Lightfoot, State Reps, & Delia Ramirez Don't Know the Constitution
Jeanne's Commentary
In this Issue
Lightfoot Leaving – Disturbing Comments from Two State Reps – Delia Ramirez Doesn’t Know the Constitution – Sensitivity Readers
Lightfoot’s Executive Orders
It is hard to understand why Lightfoot issued ten Executive Orders this week on her way out of office. Obviously, she wanted to make it publicly known how she felt about particular issues. I think it is shocking what the orders reveal instead. They reveal how cavalier she feels about other people’s money and the rules that everyone else is expected to play by.
In one order she details the millions of dollars in fines and unpaid bills she has given residents relief on. In another, she sets out a youth commission where minors are paid stipends to sit on a committee to figure out how to help youth.
Crains writes, “In an effort to burnish her legacy and potentially box in her successor, Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed 10 executive orders on a range of policy issues today, her last full weekday in office before Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is inaugurated Monday.”
In Executive Order 2023-4 - Continuation of Clear Path Relief Debit Relief Programs - Lightfoot resolves that the next mayor continues to provide debt relief. What I found shocking was the amount of debt relief recently given. Lightfoot brings these figures to light:
as of April 13, 2023, over 21,000 eligible households have received relief totaling $36 million on water and sewer bills through the Utility Billing Relief program
as of April l7, 2023, over 60,000 motorists have received relief totaling $31.6 million for vehicle-related debt
struggling Chicagoans saw $11.5 million of their debt forgiven through the 2019 City Sticker Debt Relief Program
approximately $129 million in vehicle impoundment storage fees were forgiven in 2019
the City ended all debt-based Driver's License suspensions, making it easier for people to legally drive to their jobs and other places
the City discontinued the practice of water shutoffs due to water bill nonpayment, ensuring that Chicago families can still access basic necessities in a crisis
in the two months since the Administrative Debt Relief Program was launched in 2023, more than $8.1 million in relief has been granted on over 28,000 dockets
Why do the rest of us pay our bills?
I am now not surprised that incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson didn’t pay his $3,000 water bill. He must have been waiting for debt forgiveness despite earning close to $200,00 as a lobbyist for the CTU.
Executive Order 2023-9: Youth Commission. Lightfoot wants 32 Commissioners aged 14-19 to develop and share their concerns, hopes, and ideas with City leadership to improve the economic, social, and political quality of life for all young Chicagoans; and
WHEREAS, the Youth Commission will be a voice for all young people who aim to propose and implement solutions to citywide problems from the neighborhood level to the highest levels of municipal government; Youth Commissioners will receive STIPENDS - cost unknown
In Executive Order 2023-7: Lightfoot establishes the office of New Americans. Confirming Chicago as a Welcoming City for refugees and asylum seekers. She does this at a time when America has literally had an estimated 5 million people cross our border illegally, where non-citizen healthcare is expected to cost Illinoisans over $1 billion this year, where Lightfoot just chastised Governor Abbott for sending illegal immigrants to Chicago, and where the Lightfoot administration and Gov. Pritzker are asking the federal government for millions of dollars to support them.
Lightfoot may be trying to set her legacy with these virtue-signaling orders. But her legacy and that of Kim Foxx, Toni Preckwinkle, and all their enablers is laid out in this exit letter by former Cook County Prosecutor Jason Poje who resigned from the Cook County States Attorney’s Office on May 5th.
"After 20 years, I always kind of figured an email like this would start with "It is with a heavy heart that I leave..." The truth is, I can't get out of here fast enough..." Read rest of Poje's letter here
The Migrant crisis is dividing the city further. Black Chicago Citizens are Furious that Migrants have taken over a school and are tapping into resources.
And according to sources, the budget discussions are bogged down amongst Democrats over the cost of non-citizen healthcare and other support for illegal immigrants.