The current and former chairmen of the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety were accused Wednesday of backing out of a “Support the Police” rally under pressure from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and from constituents who support defunding the Chicago Police Department.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former Chicago police officer now chairing the committee, and Taliaferro’s predecessor, Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th), do not plan to attend the “Back the Blue” rally outside the Jefferson Park police district, 5151 N. Milwaukee Ave.
The rally is co-sponsored by three Northwest Side aldermen: Nick Sposato (38th), Anthony Napolitano (41st) and Jim Gardiner (45th), but Taliaferro said the ‘Back the Blue’ rally was turning into a political show.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara is incensed.
“I can guarantee you we are going to find people to run against these aldermen. Enough is enough,” Catanzara said Wednesday.
“They listened to the squeaky wheels. They got a couple phone calls from their constituents [saying], ‘You can’t possibly go.’ Now, they’re gonna be cowards and ... back out. Shame on them. Every single member of that committee should be at that rally. Every single one of ’em. We are gonna be paying attention to see who shows up and who doesn’t.”
Also likely to be there: a group of activists planning a counter-protest nearby.
Catanzara said he has no doubt Lightfoot was a heavy hand behind the no-shows.
“Look what happened when [Ald.] Ray Lopez tried to get the National Guard here. In the Public Safety Committee, only two of `em voted `yes.’ Napolitano and Lopez. Everybody else cowered out. Including some of our big backers. I love Nick Sposato. But, Nick Sposato voted ‘no’ too,” the FOP president said.
Taliaferro said Catanzara is dead wrong about outside political pressure.
“Alderman [Gilbert] Villegas, Alderman Reboyras and myself did not stop supporting the police. We backed out of a rally that became very political in nature. That rally has been conducted for over six years by Alderman Sposato and we supported it every single year. But this year, they brought in political candidates that I disagree with to speak,” Taliaferro said.
“Unfortunately my name was used as saying that now the sponsors support the premise that Kim Foxx is a failed state’s attorney and we should back her opponent, [Pat] O’Brien. Because of that and other reasons and other statements of speakers they’ve included that I believe are racist in nature, I could not go to the event. ... I still support the police. But I can’t support that event. … I’m not gonna stand up there as the 29th Ward Democratic committeeman saying that I do not support Kim Foxx or [say that] Kim Foxx is a failure.”
Taliaferro also cited the addition of radio personality Mancow Muller, saying he finds Muller’s beliefs objectionable.
He’s “not worried” about the FOP’s threat to run a candidate against him in 2023.
“I ran on what I plan on doing for this ward. And then, I ran on my record. I will run on my record when I run again,” he said.
Villegas serves as Lightfoot’s City Council floor leader. But, he argued, that position has nothing to do with his decision to back out of the rally.
“I had initially signed up to support that [rally]. I wanted to show my support for police officers and the hard work we’ve been asking them to do. However, there were some speakers brought on after I agreed that did not align with what I’m trying to do. Nothing personal, but some political views they might have,” Villegas said.
Besides Muller’s being added as a speaker, “so was [conservative talk show host] Amy Jacobson. And some other political people,” Villegas said. “I wanted to support the police. But it had morphed into something different. I didn’t like the way it was going, so I backed out.”
If the FOP wants to punish him for backing out by fielding a challenger against him, “that’s their prerogative,” Villegas said.
“I’ve always supported the Police Department. If they’re gonna base it off one event, so be it.”
Reboyras could not be reached for comment.
"back" - Google News
September 17, 2020 at 01:46AM
https://ift.tt/3kBnDwL
Mayoral allies back out of ‘ Back the Blue’ rally in Jefferson Park to support Chicago police officers - Chicago Sun-Times
"back" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QNOfxc
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Mayoral allies back out of ‘ Back the Blue’ rally in Jefferson Park to support Chicago police officers - Chicago Sun-Times"
Post a Comment