The "Wisdom" of Chicago Mayor Lightfoot

Lori Lightfoot’s election on May 20, 2019 as Mayor of Chicago with 73% of the vote was a breath of fresh air in the troubled city. She ran against corruption, a chronic problem in Chicago and Illinois. She started office with a reform agenda. It was her first run for public office. She had held appointed positions, including President of the Chicago Police Board and Chair of the Police Accountability Task Force. She knew where the problems laid with the Chicago Police Department, a department with a poor image in the minority communities. Mayor Lightfoot has been a major, indecisive disappointment. She’s faced many problems, not of her making. First are the systemic budget problems, especially the near-bankrupt pension system. The hole just gets deeper and deeper. Her approach to the fiscal problems is the usual false panacea of tax increases. Second came the Coronavirus, knocking the economy for a loop. She shut down salons and hair stylists under her stay at home order to fight the virus. Mayor Lightfoot the very next day made a visit to her hair stylist. She justified the double standard by saying “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye.” A poor example for the people for Chicago. Then came the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis and the ensuing riots. The large Columbus statue in Grant Park was vandalized on June 13. Then came the young, woke mob on July 17. They tried to pull the statue down, chanting “Columbus was a murderer! Columbus was a thief!” Chicago police saved the statue with 18 officers injured. As Chicago blew up, White House Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called Mayor Lightfoot “the derelict mayor of Chicago, recommending the mayor seek federal help in securing the city. The Mayor responded in kind “Hey, Karen, watch your mouth.” “Karen” is hate speech, the new epithet for white women. President Trump offered to help Chicago with its crime problems. She threatened to sue President Trump if he sends federal troops into Chicago, adding “I don’t need leadership lessons from Trump.” How’s that leadership thing working out for Chicago Mayor Lightfoot? She further stated “We’re not going to have tyranny in the City of Chicago.” Blood in the streets is OK. Her statements were echoed by Governor Pritzker: Bringing in feds is “a wrongheaded move on the part of Donald Trump.” Senator Duckworth espoused “The Trump Administration is using this as another opportunity to trample on the First Amendment rights of Americans.” Memo to the Governor and Senator: First Amendment Rights do not include riots, looting, arson and attacking federal facilities. Mayor Lightfoot said in May “What I really want to say to Donald Trump ‘begins with F and it end with you’” Federal officers are in Chicago helping the city address its exploding crime problem. The Mayor Monday co-signed a letter with the mayors of Portland, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Albuquerque, and Kansas City asking Congress to enact a statute preventing the President from sending federal law enforcement officers to cities without the consent of the cities. The mayors, especially of Portland and Settle, remain clueless. She’s worried about a census undercount in Chicago. Her response was to don a lime green cowboy hat, harken back to Batman in Gotham, and dispatched “Census Cowboy” on a horse through Chicago to encourage participation in the census: “Giddy up Chicago. I’m calling on the Census Cowboy to help improve our Census response rates across Chicago. Make the census Cowboy proud by filling out the Census today ….” She added “Let’s do this Chicago. Let’s make the census Cowboy proud.” Send in the Census Cowboy while random shootings are climbing. John Catanzara, Fraternal Order of Police President in Chicago, sent an open letter to President Trump asking for help in Chicago. He called Mayor Lightfoot a “complete failure.” She called him a cartoon character” and a “clown” “seeking relevance.” She called the letter a “craven political move.” Save the Census. Let the shootings go on. Chicago counted 1,901 shooting victims from January 1, 2020 to July11, up 550 from 2019. 17 were fatally shot during the Fourth of July weekend, including a 7-year old girl and a 14-year old boy. 70 were wounded. Three children were killed the preceding week. Memorial Day Weekend witnessed 18 deaths and 45 wounded in one day. The homicide numbers were up to 353 for this period, up 99 from 2019. 32 homicide victims under 18 this year, up from20 last year. 63 were shot with 12 fatalities from July 18-20. An additional 23 were shot, with 4 fatalities on Tuesday, June 21. 15 were shot outside a funeral home in a drive-by shooting. Reasons for the rise in shootings include the rise in gangs and the drug trade. Her solution to the deadly crime wave: She removed two Columbus statues in the dead of Friday night, Saturday morning July 24.