week. the event is hosted by wttw-yv. live coverage is next. >> the city club of chicago. >> smart people may disagree about what makes a great city. part of what makes chicago great is we don't have to agree. a lot of issues,. the city club of chicago is the place to debate those issues and hear from men and women who shape the policy is, leave the industry's, and tell the stories that define our city. for the free and open exchange of ideas, the city club of chicago. moderator: good evening. on this tuesday, march 31, the

final form between the two candidates running for mayor of chicago, that is a full hour next on "chicago tonight." ♪ moderator: the stakes in the mayoral election could hardly be higher. the bond rating teeters two notches above junk status. the city faces pension debt and reliance on borrowing threatens every other function of government. the question tonight what qualities the candidates for mayor have to change that. joining us, the city club is helping to underwrite tonight's forum. we are live streaming this on our website. welcome to our viewers around

the country on c-span. our political reporter is tweeting. we invite you to join the online conversation. joining us are rahm emanuel, and jesus garcia. before we begin, tonight we are doing things differently. we will start by talking mainly about finances with each candidate individually without interruption from the other. that will give the mayor and commissioner an opportunity to clearly answered the questions. then we will engage both on a range of topics. may your, your administration borrow for short-term expenditures. are you doing what got the city into trouble? mayor emanuel: what we are doing today is i have balanced for budgets. we are ending the gimmicks of

the rainy day fund. more importantly, we have invested in our children. in addition to that, we have changed a lot of individual things that were inherited. we got here because politicians kicked the can down the road. >> let's talk about the future. you are in the process of borrowing this money. do you plan to borrow money to pay the $550 million due for police and fire pensions? mayor emanuel: we have three pension agreements we have done. a balanced approach that asks a little of everybody. in 2011, the legislature passed a bill mandating property tax. i laid out a plan of how to get out of that. first and formost, where we disagree -- moderator: this is before the

lynn noise supreme court. mayor emanuel: it is an approach just like the city approach. it spells out a way to avoid a property tax. first and foremost, a progressive sales tax. second, a chicago-based casino. that allows you reform revenue to avoid a property tax increase. and the differences that i actually not allowing any reforms, saying they are off the table, you put the onus on taxpayers. i have given you a specific plan on how to avoid a property tax. moderator: the three items you mentioned are dependent on state action. what makes you think the state is going to come through on that? mayor emanuel: first the progressive sales tax which i have been enforcing.

you are talking about income tax. it is what my opponent is for. it is viable today because the sales tax was designed 30 years ago. second, a chicago-based casino. they are talking about that as a revenue source. those revenue sources allow you to avoid a property tax consistent with 40 years in which i have not raised property taxes. moderator: a casino, who would own it? mayor emanuel: chicago. i have been consistent. my opponent came out against the casino. i think a chicago-based casino is a revenue source dedicated to paying for police and fire pensions. depending on how you do it would raise additional resources.

anywhere over the time of 10 years a billion dollars. moderator: $100 million a year. mayor emanuel: and you a progressive sales tax. the reason i am for reforms, part of this is you don't have to put the burden on taxpayers. when you have reform off the table, taxpayers and neighborhood services have to cut. moderator: back to the issue of the casino. who would regulate it? mayor emanuel: chicago would own it. we would have a third-party operating in. would be looked over by the state board of ethics. the good news is the first time ever in 30 years i have passed in springfield and the governor vetoed it. it is viable. the one source, you can't rely

not because it requires a constitutional amendment. we have been needs now. a balanced approach where everybody gets a little and nobody has to give too much is a distinction between my opponent and i wear i like the counting and like three pension agreements to work through and done a reform revenue model. it adds a balanced approach for everyone has to do a role to stabilize the fund. if you take reform off the table, there will be cut to police officers, tax increases and there is a reason for taxpayers to bear the burden. one last point. our employees didn't cause this problem. our taxpayers didn't cause this problem. with politicians and bring to things that we couldn't afford. what i have worked at for four years just to work her way out of commitments made for people kick the can down the road and now we have gotten to a point where we have aries christ that

