayor of Chicago, I will maintain the present leadership structure of a Chief Executive Officer, who has broad expertise and experience in management, and a Chief Education Officer, who will be an outstanding educator, with extensive experience in the classroom and in education administration. Together they will drive the system. The vision that drives the CPS should be developed by the mayor, in consultation with the CEO and Chief Education Officer. My goal is simple—make every Chicago Public School one that performs. The particular way in which that goal is achieved would be brought about by an extremely talented and inspiring CEO and Chief Education Officer.
Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins	I believe the strongest candidate would have both qualifications. But I believe that what is most important is that the next CEO of Chicago Public Schools is an educator who has worked in the classroom, and possesses innovative ideas, managerial experience, and strong interpersonal skills. This person must have demonstrated experience and a strong track record in improving struggling urban schools, and a genuine commitment to working with unions, teachers, parents, students and communities in this process.
William Walls, III	As soon as I am elected, I will empanel a Blue Ribbon Committee of educational community activists, parents and members of the Chicago Teacher's Union to conduct an unlimited search to identify the most desirable candidates for Chicago Public Schools Superintendent. Many of us, who are committed to the improvement of CPS, have often criticized Mayor Daley for consistently supporting the appointment of business-first Chicago Public Schools model headed by a CEO. We maintain that the next head of CPS should have an Illinois Type 75 administrative certificate and, therefore, be eligible for appointment as a education-first Superintendent. That Superintendent can then hire a CEO to assist with the management processes.
	Some responses were edited to meet the questionnaire's length requirements.

Map of the City of Chicago by Eric Fischer/Flickr

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