Mayor Lori Lightfoot met with the City Council’s Latino caucus this week to discuss her 2022 budget proposal and hear their concerns as she works to whip up support for her spending plan.
But the meeting ended after a contentious exchange between aldermen and the mayor over her track record hiring Latinos, sources told the Tribune.
Northwest Side Ald. Felix Cardona asked the mayor a question about considering Latino candidates for city positions, aldermen present told the Tribune; Lightfoot responded by saying that she was “offended” and “insulted” by a letter the caucus sent her criticizing her record.
The Latino Caucus also recently issued a “report card” to Lightfoot that gave her a D for Latino representation and hiring and an F for the number of Latinos in her cabinet.
Lightfoot disputed the criticism by noting that Chicago Public Schools head Pedro Martinez and corporation counsel Celia Meza are Latino, as is Lightfoot’s choice to head procurement, according to aldermen.
As Lightfoot launched into her comments, Latino Caucus chair Gilbert Villegas responded, “We’re offended,” aldermen present said.
Cardona told the Tribune he was just trying to make a comment about something that “had to be addressed.”
“For me, I deal with personalities. I know how she is and so forth. I know how my colleagues are,” Cardona said. “I approached it gently, not like demanding, because you get more bees with honey.”
Asked how he took the mayor’s comments, Cardona said he understood Lightfoot’s position but the caucus still needs to see more.
“I get it. We’ve got a (schools) CEO. We’ve got Meza for Law and we got a Latina for procurement. It’s hard to change how government was 30 years ago in 21/2 years, if you look at structurally how it’s placed,” Cardona said. “But we still continue to fight for equity.”
At another point in the conversation, Lightfoot pushed back on general criticism of her guaranteed basic income proposal to give $31.5 million to thousands of needy families.
Lightfoot noted that the Black Caucus has been opposed to the idea on the basis that more should be done for the Black community and said, “I’ve poured a f— ton of money into Black Chicago,” aldermen said.
Several aldermen who attended the meeting told the Tribune they were taken aback by the remark.
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It’s not clear whether the exchanges will affect her ability to pass this year’s budget this fall. But they highlight Lightfoot’s combative approach to politics, which often manifests at news conferences and in private meetings with her fellow elected officials.
In response to specific questions about the comments attributed to her, the mayor’s office declined to comment except to say: “It was a private conversation and not meant for public airing or discussion.”
This isn’t the first time the mayor scrapped with aldermen during group budget meetings. Lightfoot began a meeting with the Latino Caucus last year by saying, “I don’t consent to being recorded,” according to aldermen who were on the call.
The mayor also had an at-times contentious exchange with the City Council Black Caucus, where Lightfoot told the group “don’t come to me for s— for the next three years” if they don’t support the budget.
With big investments and absent a huge property tax hike, Lightfoot may have an easier time getting her budget passed than she did last year, when the council voted 28-22 in support of her $94 million property tax increase and 29-21 for the full budget.
But the mayor will likely face increased pressure from aldermen and activists who want her to spend more from the nearly $2 billion the city is receiving from President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief funds to help pay for favored programs.
At another point in Tuesday’s conversation with the Latino Caucus, Lightfoot told aldermen that she would put her record investing in Black and brown communities against any mayor.
Freshman Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, responded by invoking the city’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington.
“Even Harold,” Lightfoot said, according to aldermen present.