i'm trying to work through that an end what has been 30 years of politics and getting us in a potential mess that is been around for career politicians. moderator: let's spend some time with the commissioner. it has to be a matter of shared sacrifice, including pension reform. mr. garcia: shared sacrifice will be something that we engage in. first, you have to make sure any reform you undertake is constitutional. the bill that he passed through springfield is pending before the illinois rim court. the court will rule and then we will know. the legislature will act to provide relief toward the obligations we have. you cannot move it and risk the chance of it being struck down, which is likely to happen in illinois. moderator: say the supreme court surprises you and says those

pension reforms that are in the law are excepted will, and we give it our blessing. would you implement those? mr. garcia: i would sit with those unions and talk about it. it would shed new light on the parameters. we would have a new guide to approach it. the problem with some of this is, and the question you asked is, more borrowing. visit administration is engaged in borrowing $1.9 billion. almost $2 billion more than the previous administration borrow to in a 10 year period. this will end up children -- and how long the indebtedness was last. moderator: one last thing, -- mr. garcia: it has been used for short time purpose to provide some services that he

has been talking about. that has been irresponsible and expensive. moderator: what are the non-springfield revenue proposes you have made is a luxury tax. mr. garcia: the purchase of luxury vehicles, boats, jewelry over $5,000. it generates a modest amount of dollars but it is a part of the mixed we're looking at. moderator: define a modest amount. mr. garcia: potentially between five and $10 million. it is one of the things that i put out there. i support modernizing the sales tax in illinois. it is been around for a long time. it is geared toward goods. it is time to expand services. i'm glad to hear the mayor say he supports making progressive have been most of his measures for the past four years.

it is regressive. that is how he has balanced the budget over the past four years. that is not sustainable. it is unfair. it needs to be progressive. he now agrees with me making the sales tax a progressive one. moderator: we are still at the commissioner. you have had one executive position in your career. 2.9 million. excuse me. you are right. [indiscernible] you said you left the nonprofit in the black yet tax returns for the year you left shows a deficit of $650,000. is that wrong? mr. garcia: you are missing apples and oranges.

i said it was in good fiscal health. i grew up in a nine year. , from being one -- when i left it experienced a deficit which is not a dad. that changed after a couple of years. i secured additional funding coming to the organization. moderator: the two years before you left, the organization had a deficit of almost half $1 million. mr. garcia: you are mixing some things up. it had a modest deficit. today it is one of -- moderator: we are talking about when you left. mr. garcia: a deficit is not a debt. it is an accounting procedure. the important thing is that the organization never had to borrow money, never used its line of credit. it never missed one payroll. it was in good financial health. use try to distort the record of

a nonprofit. i don't know why he is doing it. the organization has a budget of $5 million. it is nationally renowned. moderator: it must be safe to assume that you have started to put some names together for your commission. who is going to be on it? mr. garcia: we have a variety of financial experts. we have labor unions. moderator: give me some examples of people whose names we may recognize? mr. garcia: professor jerry dutche, there are other people like them -- representatives of labor. different labor unions. i'm not at liberty to give their names. moderator: what with the balance be between labor folks and nonlabor folks? mr. garcia: business people we are consulting with. when i am elected we will release their names.

probably 12 people. moderator: let's open it to both of you. mayor emanuel: i brought that actual document. it was a deficit he left. he said he left it in black. when he said this is the operating budget, he overestimated it i-72 percent. if you're going to recruit businesses, jobs to the city of chicago, your veracity is counting on people to hang your hat on. a good organization that does good work that you can on a 2.7 million budget were off by 72% you actually left it in a deficit, and you claimed this organization is how you prove your management jobs is not going to be bringing confidence. mr. garcia: the organization is in solid financial health. they changed the reporting year. at the time i left. that is part of the reason.

