Mayoral challenger Brandon Johnson said Monday he won’t cut “one penny” from the Chicago Police Department’s $1.94 billion budget, reversing previous plans to reduce police spending by $150 million.
Predicting “one of the closest mayoral elections we have ever seen,” Johnson used a luncheon address to the City Club of Chicago to shield himself from the two main lines of attack Paul Vallas has used against him: Johnson’s longstanding history of supporting the concept of defunding the police and the $800 million in tax increases he plans to impose to help bankroll the “investments in people” that are the cornerstone of his anti-violence strategy.
