Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed head tax on companies with more than 200 employees appeared dead after the City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday rejected the mayor’s budget. But oh, no, no, mayoral ally Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, chair of the Budget Committee, said at the City Club on Wednesday. The mayor has a veto, and opponents of his head tax don’t have the votes to override.
David Greising
David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.
Posted inOpinion
Greising: Gov. JB Pritzker pushed back on the transit bill. He needs to do that with pensions.
As a sweeping restructuring of the public transit systems in the Chicago area neared an up-or-down vote last week, it was loaded with enough new revenue ideas to fill a progressive’s wish list. A “billionaire’s tax” on realized investment gains? Check. Expanded real estate transfer taxes? Those, too. Taxes on delivery services and concert tickets, a congestion tax and a ride-share tax? Of course. The Tribune’s editorial board reacted with dismay and called for them to scrapped.
Posted inUncategorized
Greising: Gov. JB Pritzker should keep his attention on the work needed to offset Donald Trump’s actions
Will he? Won’t he? Now, next week, another time or never? President Donald Trump has created quite the guessing game, centered on the serial on-again, off-again threat to send the […]
Posted inOpinion
Greising: Many of the ideas for closing Chicago’s budget gap won’t make a dent
The Chicago Financial Future Task Force, appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson early this year to give him ideas — and political cover — for closing a projected $1.15 billion budget gap, has issued its first report. It’s a smorgasbord of ideas, many of them already familiar, that comes just weeks before Johnson’s scheduled Oct. 16 budget address.
Posted inOpinion
Greising: State action on pension reform is slow. That may prove auspicious in the end.
Not so long ago, there was hope that major pension reform could happen sometime this year, possibly by the end of the spring legislative session. But events are not playing […]
Posted inOpinion
Greising: A better way to achieve ethics reform in Chicago
After city Inspector General Deborah Witzburg complained publicly last month about City Hall interference with her investigations, the city’s top lawyer countered with a rebuke. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry at a […]
Posted inOpinion
Greising: Brandon Johnson’s unprecedented spending means City Council is right to put away its rubber stamp
Budget talks already were off to a late start this year on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $17.3 billion spending plan when City Council voted last month — in a stunning 50-0 tally — […]
Posted inOpinion
Greising: CPD’s consent decree will be worth the cost if reforms are effectively implemented
The term “police consent decree” may sound legalistic, but in fact, peace in our neighborhoods, racial justice, responsible policing, care for the mentally ill and even human lives hang on […]
Posted inOpinion
Greising: What does a new Trump presidency mean for Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois?
The presidential campaign transfixed our attention for weeks. And now that the “closest contest in memory” turned into an easy victory for Donald Trump, aftershocks are in store for Chicago […]
Posted inOpinion
Greising: Stacy Davis Gates’ attacks on Pedro Martinez aren’t what’s best for CPS
Stacy Davis Gates’ scheming to oust Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez has marked another step in the power portfolio she has built since engineering Brandon Johnson’s election as mayor. […]