moderator: was it in the black when you left? mr. garcia: there was a deficit but no one missed a paycheck. no one was laid off. most nonprofits -- freddie mac paid a huge role. economists have pointed out during his tenure at freddie mac it was one of the situations that began the great recession. [indiscernible] that is big. mayor emanuel: i served on the board in 2001. the recession happened in 2008. i want to clear it up. i do not cause the recession. [laughter] [applause]

second, i knows nothing about recessions. which is why president obama asked me to be his chief of staff during one of the worst recessions. we worked our way through not only budgets without a property tax, and now chicago's number one with families moving in. [applause] mr. garcia: chicago has had one of the slowest recoveries of the top five cities in the country. we are third. we have come in number eight in terms of recovery since the great recession. he touts -- international tourism has expanded. it has it. we lag behind most cities in the country. he likes to paint a rosy picture. the organization after i left it created an award in my name as an honor to the service i provided to it. today people come to work

and look at the organization. mayor emanuel: it does good work. that is not the point. you claim as your veracity as a manager of a $2.7 million organization a 10th of a we do for afterschool programs, is your credential to be the mayor of a $6 billion organization. you underestimated the budget by 72%. mr. garcia: that is peanuts. with the mayor is leaving the city of chicago, a projected deficit for next year of $432 million. growing almost six million the following year. moderator: gentlemen let's move on. let's talk about the future. specifically in terms of

additional revenue the city will need. isn't it fair to say both of you know what will have to be done in terms of property taxes. but you just don't want to give the voters the bad news before the election. mayor emanuel: this is where we differ. i presented for budgets in a row without a property tax increase. i put money in the rainy day fund and invested in our kids. three separate pension agreements that stabilize them without a property tax increase. as a relates to the next to pension agreements, i laid out a plan without a property tax. you asked who is going to be on the commission and he told you he's going to point to the day after the election. mr. garcia: that is not true. i gave some names. mayor emanuel: quote, i'm not at liberty. moderator: to talk about the union memberships. mayor emanuel: here is what it

is. by taking reform -- typical career politicians promising everything like on a hairy, then the taxpayers get the bill. moderator: commissioner, a question. is it fair to say you know what needs to be done but you are not telling voters what needs to be done. mr. garcia: i don't know every thing that needs to be done. when i become mayor i am going to engage in audits of the city's finances. there has not been an independent audit. there is not been performance audits of the departments. those are not audits of the city's finances. those are reports on what

has been spent. there are no audits made of the city of chicago's finances or any of the departments. mayor emanuel: one of the most premier accounting firms in the world, they do audits of chicago austin, major fortune 100,000 companies. every year they have to audit chicago's books. the idea year running for mayor and can claim that they and the inspector general are in cahoots is ludicrous. you are running for mayor of the city. moderator: with respect you wrote a note op-ed say he was

cooking his books. mr. garcia: i did. there is a veil of secrecy. you cannot get real information about where the revenues are going in the city of chicago. i want to open the books. before i can look a taxpayer in the eye and increase taxes on them, i want them to know what we have in the city of chicago. that hasn't occurred under this administration. there is a veil of secrecy. taxpayers need to know. i will place that online. moderator: you said a major accounting firm of the world it and the inspector general, you said they cooked the books. mayor emanuel: have you call the u.s. attorney? that is a serious charge.

