We hate to say we told you so.

When Brandon Johnson was narrowly elected Chicago mayor last year, we warned that as a former organizer and lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union, his loyalty would rest with the unions, not the kids.

Right on cue, Mayor Johnson has demanded that Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez resign because of his opposition to fund teacher union demands for salary increases and pension payouts by taking out $300 million in high-interest rate loans.

Chicago is already the nation’s largest junk-bond issuer. It shells out more than $800 million every year just to service its mountain of ongoing debt. Adding to it could send the city toward complete financial ruin.

Johnson can’t fire Martinez directly but Politico reports he has pressured enough members of the Chicago School Board to do his bidding when they meet on Thursday. Any board member who opposes the mayor has been threatened with defeat in the November elections.

The mayor insists that the loans are needed to fund “his vision for public education.” His vision appears to be identical to the demands of his old union employer: annual wage increases of 9% and thousands more teachers and support staff hired for a system that has shrunk 20% in terms of enrollment over a decade.

Just as we predicted, when the voters opted for a union activist to be the mayor, there would be no one at the bargaining table advocating for kids or taxpayers. The left hand would be negotiating with the far left hand.

The Chicago Tribune editorialized that if Martiinez is indeed fired it will be a sign that he is “handing control of the schools to the union.”

Ya think?