Crusader staff report
Troy LaRaviere, a former Chicago Public Schools principal and staunch critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, launched his mayoral campaign website on Tuesday, January 16, calling the incumbent “incompetent” and “corrupt.”
The Chicago mayoral election will be held in February, 2019. Businessman Willie Wilson has formed an exploratory committee as he considers running for the city’s top job.
With a year to go before the mayoral elections, the race is beginning to fill up with candidates who were fired under Emanuel’s administration. In addition to LaRaviere, former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has scheduled a campaign fundraiser in February, hoping to challenge Emanuel who fired McCarthy in 2016, one week after a video was released showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.
The scandal threatens to become a major factor in Emanuel’s reelection bid. Eight days after he was reelected to a second term, City Hall approved a $5 million settlement to the family of McDonald.
At LaRaviere’s website, troyforchicago.com, users will see “For the People” and it says, “it’s time we elect a mayor who will make City Hall serve all our families and neighborhoods.”
“A simple look at our city’s mounting debt, the mayor’s amateurish leadership of our school system or his complete inadequacy in both supporting police and holding them accountable is just the beginning of the mounting evidence of his incompetence.”
LaRaviere also alleges that Emanuel serves the interests of the wealthiest donors instead of Chicago’s ordinary residents. LaRaviere said the mayor has no plans to solve the city’ biggest challenges.
During his term in office, critics have often called Emanuel the “One Percent Mayor” because of his relationship with many developers who are building scores of high rises and skyscrapers in the city, at a time when thousands of low-income residents are waiting for housing vouchers for more affordable places to stay.
“As mayor, I will be upfront about the cost of good government, end the practice of indebting taxpayers to big banks and raise enough revenue to adequately fund city services,” LaRaviere says on his website.
LaRaviere, a well-loved and popular figure, was removed as principal of Lakeview’s Blaine Elementary School after he was accused of insubordination in opposing a standardized test and engaging in “political activity” on the job. At the time LaRaviere was running for the president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association labor group, which elected him to the post.
LaRaviere insisted that his firing was politically motivated. U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders criticized Emanuel for having an “unhealthy obsession with taking revenge.” Emanuel said he had nothing to do with the LaRaviere’s termination.
LaRaviere’s website features two ads were he appeared with Sanders during the presidential primaries.