on the information -- mr. garcia: it is in what taxpayers can -- [indiscernible] there hasn't been a performance audits. those are balanced statements that an accounting firm has to provide. they are not independent. i stand by that. moderator: gentlemen, let's move on. give us one new revenue idea we haven't heard yet that the city council and the mayor can enact with no action from springfield. mr. garcia. mr. garcia: chicago at present, let me tell you, a lot of our taxpayer dollars have gone into the downtown area. please. you give them a lot of time. wealthy building owners in the downtown area, when they

construct new buildings, higher politically had the law firms who have lots of clouds, and they go in to the board of appeals, and they received a medic reductions in the assessments of those buildings. the potential for recouping hundreds of millions of dollars by sending our corporation counsel to those hearings, and to intervene on behalf of taxpayers for buildings that have a significant value could yield a lot of money to citizens. when they -- hundreds of millions of dollars. 11 buildings that were sold in the last year in the downtown could generate $100 million. [indiscernible] moderator: that says a good idea. mayor emanuel: we do collect taxes.

when in fact the willis tower was sold, the city of chicago does receive a tremendous amount of money when one property goes to another. when they bought it is reflection of their confidence of the environment and job creation of the city. moderator: is it a fair assessment on which these taxes are based? mr. garcia: the empire state building, a similar mechanism generates 3-4 times the amount property taxes than does the willis tower. mayor emanuel: on taxes here i have talked about one of the way to avoid property tax increase is a surplus. i talked about the casino, and even on this show, i talked about a progressive sales tax. the sales tax we have today is

structured on the economy 30 years ago. expanding it, a single mother buying school supplies for her child as a sales tax. you join a club, you do not pay a sales tax. health clubs. very simple. i believe those services should be charged because they are more reflective of today's economy than 30 years ago. [laughter] moderator: let's move on to a different topic. this is a viewer question. it has to do with the airport. you can't soundproof your yard your deck. soundproofing and noise monitors are a dodge to avoid dealing with the problem hundreds of loud and toxic polluting planes flying low over our once little communities. what do you say to those people who are suffering those effects?

mayor emanuel: the resident is right. you can insulate homes. you can't insulate your how -- outside. the solution to this is getting the faa to be a study to have all hair -- o'hare have the runways used at appropriate times. the fda controls this which is why i have called upon them to expedite it. it requires somebody less leadership to get the answer and solve the problem because too often only two parts of the runway, two communities are being rude -- used. the residents are right. you are impaired because of flight patterns. moderator: do you have a way for the faa to do something? mr. garcia: the first thing i

may or should do is meet with individuals who have lived around the airport. i have done that. the area has been complaining about this. i went to one of their hearings. you can at least do that. why not go there and see for yourself? why not engage them? that is what a mayor should do. you may not be will to solve their concerns but i support keeping the old runways and the utilization of the new ones, and engaging in measures that would mitigate the noises they are hearing. i will advocate for them. i will make the faa meet with them. that is being responsive and a good listener. moderator: speaking of the residences, we have some protesters. mayor emanuel: i feel at home now. moderator: you did not design the runways.

why heaven you it lists -- at least met with people? mayor emanuel: i have met with them and with the alderman -- moderator: they claim you have not. who did you met with? mayor emanuel: i listen to what they want to do. that is what we did with the installation of homes. now i have written a letter to the faa to speed up the report so we can actually evenly take the runways, so no two communities bear the brunt of the growth. it is not evenly felt across all areas. moderator: you met with the alderman. mayor emanuel: who represents the areas. i understand you can't use your backyard, you are not getting the full value of your home. moderator: what about meeting with them? mr. garcia: i met with them.

mr. garcia:mayor emanuel: the hard part is getting the answer. that is what i am working on. mr. garcia: give them a half hour. this is their greatest investment. they deserve to be heard. mayor emanuel: when it came to meeting with people, we did that. when it came to closing the coal plant, i met with them, shut it down. the meetings with the faa -- mr. garcia: the coal plants again. moderator: you asked me to ask about the coal plants. i will get back to on that. this is the second time the commissioner has expressed skepticism about your role in closing the coal plants. what did you

