Chicago Police Move Against Mayor Lightfoot, Issue Vote Of No Confidence Photo: Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Lori Lightfoot speaks at her election night party April 2, 2019, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Chicago police union is pushing for Lori Lightfoot to be ousted, issuing a vote of no confidence against the city’s first African-American woman mayor.
Poor work conditions and the cancellation of a march for fallen officers due to the coronavirus pandemic were some of the reasons cited by the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge No. 7 for their vote against Lightfoot.
The vote came after the mayor had been criticized heavily by the Black community for being too pro-police.
The Chicago Tribune reported that, earlier this year when Lightfoot requested Chicago City Council approval to transfer about $65 million in unspent federal covid-19 money into the 2021 budget, she allotted $281.5 million to the CPD.
Civil rights advocate and Black Lives Matter activist Ja’Mal Green spoke out, tweeting, “State of Chicago address: Lori Lightfoot has FAILED Chicago and it’s time for her to go. She gave federal money to police, this is honestly the last straw.”
In 2020, Lightfoot was accused of being involved in a police coverup of a botched raid on the home of a 50-year-old Black woman.
Just last week, Lightfoot said she was limiting interviews to people of color.
Lightfoot received major backlash when Black activists were calling for the defunding of police nationwide when she said she wouldn’t back such a move. She said that too many good Black officers would lose their jobs.
The country’s first openly-lesbian person to be elected mayor of a major city, Lightfoot is getting the squeeze from the police and Black community, where her supporters are dwindling.
“I’m of colour and I’m calling her ridiculous,” tweeted JA Esq @judestrios.
In addition to the police union, the no-confidence vote also included the police Superintendent David Brown and First Deputy Eric Carter. It was unanimous among as many as 200 active and retired rank-and-file officers, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Police have complained of officer burnout and a department decision to cancel off days for officers on several occasions as well as a move from eight-and-a-half-hour shifts to 12-hour work periods in preparation for possible unrest in the city, The New York Post reported.
“The basis for this no-confidence vote is pretty simple, it’s two-fold,” Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said in a video statement. “It’s a lack of respect for the Gold Star families and the cancellation of the St. Jude parade.”
The union represents about 8,000 of the city’s 12,405 sworn officers.
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Lightfoot, for her part, blamed the union for dragging out talks on a new deal for thousands of rank-and-file cops who have worked without a police contract for more than three years, saying they’re losing “literally tens of thousands of dollars” in back pay annually, the Tribune reported.
Lightfoot responded to the no-confidence vote by saying, “So frankly, getting a vote of no-confidence from that guy is a badge of honor,” referring to Catanzara.
