Bill de Blasio met with Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel this morning in New York City, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
Emanuel and de Blasio overlapped in the Clinton administration, where Emanuel served as a senior adviser to the president, while de Blasio served as a regional director for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Emanuel went on to serve as a congressman, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and chief of staff to President Barack Obama, before leaving to run for mayor of his hometown in 2011.
A spokesman for Emanuel said that today's meeting ran for approximately an hour, and that the two men discussed "transition and urban affairs."
De Blasio ran Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign in 2000, and then ran for City Council and public advocate, before emerging from a crowded field to win the Democratic primary for mayor in September.
Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States, and shares many of the same challenges as New York City.
Emanuel made national news when he took a tough tack with the city's teachers' union last year, rescinding a promised raise and lengthening the city's school day, reforms that drew praise from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
De Blasio hasn't said exactly how he'll deal with New York City's municipal unions, but has said that full retroactive raises for union employees aren't possible within the city's budget, and said he was "unburdened" when the local United Federation of Teachers opted to endorse a rival before the city's primary.
As I have said over and over, de Blasio was the least bad choice among a plethora of bad choices this election cycle.
I supported him because John Liu could not get elected and the alternatives to de Blasio - Quinn, Weiner and Thompson - all had larger downsides than de Blasio.
That doesn't mean I trust de Blasio and it doesn't mean I like him.
The meeting yesterday with Emanuel bears watching.
It's not a mistake that de Blasio met with Rahmbo to talk "transition and urban affairs."
He could have met with many a municipal politician to talk "transition and urban affairs."
He chose virulently anti-union, anti-teacher Rahm Emanuel.
Just something to think about before you go in and vote for the "progressive" candidate, Bill de Blasio.
Exactly what do serious ed activists expect ? We could have and SHOULD have held OUR OWN mayoral forum prior to the Sept. primary. It should have ...and probably WOULD have....been an opportunity to 1. vet the candidates ( including diBlasio) on ed issues; 2. educate the candidates ( including di Blasio) on ed issues from OUR perspective.
ReplyDeleteAs it turns out... we have another educational tabula rasa about to take office; one who thinks *Michael Mulgrew* speaks for me.
I don't blame di Blasio for being relieved that Mulgrew chose Thompson; I wouldn't want to be in Mulgrew's debt either. But the rest of us are screwed. And it's out own fault. If we don't want to sully ourselves by endorsing "bourgeois" politicians ... we don't have to endorse. We DO, otoh, have to LET THEM KNOW WE EXIST. Making connections to the union struggles in places like Chile is absolutely FINE. But a lot of excellent teachers in NYC will NOT HAVE JOBS at all if we have another 4 years remotely resembling the last 4.
We need help NOW. And we need help HERE. And we need to establish a relationship with the HERE AND NOW in the form of di Blasio.
Hey, the reality of so-called "progressives" of the Park Slope variety is full support for gentrification on all levels. What do I mean by that? Well I mean that "Slopies" might espouse a hardline "progressive" rhetoric, BUT, when it comes to the placing of a drug rehab, or group home, or other social institution on their block-they will fight tooth and nail to oppose it.So, in many cases, their "progressivism" suddenly becomes quite conservative an eilitist...to the bottom of their "organic" Food Cooperative asses. I don't know the Deblasios personally, nor have I heard tales, since I've been out of the Slope loop for a good while, but I don't expect him to be able to the nudge monied uber plans for this town a great distance-in education or anything else. However...nothing can be as bad as The Great Satan we've just endured for twelve years.
ReplyDeleteI saw the debates and every question was the same each and every time. When a candidate says "I will appoint someone with ed experience as chancellor", that now includes TFA and charter experience. Yet not one reporter asked about that or about John King dissing NYC parents.
ReplyDeleteImagine that Mr. Progressive DiBlasio turns out to be another Obama. Wearing the cloak and mantle of black and white happy together.
ReplyDeleteDiBlasio has already met with Obama (at Junior's) and Rhambo. Does not look good.
Maybe DBlasio should contact Karen Lewis to get some more advice.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how he can be anything other than another Obama....basically a neo corporatist dressed as The Good Humor Man...
ReplyDeleteRegarding education....the grassroots battles have begun. Organization is the only hope.....
ReplyDeleteSo who are we voting for?
ReplyDeleteKaren Lewis will be here in New York in a few weeks. Maybe someone can point DeBlasio in her direction, to see if he bites. That would be very revealing.
How do we do that?
DeleteI don't know. Maybe someone, like me, can call his office to provide details. I am not sure I am the best one to put it into words for all of us. But it is a really good idea.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of an e-mail campaign. I am also not the best person. Maybe a whole bunch of us could e-mail di Blasio. I am in NJ. I just had the crazy idea that we should demand equal time. I am so fed up with my situation. Maybe Reality could put us in touch. I do not want to post my e-mail on the blog.
DeleteOne thing EVERYONE can do right now is sign the MORE petition on the MORE website for a moratorium on implementation of the idiotic teacher eval system.
DeleteIt is supposed to be presented to Mulgrew, King and the new mayor.
Already done, but I'll post again about it.
DeleteDe Blasio has said many good things during the campaign -0 especially about schools, teachers and education policy. But what a candidate says during a campaign and the kinds of policies they pursue during a first term, well, we've seen in the past how often those diverge. So we'll just have to keep a close watch on him and how him accountable for breaking promises and pursuing an agenda opposite to what he said he would pursue.
ReplyDelete