mr. emanuel: they have been advocating for 20 years. a felt nobody was on the fifth floor was hearing them so i was listening, and they said we need to get this done because our kids are showing up in the hospital with asthma attacks. the difference was when they needed to get the job done and not just protest, they needed to close the plant and make progress. i called the ceo into my office and i said this can be easy or this can be hard. today in my tenure, an effort finally got done because i opened up the floor and finish the job. moderator: surely you give the mayor credit for closing the deal. mr. garcia: i give the mayor credit for his reelection campaign. he came in and took credit for it. part of the reason the coal plants are going to close was

because they were becoming uneconomical. there was a lot of advocacy -- the groups deserved all the credit. they worked on it for a long time. the community residents that is why they -- residents that is why they closed. moderator: quick response. mr. emanuel: two points. that was the price of natural gas and when you are negotiating, you'd use that to leverage and the coal plant operator to shut down. the effort does go to the community groups but the difference is protesting is not the same as making progress. not only to shut the coal plant down but to open the park they wanted. that is how you invest in neighborhoods. moderator: the money came from the state.

let's move on to the next topic. we have a viewer question. this is addressed to mayor emmanuel. many of your donors receive contracts from the city and are exempt from your new regulations. is inter-leadership compromised by the favors you go to these people? mr. emanuel: two points. first, it was during my tenure that the stain was on chicago for its hiring practice, who you know not what you know. the federal oversight of our hiring strategy has ended. that ended under my watch. the 20 or process of federal oversight. that is a fundamental reform, where corruption used to occur. two, here are the three things i

have told supporters you were wrong. by supporters -- we raised minimum wage by 40%. i have told the real estate development community -- you put $90 million into a fund for affordable units. i close the loophole that allowed companies to take luxury skyboxes in sporting facilities and they have to pay full rates. when it can to asking mr. garcia -- where he disagreed, he couldn't name one donor. the family that had a no-bid contract is one of the biggest supporters.

mr. garcia: one of the family members was standing right behind you at the election. one person wants to volunteer for me and that makes them a big donor? he has received, according to "forbes," from 600 vendors doing business $7 million. he has received over the past four years over $20 million from 100 donors. they are rich and powerful. when you have forces like that involved in politics, what happens to the little guy, to taxpayers? they get shut out. you by the airways, you monopolize the discourse. he never thought we would be here tonight because he figured he would get reelected because he had all of those wealthy donors. it is bad for -- that is why voters voted for change.

mr. emanuel: two things. you just called "the sun-times" liars. that family was thrown out of the airport for a no-bid sweetheart deal. i am proud that business and labor turn in support of my effort because they know the difference between an economy that is growing and one that is running up deficits. when i came to office, there were three trains in the city of chicago. today there are 29 trains and everybody is going back to work. chicago was on the move again. i am proud of the fact that they know the difference between an economy growing and an economy without leadership. moderator: it was recently revealed that you received a donation from magic johnson

after one of his companies got an $80 million contract. is that not another example of your contributors benefiting from a city deal? mr. emanuel: first of all, it was a competitive bid. and he gave $10 million for at-risk kids. kids who have never had an opportunity for a job or a mentor, getting an alternative. i am happy magic johnson solved the problem and was competitively bid. moderator: it has been called pay to play politics. mr. garcia: it is as robust as ever. i had 6000 volunteers working in my campaign. he plugs one name who hasn't made any significant financial contributions to my campaign -- that is not paid to play. that is distorting. moderator: did he discuss potential contracts with you? mr. garcia: no.

mr. emanuel: you still haven't -- that is what leadership requires. moderator: your son has been arrested numerous times and court records described him as a gang member. in 2013 he was charged with a felony for attacking an off-duty police officer. is he still a gang member? mr. garcia: i was and i live in the neighborhood that has had its share of problems, including gang activity. my son grew up in that community. we tried to be as loving and as caring and are supportive of my son as possible. be made some mistakes and i am not proud of it. perhaps all lovely gave him wasn't enough. my son has learned from his mistakes. he has four children he is raising.

