Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently went to the Local Plumbers Union 130 annual fundraiser where she was booed off the stage trying to deliver a speech. She was scheduled to speak at the event for the Plumbers Union, one of the first organizations to endorse Lightfoot when she ran for office back in 2019. She only appeared on stage for about a minute before she was booed off. Union officials claimed that Lightfoot had been booed, but insisted that she finished her remarks and received a loud cheer at the end.
Lightfoot has been fighting against the president of the Fraternal Order of Police John Catanzara, who has been urging others to oppose her vaccine mandate. City workers were told to report their COVID-19 vaccination status or be placed on unpaid leave. Catanzara said it is a violation of their medical rights and claimed it had not been included in their most recent bargaining agreement. He said it is not just his union questioning the mandate, but first responders, firefighters, and labor unions as well. In response, Cook County issued a temporary restraining order barring him to speak publicly about the issue.
Videos of the event reveal Lightfoot on stage receiving a deafening “boo” and with some people calling her names. Union business manager Jim Coyne said that the videos are “exaggerated” and that Lightfoot is loved by plumbers. He went so far as to say that people wanted to get in line and take pictures with her.
“I would have to suspect whoever was booing at that event was not a member of this local. … We respect her and we have no problems with the mayor,” said Pat McCarthy, the union’s recording secretary.
Lightfoot’s political director Dave Mellet went on to say that she was not “booed” at the event and that many people in the room came there to shout and be loud.
But Lightfoot’s Chicago has only gotten more violent and divisive, with the most recent crime wave resulting in 23 people shot, three of them fatally. The crimes were reported between Friday to Sunday morning and added to the 240 total that has been shot and wounded in October alone. Out of those October shootings, 42 have been shot and killed. There have been nearly 660 shootings in Chicago this year.
Even DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain have said that they’ve helped Lightfoot in the past but won’t do it this time. They said they would refuse to bail out Lightfoot if she requested more law enforcement assistance to help with the crime, adding that it has been a “lack of planning and support” on part of the Chicago police department. They claimed that Lightfoot has continued to “bleed them out” and that they will not send their personnel to Chicago in support of Lightfoot’s “slanted” agenda.
The Sheriffs have continued to call out Lightfoot over her city’s crime wave and have said that the “lack of logic” she has astounded them. They called it a “preplanned police shortage” and said they would only send their own officers in case of an emergency. They said they have no plans to join in on the current “political football” between the police and mayor’s office.
Lightfoot is getting booed left and right in her own city and has even lost the support of those nearby. It’s unclear if she plans to run her name on the ballot again but if she does, then it’s not looking too good.
