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Buckle up, Chicago. Mayor Brandon Johnson is running the Hail Mary play, both for Chicago’s finances and his political future.

The mayor’s lengthy response on Thursday to an alternative budget framework put forth by 26 aldermen last week was an exercise in political irresponsibility. The mayor’s team dismissed virtually all of the suggestions the majority of the council made and came back with almost no alternative proposals of their own. And the mayor’s cheering section, the Chicago Teachers Union, decided, appallingly, to engage in the politics of personal destruction naming “The Alders willing to shutdown our city,” suggesting they will provide backup if Johnson digs in sufficiently for Chicago’s own version of a federal government shut

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