the mentors kids in the community. he turned his life around and i'm proud of him. mr. garcia:moderator: is he still in a gang? mr. garcia: no. moderator: a lot of voters might wonder -- if you can't keep your own son out of the gang -- [booing] -- if you can't keep your own son out of a gang how can you steer the city away from gangs? mr. garcia: it was growing up in a neighborhood that has had its share of gang violence that deepened my resolve and my wife's resolve to stay there, to work to improve the community to reduce gang violence. it was one of the highlights of my work. to date, people come from all

over the country to look at the work the organization has done. moderator: that wasn't the question. mr. garcia: my son has only been convicted of two misdemeanors. what you are spreading is something that was published anecdotally in the newspaper. we did the best that we could for him. there are other things you don't know about my son. he has been a mentor with the ymca. he has worked for cease-fire. he has meant toward kids in the neighborhood. he has also worked on trauma is use in this -- trauma issues in the city of chicago. [applause] moderator: i have happy to give you the opportunity to tell that story. let's get back to pay to play. one of chicago's leading law firms represented your son for a felony charge.

you cosponsored a measure to get mayor brown the job of handling $100 million. why is that not payback for a freebie? mr. garcia: when my son received the services from the law firm, i didn't ask the law firm to provide them. it was a mutual friend who referred them. it was before i was elected to the board. he has known them since he was three. he went to them asking for advice on how to handle it. i did not see any conflict of interest and to this day i don't see a conflict of interest. how much did the firm get? a miniscule amount for the work that they did. there was no reason for me to think there was a conflict of interest, or else i would have abstained. that has been my record of ethics and politics. [applause] moderator: mayor?

all the city's borrowing goes through edinburg -- through ed burke. would you support him? one of you is going to be elected -- when you keep chairman burke? mr. emanuel: if he seeks reelection i will support the city council. moderator: why does he still has security detail? it is diminished but he still has a security detail. mr. emanuel: we have made it smaller. we have cut back everybody's. moderator: it is still costing the city money. mr. emanuel: i have it, other individuals have it. there is no part of the budget that doesn't get reformed. everybody got cutbacks. in addition, his are no longer active policemen. they are retirees. moderator: commissioner, if you

are elected mayor, would you keep and burke as chairman -- keep ed burke? mr. garcia: they will do that by a vote. moderator: your vote would be pretty big. mr. garcia: let me answer your question. context is important. in february, voters voted for change and that is why this gentleman is in the runoff. that is why 19 members of the city council are also been runoff. to me, that is a strong message being sent to the mayor and the city council. we're going to have those conversations. moderator: are you suggesting there might be a change? mr. garcia: we will review the security detail of the alderman. the other thing i want to say is that part of the reason we have to do that is terrible management of city finances that resulted in five downgrades,

including two at chicago public schools. we have to look at all the expenditures in the city of chicago, including those of the chicago city council. mr. emanuel: the bigger issue isn't him being chairman -- it is insurance as it relates to workers comp. second let's deal with the downgrade. moderator: get back to that. mr. emanuel: you can save a lot of money on workers comp and that is where we have been saving money. moderator: a lot of people have no idea what ed burke does. mr. emanuel: let me get to the bigger point. that downgrade issue -- it very specifically points to public schools. in 1977, you cast a vote to

allow them to skip payments to teachers pension. if you skip these payments, the pensions will create a financial mess. the probably have today -- your fingerprints are all over that shovel. that is what created the financial mess we have today. the downgrades weren't there in the last four years -- it took 30 years of politicians casting votes in springfield -- moderator: you talked about credibility. how about the credibility of mov movody's? mr. emanuel: you don't believe the pension crisis -- you are not suggesting they have just emerged. it is years and years. that is the honest assessment. that is the first time cps started to skip payments, when

he was in the state senate. it would create a financial mess. that is the problem we have today. moderator: what's moody says -- it is a projection of the future. mr. emanuel: and how we got to this mess -- was it overnight? i want to end of the dual taxation of chicago taxpayers. moderator: commissioner. mr. garcia: there is a long history of financial mismanagement related to rahm emanuel. freddie mac was part of it. you can say i accused him of bringing out the great recession, but he was a rubberstamp on the board approving many decisions -- moderator: we were talking about bond ratings. you mentioned moody's.

