March 25--Mayor Rahm Emanuel and challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia will take part in a mayoral forum Wednesday night at Chicago State University.
The two candidates won't share the stage at the event. Instead, each will get an hour facing a group of panelists who will ask questions, according to Kelly Harris, an African-American studies professor at the South Side university.
The forum will start with Garcia at 6 p.m. Emanuel is scheduled to follow. It will be broadcast on CAN TV 27 and cantv.org/live.
The two candidates had their first head-to-head debate last week and are scheduled for two more debates before the April 7 runoff election: 9 p.m. Thursday on WFLD-Ch. 32 and 7 p.m. March 31 on WTTW-Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight" program.
The Chicago State forum will take place after a day in which the two candidates and their supporters held events to hammer each other on familiar themes.
Garcia joined members of the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union Local 1 at a rally outside the Chicago Board of Education meeting to call on Chicago Public Schools to pay school workers $15 an hour.
Garcia has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the teachers union and the SEIU in recent weeks. Wednesday's event was a way for him to again try to draw attention to what he says is Emanuel's lack of empathy for Chicago's working-class residents and his focus on corporate backers rather than people living in Chicago's neighborhoods.
It also was an opportunity for Garcia, who supports an elected school board, to criticize the current board, which was picked by Emanuel.
Emanuel backers, meanwhile, continued their drumbeat that Garcia isn't prepared to deal with Chicago's financial problems. City Treasurer Kurt Summers and downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly held an afternoon news conference to again criticize Garcia for not offering more specific financial plans.
Reilly and Summers, who was appointed by Emanuel late last year, have become recurring Emanuel campaign trail proxies, holding events to make the case that the incumbent is a better choice for Chicago voters concerned about the city's looming pension crisis and other fiscal difficulties.
Both Emanuel and Garcia have deflected questions about whether they will resort to a property tax increase to raise revenue in the next four years.
Emanuel also appeared at a West Woodlawn coffee shop and ministries building to announce the expansion of a small business loan program.
jebyrne@tribpub.com
hdardick@tribpub.com
