CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago's controversial deal that privatized the city's parking meters took center stage in the mayor's race Monday, with one candidate saying she'd sue to cancel the agreement and another calling it a "bad deal" that would raise taxes if undone.
In scenes that illustrate both Chicago's dire
financial straits and the dramatically changing dynamics of its mayoral race,
former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and former Chicago public school board
president Gery Chico blasted the agreement in which the city leased parking
meters for 75 years in exchange for $1.15 billion.
The deal was spearheaded by Mayor Richard Daley,
who has said he needed to privatize the parking meters to raise money for the
cash-strapped city.
Both candidates called the deal, which was approved
by the City Council, a "fiasco" and "financial disaster"
and lamented that the city has only $75 million left after less than about two
years.
But they also distanced themselves from each other.
Braun said the city got "snookered" in
the deal and suggested that case law supports a lawsuit to cancel it, echoing a
call made last week by fellow mayoral candidate City Clerk Miguel del Valle.
Braun also said she found a way to repay the group led by Morgan Stanley
Infrastructure that holds the lease without raising taxes.
That prompted Chico, who has called the deal the
"worst since the Louisiana Purchase," to accuse Braun of pandering.
Chico said the agreement couldn't be undone, and even if it could, it would
force residents to pay more taxes.
"Before we perpetuate any more hysteria,
trying to grab a headline because the meter rates just went up ... let us not
mislead voters because it's a campaign season into believing that something's
there when it's not," Chico said.
The campaigns of Braun, Chico and del Valle had
largely been overshadowed by the mayoral bid of Rahm Emanuel, first when he
quit his job as White House chief of staff to run for mayor and then his
efforts to fight challenges to his Chicago residency.
But the dynamics changed Friday night, when U.S.
Rep. Danny Davis withdrew from the race — a move that followed state Sen. James
Meeks' decision to end his campaign — leaving Braun as the
"consensus" African-American candidate.
A weekend of rallies followed, with newspaper
reporters and television crews descending on her campaign headquarters as she
appeared at events with Davis, Meeks, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., and longtime
Chicago Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.
Braun said she sees solid legal grounds for
pursuing a lawsuit and supporting a lawsuit already filed by a private group
over the parking meter deal.
She also said she found the money within the city's
existing budget to repay the more than $1 billion to the leaseholders without
raising taxes, though the few details she offered would raise nothing close to
$1 billion.
Chico had harsh words for Braun, saying attorneys
have analyzed the deal and cannot find any legal way out of it. And he said
that even if there were a way out, the city is so strapped for money that a
victory would mean a "whopper" of a tax increase.
He challenged Braun to come up with specific plans
to win a lawsuit and repay the money.
"Have you seen the plan?" he asked.
"There is no plan."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