mr. garcia: they also did the most recent downgrading. he promised four years ago to fix finances and now he seeks to highlight a vote i took to deal with education and health care with a $30 billion budget. he claims that i ushered in the era of pension fund being out of whack. that is crazy. that is like me blaming him personally for the recession. moderator: he does. mr. garcia: he said he would put the fiscal house in order and four years later we are in a much worse situation. chicago finances are among the worst in the country. mr. emanuel: you can attack -- you can attack me, but everyone knows the attacks on me are a smokescreen for the fact that you lack an agenda.

what is happening here, the crisis on pensions didn't happen overnight. we inherited it on day one. we have rolled up our sleeves and cut the structural deficit. . the gimmicks of taking money out of rainy day funds and that is why businesses and jobs are finally coming back to the city. if you go back to the days when we were on a small group, nobody will have accomplished -- mr. garcia: the federation has warned him to stop our wing for the long haul because it is so expensive, indenting chicagoans for many years. they have told him to stop use that borrowing to fund short-term operations -- moderator: mayor, once upon a

time, the short-term borrowing cap was $200 million -- you east increased it to $1 billion. mr. emanuel: these problems, we inherited. everybody recommended indiscriminate cuts across the board. that is the wrong thing to do. other people recommended just raise taxes. i rejected both those. i went through the budget, reforming it, balancing it, ending the gimmicks. no property tax. and the worst thing to do is do what other politicians have done. cutting $1 billion of pledges then telling you that i will appoint a commission, and it won't tell you what is acceptable or not acceptable --

mr. garcia: the civic federation also said as a relates to the chicago public school budget, that it is founded on a gimmick and accounting gimmick. he used 14 months to do them in next budget -- you don't do that. he talks about the largest property tax increase. to try to do that last year through the state legislature. didn't have the guts to do it through the city council. he was trying to pass a $250 million property tax in the general assembly. who stopped him? the governor. in our last debate, he admitted that there is waste, fraud, and inefficiencies in the city budget. that is why i want to open up so chicagoans know what that waste

fraud, inefficiencies are. mr. emanuel: every year we make major structural reforms eliminating waste, finding efficiencies. it is how you increase your school funding from 14,000 kids on day one to where we are now at 24,000. we went through the budget found the waste, constantly reforming. you go through it every year and find different efficiencies. i-8 knowledge that our job isn't done but we are not -- i acknowledge that our job isn't done but we aren't where we were before. moderator: this has to do with race relations. that would you do about historical tensions over city jobs, contracts, and resources? mr. garcia: when i am elected, i will be a mayor whose core values will be fairness and equity.

it has been done before in chicago. chicago cannot move forward as a city unless everyone in the city, all communities, get a fair share that there is equity in the city. chicago cannot prosper if some people are doing great and other people aren't. there has not been equity. groups have been kept out of the mix in terms of employment, contracts, promotion. the culture of the politics in chicago has been in part responsible for it. it has also been structural racism and barriers that have created -- that have denied people the opportunity to advance. i have been a consistent reformer and progressive and coalition builder, recognizing that chicago can only achieve its potential in the 21st century when you have an inclusive government. moderator: how about the issue

of historical tensions between african-americans and latinos? mr. emanuel: first, i want to speak to this issue. the reason -- what indiana's bigotry -- it is wrong. we have left indiana because of their bigotry who are welcome here in chicago. diversity is our strength and it always has been. to individuals of different ethnicities running for chicago this is the greatest city in america where you can still achieve the american dream. that is our strength. working together and sharing experiences. that happens educationally. it helps make people advance the most and get to their god-given potential. moderator: commissioner --

