Lightfoot Makes A Fool Of Herself, Forced To Drop War Against Police
It seems like Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has been at war with law enforcement since the defund movement first took hold in her city but she recently drew a hard line against officers over vaccine mandates. Lightfoot demanded absolute obedience from officers but was met by resistance from the nation's largest police union.
Back in October, lightfoot threatened the union with a lawsuit:
"Yesterday, at my direction the City of Chicago’s law department filed a Complaint for Injunctive Relief against the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 and its President John Catanzara for engaging in, supporting, and encouraging a work stoppage or strike.
As Chicago’s Mayor, I cannot and will not stand idly by while the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists threatens the health and safety of Chicago’s residents and first responders. President Catanzara has time and again deliberately misled our police officers by lying about the requirements of the policy and falsely claiming that there will be no repercussions if officers are insubordinate and refuse to follow a City and Department directive or order. Notably, Catanzara has urged officers to reject the City’s vaccine policy and has repeatedly instructed police officers to refuse to comply with the City’s lawful directive which requires all City employees to report their COVID 19 vaccination status by October 15. By doing so, and by predicting that 50% or more officers will violate their oaths and not report for duty, Catanzara is encouraging an unlawful strike and work stoppage which carries the potential to undermine public safety and expose our residents to irreparable harm, particularly during an ongoing pandemic.
This action is brought pursuant to the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and Illinois common law which prohibits sworn officers from engaging in a strike. Additionally, the City and the FOP are parties to a collective bargaining agreement that establishes the terms and conditions of employment including Article 5 which includes a No Strike Commitment. "
On November 1st a judge blocked Lightfoots to fire officers who don't comply with her mandate because the tyrannical move was a grotesque overreach of power.
And just like magic, Lightfoot dropped her lawsuit against the police union but tried to pretend it wasn't because she was losing the war: “The past few weeks have shown what I have said from the beginning to be true: that our brave police officers are smarter than their FOP leadership and care more about their city, their fellow Chicagoans, and upholding their sworn oath to protect and serve, than they do Catanzara’s frivolous demands to stop working,” as Newsweek noted.
