EXTRA: Chuy said what??!?

“The monument to Darth Vader, I oppose,” is not something I thought I’d ever hear coming from a political person’s mouth.

Yet it was part of the official stance that came forth from mayoral hopeful Jesus Garcia when discussion during a Thursday night debate turned to the proposed construction of a pair of museums in Chicago.

THE DEBATE, BROADCAST on WFLD-TV, was directed to that topic by long-time political reporter Mike Flannery, who tried to get Garcia to clarify why he initially wasn’t enthusiastic about supporting the idea of putting a future presidential library and museum for Barack Obama on land owned by the Chicago Park District.

The talk then shifted to talk of the ongoing legal battles over whether to permit filmmaker George Lucas to develop a pop culture museum on a lakefront site just north of Soldier Field.

Lucas has repeatedly insisted the museum will be about much more than the “Star Wars” films he produced. But Garcia apparently feels differently, in quickly dismissing the current proposal – although he said he hopes the museum winds up being located somewhere in Chicago.

Just as he also said his bottom line for an Obama museum and library is to have it in Chicago – even if it has to go on the one-time park district land that recently was turned over to the city government to make it available to the Obama foundation that soon will decide where the facility will someday be located.

EITHER WAY, IT seems like Garcia wants to appease the voters who get hung up on certain details while also pleasing those who want the larger project.

And after publicly dissing Vader, I wonder if a Garcia-run Chicago would need those 1,000 extra police officers to defend the city against the Imperial Stormtroopers who are now destined to invade us as retribution.

With the Sith lord who gives in to his evil impulses using the almighty “force” to take over Chicago and run it in ways that will make incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel seem like the cutesy, cuddly teddy bear whose image is portrayed by our city’s National League baseball club.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: My apologies to those who find the “Star Wars” allusions overbearing. Personally, my favorite Lucas film is “American Graffiti” – although the soundtrack LP (or CD, for those of you too young to appreciate the values of vinyl) is worth more than the film itself.