CONGRESSMAN GARCIA: Return Purple PAC’s Dirty Donations!
As a youth movement working to build a regenerative future, Sunrise Chicago knows that it will always be the people of our city who lead the way, not any one politician. Since its beginning, our movement has restated the motto: “No permanent friends. No permanent enemies”. We are grateful for the Congressional service of Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who we have worked with closely in the past. Congressman Garcia has been a longtime supporter of the national Green New Deal, has been a guest of Sunrise at numerous Town Halls and events, and has helped achieve significant legislative wins. At the same time, we’ve seen Garcia go back on his word under pressure — abandoning the “Build Back Better” bill in Congress, despite promising to ensure it was linked to the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package.
There is no doubt that Garcia has been a formidable progressive force in the city of Chicago. Much of the progressive energy in the current election traces its roots to his 2015 run for Mayor, as well as his work building community power and coalitions throughout his career. But Congressman Garcia is not running for Mayor in 2015 — he is running for Mayor in 2023. The climate and social crises facing our city demand a movement candidate who is willing to break from the failed cycles of the past, and empower the community to lead in creating real change. Chuy has not been that candidate in 2023.
We’ve seen that in how he has funded his campaign. Most notably, we are troubled by the $92,000 donated to his campaign by Purple PAC, an organization funded by Howard Labkon (the longtime executive of the defunct Lincoln Park-based General Iron Metal Shredding facility) and which has also donated to Republican candidates. Despite a notoriously abysmal track record of pollution, General Iron attempted to move to the overburdened Southeast side against residents’ wishes, prompting a successful multi-year protest effort. Our allies on the Southeast Side have fought too hard and too long keeping polluters like General Iron out of their community to have a politician who is willing to take such dirty funds as mayor.
This relationship with the Garcia campaign is not casual — after excluding funds transferred from his own Congressional campaign, Purple PAC is Garcia’s 3rd-largest donor. It is also disheartening to us that Chuy has strongly supported Alderwoman Susan Sadlowski Garza, along with her hand picked nominee to fill her seat, after Garza fought hard against organizers, like Aldermanic candidate Oscar Sanchez, to keep General Iron in the Southeast Side’s 10th ward. As a movement committed to environmental justice, Garcia’s failure to support the community, all the while accepting the support of those working to suppress them is a dealbreaker. Period.
Environmental justice isn’t the only place where Chuy’s campaign has abandoned its progressive values. Sunrise Chicago believes in investing in a restorative and care based approach to public safety. Unfortunately, Garcia’s “safety” plan simply regurgitates the failed policies of Mayor Lightfoot, overinvesting in police and underinvesting in community. The most egregious example of this being the spending of $280 million of our Covid relief funding on the Chicago Police Department. Garcia has committed to hiring 1,600 more cops, while failing to commit to Treatment Not Trauma or the rest of the demands of the movement-led “People’s Unity Platform”.
We cannot afford another mayor who stands by as fossil fuel executives, big industry, and the police extract from and oppress our communities and neighbors. Unless Rep. Garcia agrees to return the PAC money he has received and gets behind what the community demands, we cannot in good conscience endorse his campaign.
SIGN OUR PETITION AND JOIN US IN CALLING FOR CONGRESSMAN GARCIA TO RETURN THE $92,000 FROM PURPLE PAC.