this is a big issue. a city that produced barack obama. this is an issue well has been a weakness it has been a strength. moderator: commissioner, can you fairly represent the city when negotiating at the union? mr. garcia: phil, i am going to be a mayor that will open up the books and have difficult conversations with allstate coalition. part of the acrimony with respect to this mayor is the fact that he tried to break the teachers union by making it impossible for them to have a strike authorization. the triggered the first strike in 25 years. this confrontation is not conducive to coming to terms and achieving good outcomes in chicago. my approach will be inclusive and collaborative. we can do things differently and

i will and pay to play, politics. moderator: quick response. for years ago 90% of teachers voted to strike. how much of a- -- mr. emanuel: we have a good relationship with cq. let me be clear -- 28 unions agreed with us. we have worked through police fire in 2000 other contracts in an amiable way. the issue that was at risk was that chicago kids were having the shortest school day and school year. we ended shortchanging our kids and now they have more classroom time. my opponent is not agree. -- opponent does not agree. moderator: gentlemen -- we are out of time.

thanks for your generous support of public affairs. a special thanks to the city club members and the guests who joined us in the studio this evening. you can find more information about the candidates. to dan on april 22 when we will hold a special forum with high school students and the winner of the mayoral race. we look forward to seeing what if you in april. thank you. [applause] >> chicago tonight is made possible by the city club of chicago. >> coming up tonight on c-span, the boston university law school hosts a discussion on antidiscrimination laws. after that, mike pence holds a news conference on the state's

new religious freedom law. later, another chance to see the final debate between rahm emanuel and jesus julie garcia. , next "washington journal," leo gerard discusses current trade policy negotiations and the reaction by union. than the president of the american health policy institute is here to talk about the need for a republican alternative to the affordable care act if the supreme court rules against the administration. later, our spotlight on magazines features sam baker of the national journal on his piece examining indiana's new law. "washington journal" is live every morning. you can join the conversation with your calls and comments.

wednesday, the alliance for health reform and the kaiser family foundation team up for a discussion on health care costs. topics include the impact of private health insurance medicare, and hospital care on long-range health spending. you can see it live on new and eastern, here on c-span. >> this weekend, the city's tour has partnered with cox communications to learn about the history and literary life of tulsa. >> he is famous for the writing of "this land is your land," but he was more than that. he was born in oklahoma and we are proud to have this back in oklahoma where it belongs. he was an advocate for people who were disenfranchised for those who were migrant workers. who had found themselves in california, literally starving.

he saw the vast difference between those with half and have-nots and became their spokesman. he recorded very few songs of his own. we have a listening station that features 46 of his songs in his own voice. that is what makes the recordings that he did make so significant and so important. ♪ ["this land is your land" playing] >> watch at noon eastern on c-span. >> next, law school professors examine the limits and future of antidiscrimination laws. this was part of the boston university law called it's on the 1960 are civil rights act. topics include racial justice

failures, affirmative action, special education law religious autonomy, and employment discrimination. that is 90 minutes. -- it is 90 minutes. >> so, welcome back, everyone. i'm so happy to be able to be the moderator for this, the final panel of this weekend's fascinating conference on the civil rights act of 1964. linda mclean deserves every single thanks she has received today. she has done a wonderful job putting this conference together. the title of this final panel is the limit and the future of antidiscrimination law. i will introduce our wonderful panelists in the order in which they will speak. the knowledge that we have -- we have a surprise speaker. we are going to go a little bit later than we initially

indicated in the program. to my right is a distinguished university professor and the memorial chair and constitutional law at ohio state university. to my immediate right is the associate professor of government. to my immediate left is our surprise guest. the honorable fellow, the associate dean for intellectual rights. to my far left is vickie scholz, the foundational professor of law at yale. i will be bringing up the rear with my comments. i am an associate professor of law and anthropology here. without any further r