Longtime Chicago Civic Leader Backs Vallas in Tribune Op-Ed
Former Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama and longtime Chicago civic leader Arne Duncan is endorsing Paul Vallas for Mayor. The founder of the non-violence organization CRED and a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools who succeeded Vallas in the position, Duncan made his endorsement in a Chicago Tribune Op-Ed piece that ran this morning and read in part:
“... Paul Vallas would be the best person to push CPD into the modern age and bring change to a toxic, broken police culture. Vallas comes from a family of police and, as an unpaid adviser to the FOP and the union representing police sergeants, he negotiated meaningful reforms in both contracts. … given the desperate need to reform CPD, tell police the truth and hold them accountable, Vallas is our best hope for a safer Chicago.”
Duncan is the latest high-profile Democratic leader to back Vallas’ campaign, joining former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, former Congressman Bobby Rush, a plethora of local Aldermen representing all corners of the city and more.
"I have known Arne Duncan for many years and the work he has done as an education leader in Chicago and alongside President Obama in Washington has positively impacted the lives of millions of students,” said Vallas. “I have the deepest respect and admiration for Arne’s commitment to frontline work on violence prevention and re-entry support programming in our long-neglected South and West Side neighborhoods. Arne is absolutely right that our city needs a leader who has the confidence of the rank and file police in order to make the changes necessary at the department to not only make Chicago safer, but to repair the broken relationship between the police and the community. I’m grateful to Arne Duncan for supporting my campaign.”