Fellow Chicagoans, property owners, and taxpayers: I stand before you today as John Kitover, candidate for Mayor of Chicago. I am a Citadel graduate, a U.S. Army veteran, a member of American Legion Post 777, and a lifelong resident who has watched this city bleed under the control of Liberal Progressive Pluralist Democrats. Chicago is more than $100 billion in debt when you add the bonds, the unfunded pension liabilities that now exceed $36 billion for the city’s four funds alone, the Chicago Public Schools obligations, and the rest of the legacy burdens. The official long-term debt sits near $30 billion. Pensions are funded at roughly 28 cents on the dollar—police and fire closer to 25 percent. Every new property-tax dollar raised since 2014 has gone almost entirely to pensions while services decline and middle-class families are taxed out of their own homes. This is not an accident. It is the result of decades of deliberate choices by the Democratic machine and its progressive wing. They skipped the bills, sweetened the benefits, locked the promises into the state constitution, borrowed for operations, expanded patronage, and treated taxpayers as an endless source of revenue. Sanctuary policies, unfunded mandates, and ideological experiments have diverted billions while crime rises and neighborhoods empty. They call it equity. Property-tax payers call it theft—theft of their savings, their equity, and their children’s future. The fiscal crisis is already destroying lives. Property taxes have more than doubled. Families who worked, bought homes, and paid their bills are now forced to sell or leave. Businesses close or flee. The city faces structural deficits measured in the hundreds of millions every year. Credit ratings hover near junk. If we continue on this path, the bill will fall hardest on the people who still own property and still pay the taxes that keep the lights on. I say: Resist. Fight. Take action. We will cut property taxes by 50 percent. That is not a slogan; it is a hard budget target. We will freeze the levy in year one, impose zero-based budgeting so every dollar must justify itself, end borrowing for operations, and eliminate waste, duplicative functions, and the patronage system. We will cut the Chicago Public Schools budget and consolidate schools that fail students while consuming resources. We will pursue structured pension buyouts and, if Springfield refuses structural reform through a constitutional amendment, we will file for bankruptcy in federal court to discharge unsustainable promises and reset the books. Retirees will receive a fair settlement. Future taxpayers will not be bankrupted by past political deals. We will end sanctuary-city status, stop spending city resources on illegal immigration, and restore full cooperation with federal law so that taxpayer dollars serve legal residents. We will fully fund the police, hold criminals accountable, and reject the failed experiments of restorative justice that leave neighborhoods unsafe. Growth, not another levy, is the way out. Lower taxes, safer streets, and a solvent city will keep families here and attract the investment Chicago needs. On February 23, 2027, Chicago votes. Vote for the candidate who will liberate this city from the machine that has stolen billions and left property-tax payers holding the bag. Vote for solvency. Vote for your home. Vote John Kitover for Mayor. Thank you.
