In the perpetual, soap opera-like clown show that is Mayor Brandon 'Bear of Little Brains' Johnson, one constant underlying theme throughout his amazingly short and destructive tenure has been 'money.'
The bloviating dolt is appallingly inept at both communication and management. The damage to the city caused by such a paucity of fundamental skillsets is exacerbated by the fact that he is owned butt and jowl by the rapacious Chicago Teachers' Union (CTU), which would stymie any honest impulse that accidentally cracked the thick skull of his regrettably tiny pinhead. This has led to financial crisis upon crisis, building in an inverse pyramid as more creative #mathz to cover expenses creates another crushing debt block added to the behemoth growing above the city's head.
For all the growing chorus of voices screaming 'stop spending money,' the Bear is always scrambling for more to cover what he's promised, or worse, what he owes. To be fair, the State of Illinois - groaning under the burden of its own gluttonous tax and spend porcine potentate, J.B. Pritzker - has only trapped the intellectually challenged city chief executive further in a box from which he cannot see an open flap for the cardboard.
Chicago’s finances were already on life support. Now, with a single piece of legislation, the state of Illinois has pushed the city closer to fiscal collapse—and put every American taxpayer at risk of footing the bill.
On August 1, Governor J. B. Pritzker signed a bill that ranks among the most financially reckless in Illinois history. It includes pension “sweeteners” for Chicago police and fire employees hired after 2011. Experts estimate that it creates $11 billion in new liabilities and drops the “funded ratio” of Chicago police and fire pensions to just 18 percent, meaning that they have just 18 cents on hand for every dollar owed. (Actuaries consider funded ratios below 40 percent as being at the point of no return.)
No American city has a worse public pension problem than Chicago. It carries more pension debt than 43 U.S. states and is home to seven of the ten worst-funded local pension systems in the nation. As a result, no other big city burns a larger chunk of its budget (around 40 percent) on debt and pensions every year.
And no U.S. city has a worse credit rating. The new pension sweeteners will more than likely contribute to another credit downgrade for Chicago, dropping the city into junk status and imperiling its ability to invest in schools, safety, and infrastructure.
Making matters even worse is the Illinois constitution’s “pension protection” clause, which effectively makes it impossible to trim pension benefits. Elected officials cannot pass a law changing these new sweeteners—no matter what voters want.
As most of you who are kind enough to read my work know, even prior to this body blow, Johnson has been in a running battle for almost a year with the Chicago Public School (CPS), badgering, cajoling, threatening, packing the school board seats, and firing the CPS CEO to force CPS to take out what was initially a $300M payday loan to cover the new and highly improved CTU contract.
It all started last October. The school board resigned en masse in protest, and the new board fired the CPS CEO on Christmas Eve, but Pedro Martinez exercised a contract clause that had been overlooked in the haste to boot him, foiling the contract negotiation scheme Johnson and the union had planned.
Through all of this, the payday loan was still looming over everything, having shrunk to a reduced amount of $175-200M to cover pension payments, so the city could duck the additional debt.
By May, Johnson was reduced to secretly working a legislative angle to change the Board of Education's vote threshold to a simple majority, as he was having no luck.
It was all coming to a head last night, but not before the Bear of Little Brains and no integrity pulled his last card out to get his payday, CTU payoff loan passed by his hand-selected school board.
Johnson dropped a ringer into a board seat at the last possible second.
UPDATE: Allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union plan to fill a vacancy on the school board just hours before the board votes on the Chicago Public Schools budget this Thursday. The new board member is expected to vote in favor of a high-interest loan to… https://t.co/qVtnSVP9Xd pic.twitter.com/5pA2D8cofZ
— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) August 26, 2025
The Chicago Way. Right in your face.
The fix was in.
Until hell froze over in the Windy City, and it wasn't.
BOARD HANDS MAYOR CPS BUDGET BUMMER
Anyone do a wellness check on @ChicagosMayor, @stacydavisgates, or @jacksonpCTU this morning? pic.twitter.com/M0pwiAZ42B
— Chicago Contrarian (@ChicagoContrar1) August 29, 2025
HOLY CRAP
Johnson's school board shot him down. A third of Johnson's own appointees did the right thing for the schools and the city.
