As the city approaches financial bankruptcy, Chicago's elite's line-their-pockets with taxpayer money.
There is real pain in
Chicago. In the last four years, 10,000 shootings have left the city
scarred. Nearly 21,000 students are trapped in failing schools.
Homeowners face rising property taxes - monthly property tax payments
now rival mortgage payments. One million residents have fled the city
since 1950 for prosperity elsewhere.
Rumors of financial
insolvency are not exaggerated. There is a staggering $19,000 public
pension liability per each city resident.
As a mayoral candidate
in 2010-11, Rahm Emanuel gave regular people hope with his repeated
assertion that he would "stop pay-to-play in City Hall" and "end the
historical culture of corruption." Emanuel was right. Public sector
corruption was forestalling private sector production. Ending "pay to
play" seemed like the only way back for the city.
In the months following
his election, Emanuel seemed to execute on his promise by signing an
executive order preventing city contractors from giving campaign cash to
the mayor's funds. It was a nice soundbite, but the measure was weakly
designed. It lacked an enforcement mechanism and was riddled with
loopholes.
Last week, our
organization American Transparency - with the data at OpenTheBooks.com -
fact checked Emanuel's ethics policy for the John Stossel Special,
Chicago Corruption: Is Pay-to-Play in Chicago Still Legal? Click here to
watch segment
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