Rarely has a Chicago mayor with so much at stake traveled to Springfield with such little hope of getting what the mayor wants.
Mayor Brandon Johnson wants a bigger cut than Gov. JB Pritzker is offering from a state fund that provides money for Chicago and other municipalities to spend as they wish. Pritzker so far is holding his ground on that.
Johnson wants additional funding for Chicago Public Schools. He wants a new statewide digital advertising tax. He wants city authority to levy a $1 fee on deliveries other than groceries and medication.
And — least promising of all — Johnson evidently hopes to revive the idea of a publicly owned stadium for the Chicago Bears in Chicago.
That’s right: With only three weeks left before the General Assembly adjourns, Johnson appeared in Springfield on Wednesday touting an idea that was dead on arrival the very day he unveiled it — in a splashy Soldier Field news conference, standing arm in arm with Bears’ ownership — two years ago.
That was the bold idea to build a new football stadium just south of Soldier Field — the proposal that died almost from the day it was unveiled. The Bears were expecting some $2.5 billion in state financing and infrastructure, yet hadn’t consulted with Pritzker before publicly announcing their plans.
The misstep marked a low point of Johnson’s term as mayor. The Bears quickly moved on. And since then, they have made clear the choice in location is between Arlington Heights and Hammond.
Yet there Johnson was this week, calling for a taxpayer-owned Chicago Bears football arena, even though the House has passed a megaprojects bill custom-designed for an Arlington Heights stadium. And while the Senate likely will amend certain major parts — especially a proposed new 9% amusement tax that the Bears are said to reject — Pritzker last week threw his support behind the legislative momentum.
The House plan is “within the framework” of what the Bears might accept, Pritzker said. In almost the same breath, he called for quick action on an amended plan — so the state doesn’t lose the Bears to Indiana on Pritzker’s watch.
“Soon is what I would say is the best thing to do, in part because, look, we’re competing, right? We have to be competitive here,” Pritzker told reporters last week. “We want to make sure that the Bears see Illinois as the best alternative for them, and that they have something that they can make a decision about that’s in front of them.”
Johnson is having none of that. If he heard Pritzker’s remarks — and it‘s mayoral malpractice if he’s unaware — evidently he’s not believing his lying ears.
“We already know the governor doesn’t like the bill,” Johnson said of the House-passed bill during a Springfield news conference Wednesday. “The Bears do not like the bill. There are members of the Senate caucus, both sides of the aisle, that do not like the bill. So we have a bill that no one likes that will give, potentially, property tax relief to a major corporation.”
The House bill may not be perfect for the Bears. But the team in its only public statement has called for “additional amendments,” not outright rejection.
The Senate could yet torpedo the House plan with a total rewrite — though time is quickly running out. We’ll know soon, and any senator considering misadventures that might put a May 31 deadline in jeopardy — the traditional close of the legislative session — will need to contend with Pritzker or his staff, who are driving to bring this discussion to a close.
Whatever the House-Senate differences may be, a 78-32 vote for House passage — with most members of the Chicago delegation voting yes — is a sign of strong support, including among lawmakers from Chicago, for a megaprojects bill designed to help the Bears leave Chicago and move to Arlington Heights.
There is no indication Johnson has the clout to prevent that from happening.
When I checked with Johnson’s seniors adviser, Jason Lee, about the city’s objectives in the megaprojects talks recently, he gave an impression of deep involvement and a list of concerns, ranging from the repurposing of Soldier Field to help with covering debt taken on to refurbish the stadium in 2003.
But when I asked the governor’s staff this week if Johnson or his emissaries have been involved in the megaprojects talks over the last few weeks, here’s what spokesman Matt Hill emailed back: “The working group on the megaprojects bill has been the Governor’s Office, Bears, House, Senate, and Arlington Heights.”
David Greising is president of the Better Government Association.
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