Three of the 10 board members appointed by Johnson voted for the budget (against the loan). And one abstained. I am genuinely stunned.
— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) August 29, 2025
What a massive public rebuke.
The Chicago Board of Education approved Chicago Public Schools’ 2025-26 budget without taking out a $200 million high-interest loan, despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s push to include borrowing as an option to close the district’s massive funding gap.
The 12-7 vote, with one abstention, followed months of financial warnings from top CPS officials and marked a notable shift in internal board dynamics. The decision came just days after Johnson appointed Ángel Vélez to the hybrid, partly elected, partly appointed board, hypothetically securing the simple majority needed to pass a budget with borrowing.
When district leadership presented a $10.25 billion budget to the board earlier this month, multiple board members — supporters of the mayor — dismissed it. The district’s budget did not include borrowing to bolster finances or a commitment to cover a $175 million pension payment for nonteacher school staff. A budget clash last year over those two items led to the ouster of former CEO Pedro Martinez and prompted the resignation of the previous board.
Three mayoral-appointed board members — Ed Bannon of District 1A, Anusha Thotakura of District 6A and Cydney Wallace of District 8B— flipped their stances and voted for the budget in a last-minute twist that drew gasps from the crowd.
A LAST-MINUTE TWIST THAT DREW GASPS FROM THE CROWD
Holy smokes, that's delicious.
What was also delicious was watching Johnson get excoriated as a crook by his fellow Chicagoans for that flagrant last-minute board addition.
WATCH: Illinois State Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago, calls out Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for appointing school board member Angel Velez just hours before voting on a $200M high-interest loan.
— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) August 28, 2025
“When you install someone to serve and make a decision as critical as this is a… https://t.co/MCYpl2PXWA pic.twitter.com/aTa2qlePn5
...“When you install someone to serve and make a decision as critical as this is a few hours before without anyone they represent knowing who they are…that’s business as usual. And I’m highly offended as a taxpayer, as a lawmaker who has been an ally to the city that I love and stay in, and as a parent of Chicago Public Schools students.”
So Hizzoner has alienated former allies, too. I can't imagine that leaves him with more than a handful, if that.
As someone in the comments noted, when the CTU realizes their tool is no longer useful, but actually a huge liability - as he is effortlessly proving to be - they will drop him like a hot potato and throw their money and weight behind some other sterling, malleable individual.
Johnson is only halfway through this inglorious term, and the sharks were already circling as the smell of the blood in the water was overpowering.
Just two years into Brandon Johnson’s first term as mayor of Chicago, challengers are already quietly testing the waters about a run to unseat him in 2027.
On a recent episode of "The Takeaway" with Alex Maragos, Mary Ann Ahern and Rose Schmidt discussed Johnson’s performance, poll numbers and political future as he nears the halfway point of his term.
“When he's polling below 10 percent, that has others looking at it and saying, ‘Why not?’” said Ahern.
...“It is staggering how many people you’re seeing step up to the plate this early on,” said Schmidt, an NBC 5 political producer who has covered mayoral administrations in Chicago, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
After last night's ignominious defeat, I can't imagine the feeding frenzy that erupts.
Hopefully, in the pack, there'll be at least one decent human being who has the city's best interest at heart.
Most importantly, kudos to the good guys who held fast.
Chicago owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to The Brave Seven — the CPS board members who stood strong when it mattered most.
— Chicago Flips Red (@FlipChicagoRed) August 29, 2025
They didn’t just cast a vote; they led. By bringing five more members alongside them, they secured passage of a balanced budget that puts students… pic.twitter.com/DkiQp5PfLW
...They didn’t just cast a vote; they led. By bringing five more members alongside them, they secured passage of a balanced budget that puts students first.
No reckless borrowing. No bond schemes. No quick-fix loans. What they delivered was accountability, transparency, and real concern for Chicago’s children.
And while The Brave Seven deserve recognition, they were joined by other heroes this week—parents who demanded better, community voices who spoke truth to power, and residents who refused to let politics outweigh our kids’ future.
That should be the Chicago Way forward.
