President Joe Biden talks with guests after speaking about infrastructure spending at the La Crosse Municipal Transit Authority in Wisconsin on June 29, 2021. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot says about “about 99%” of the criticism she receives over her temperament is because she’s a Black woman, the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt reports.
Lightfoot, the first Black woman to serve as Chicago’s mayor, made the comment during an interview on WTTW-Ch. 11 last night when Phil Ponce asked about questions people have raised over her temperament and how she reacts to criticism. As Pratt has reported, the mayor has been known to be tough on staff and confrontational with critics, contributing to significant staff turnover.
This morning, the mayor offered some powerful remarks at a ceremony to unveil a monument honoring another powerful Black woman: crusading journalist, civil rights activist and women’s rights pioneer Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Lightfoot reflected on a Chicago Public Schools student’s 75 cent donation to the monument — in the end he and fellow classmates would kick in more than $400 — and how that underscores the importance of expanding Black history in education.
“We must make sure that our children know who we are, that we are great and glorious people that we have great and glorious leaders throughout our history in this country. We cannot afford to have another generation pass through CPS or the corridors of any other school without knowing who we are and claiming that legacy as their own.
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“I remember so often when I was a young child growing up, not seeing anybody who looked like me as a leader in a classroom and not hearing about anything about our legacy, except for slavery. That’s it. We’ve got to do better — that’s on us as adults to make sure that we blaze that trail for our young people, that we say her name and the names of every other person who has had an impact ... on the history of Chicago, but particularly for Black and brown residents.”
Meantime, a group of aldermen have called for a special City Council meeting Friday and documents show their aim is clear: To put top cop David Brown on the hot seat over escalating violence in the city.
President Joe Biden was just across the border in Wisconsin yesterday, his second trip there since beating Donald Trump in last year’s election, touting his infrastructure plan when he cracked wise about Chicago, a true blue city. More below.
Welcome to The Spin.
President Joe Biden laughs with guests after talking about infrastructure spending at the La Crosse Municipal Transit Authority, June 29, 2021, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Joe Biden cracks wise about Chicago
President Joe Biden was in Wisconsin yesterday, a swing state that delivered for him last November in his victory of Donald Trump, selling voters on the economic benefits of the $973 billion infrastructure package.
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He’s trying to get the word out about the bipartisan deal that came together over the promise of millions of new jobs. More on the trip in The Washington Post.
In LaCrosse, as he talked about spending money on more rail infrastructure, he took a tongue-in-cheek swipe at Chicago, according to a pool report of the event: “Imagine if you could get from Chicago — from La Crosse to Chicago in two hours, instead of four and a half,” only to quip “I don’t know why you’d go to Chicago, but — you know, all kidding aside — it would reduce the largest source of pollution in America: vehicle travel.”
We’ll take the joke. He’s not the first president to take aim at Chicago.
In memoriam: Donald Rumsfeld, a Chicago native, former Illinois congressman and U.S. secretary of defense has died. He was 88.
His family would eventually move to the North Shore where he attended New Trier High School. He also served a stint on the Chicago Tribune’s board of directors.
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The Washington Post writes: “Rumsfeld’s political prominence stretched back to the 1960s and included stints as a rebellious young Republican congressman, favored counselor to President Richard M. Nixon, right-hand man to President Gerald Ford and Middle East envoy for President Ronald Reagan. He also scored big in business, helping to pioneer such products as NutraSweet and high-definition television and earning millions of dollars salvaging large troubled firms.
“His greatest notoriety and national effect came during a six-year reign as defense secretary under President George W. Bush. Hailed initially for leading the U.S. military to war in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mr. Rumsfeld’s handling of the Iraq War eventually led to his downfall. Widely criticized for poorly planning the invasion’s aftermath, he was slow to recognize the development of an insurgency, draft an effective strategy for countering it and set clear policy for the treatment of prisoners.” More here.
Also: Kinzinger, Cheney join House Democrats in voting to form a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol -While the vote was mostly along party lines, Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Wyoming U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney - both Republicans and vocal critics of former President Donald Trump – joined Democrats in voting for it. Kinzinger blamed Trump for stirring up his supporters just before the attack, with false claims the November election was stolen from him. The New York Times has more here.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Jeff Levine, an attorney with the city's Law Department during a City Council meeting on June 23, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot says criticism of her temperament is ‘about 99%’ because she’s a Black woman
Mayor Lightfoot was a guest on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight last night when Phil Ponce asked how much of the criticism has to do with the fact she’s a Black woman. Lightfoot said, “About 99%.”
“Look at my predecessors. Did people say that Rich Daley held tea sessions with people that he (disagreed with)? Rahm Emanuel was a polite guy who was a uniter? No,” Lightfoot said. “Women and people of color are always held to a different standard. I understand that, I’ve known that my whole life.” Read Gregory Pratt’s full story in the Tribune here. Watch the full interview here.
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In all fairness, Daley’s critics called him out for ruling with an iron fist — you’ll recall the City Council almost always unanimously approved his annual budgets — while Emanuel’s detractors made sure his profane outbursts were public knowledge.
Police Superintendent David Brown at the scene of a fatal stabbing in downtown Chicago on June 19, 2021. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Follow-up file: City Council calls special meeting on Chicago crime — and top cop David Brown could be on the hot seat
As I noted yesterday, nearly two dozen aldermen were pushing for a special meeting of City Council’s Public Safety Committee or, alternatively, to discuss crime-fighting strategies ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, which has seen a burst in violence in recent years.
Late this morning, documents filed with the city clerk’s office show the full City Council will hold a special meeting at 11 a.m. Friday, when top cop David Brown will be on the hot seat. Nineteen alderman signed on to a letter requesting the special meeting, according to the documents, and called on top cop David Brown to be there to detail how police department policies and efforts are “increasing the safety of all Chicagoans this summer.”
If he’s a no-show, the document states, they want to take a vote of “no confidence,” something proposed earlier this year by Ald. Ray Lopez.
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Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx at her office after attending a virtual swearing in ceremony for her second term on Dec. 7, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Kim Foxx says more education needed to push back against critics of new law that will end cash bail in 2023
The Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes: “Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx used a conference on criminal justice Wednesday to defend her support of a new state law that will end cash bail for nonviolent offenses in 2023, and said more education is needed to show how the inability to make bond has unfairly kept nonviolent people jailed.
“Appearing in a video forum hosted by the Illinois Justice Project, Foxx delivered broad-based criticism of the public, law enforcement, some prosecutors and even judges for failing to understand that pretrial is not “pre-punishment” or that “the presumption of innocence maintains with the accused until there’s a finding of guilt.”
“The new law was one of the pillars of the legislative agenda of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and was signed by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February. It made Illinois one of the first states in the nation to do away with cash bail but doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2023, in order to allow court systems to adjust to the changes.” Full story here.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker at Kennedy King College in Chicago on March 26, 2021. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois on Tuesday got its first credit rating upgrade in more than two decades: What it means
Lots of politicos cheering over Illinois getting its first credit rating upgrade from Wall Street since George Ryan was governor. Gov. J.B. Pritzker even called a last-minute news conference to pat himself on the back.
The Tribune’s Dan Petrella breaks it down: “Long known for financial instability, Illinois on Tuesday got its first credit rating upgrade in more than two decades on the strength of the state’s latest budget.
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“In upgrading Illinois’ credit by one step — to two notches above junk bond status instead of one — Wall Street ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service noted that the $42 billion spending plan for the year starting July 1 ‘increases pension contributions, repays emergency Federal Reserve borrowings and keeps a backlog of bills in check with only constrained use of federal aid’ from President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief plan.
“Even after the upgrade, Illinois remains the lowest-rated state on Moody’s scale, two notches below the next-lowest: New Jersey. Generally, states with higher credit ratings are able to borrow money at lower interest rates, ultimately saving taxpayers money.” More here.
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Twitter @byldonovan
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