Lightfoot on Emanuel challenge: She’ll be progressive candidate who makes City Hall serve everyone
During an interview with the Tribune, she never mentioned by name Mayor
"The prosperity is not being spread among nearly enough people, whether it's the number of kids (who) are living in poverty, the generational unemployment that makes some of our neighborhoods look like we're living in the Third World, the number of ex-offenders that keep pouring back into the city -- and particularly economically distressed neighborhoods (that) are least able to provide them with the resources and support that they need so they aren't another recidivism statistic," she said.
"I mean, on and on, and the lack of economic development, a comprehensive plan to really uplift neighborhoods.
"In the work I've been doing over these past two years, I'm seeing it, I'm feeling it, I'm hearing from people, and I keep looking for leadership from the fifth floor and not seeing it," Lightfoot said, a reference to her recent roles as Police Board president and head of a
If elected, Lightfoot would become the city's first lesbian mayor, and the first
But running on a record also means opponents can try to pick it apart.
Under Mayor
Three years after her departure, however, Daley made the misconduct agency independent of the department after a 2007 Tribune investigation found that cursory investigations of officer shootings during the previous decade created a separate standard of justice for the officers involved. Lightfoot led the agency during part of that time.
On Tuesday, Emanuel did not respond when asked whether he regretted giving Lightfoot such a high-profile platform from which to criticize him on police reform issues. A campaign spokesman later said that "while others are trying to find a political path, the mayor is focused on
Progressive lane
Although she could struggle to find a base of support, Lightfoot indicated she plans to run as a progressive, a lane occupied in the 2015 campaign by
"I think the people that will rally to what we're trying to talk about are people who really want to embrace a new progressive vision for the city," Lightfoot said. "What I hear from folks all the time is 'us against them.' It is a core part of what they feel is happening with our government. Investing here, but not there. Listening to some, but not nearly enough. Going into certain neighborhoods, but not others. That divide is something we have to categorically reject."
She notes that a recent study showed that on the
Lightfoot's education ideas run counter to
While not offering specifics on what she'd do differently, Lightfoot also says there's a need to change the city's tax structure, citing Emanuel's reliance on fees and fines to balance the budget.
"You've got to be focused on not increasing any kind of burdens on low- and middle-income people who are least able to afford it, because if you don't do that, you have what's happening now: an exodus of those kinds of families, those kinds of communities, from the city of
Lightfoot will have to expand her limited name recognition -- a reality she acknowledged by way of anecdote.
"I was coming back from a trip recently, and I got into the back of a cab," she said. The driver "looked at me, and he said, 'Are you Miss Lorifoot?' And of course I cracked up laughing, but we had this fantastic conversation. Part of a process is to get yourself known to voters."
Lightfoot said that after her campaign announcement, she expects there will be a period of time before Emanuel, who's already raised more than
"I'm going to be using that time aggressively to be out there and to continue to frankly do what I've been doing for the last two years, which is meeting people where they are, listening to them and talking about my story, why it makes me passionate to be an advocate and hearing that they feel like they need to improve the quality of their lives," Lightfoot said.
Raising campaign money could prove a challenge, given the growing field that includes former CPS chief
Also considering a run are County Commissioner
Grew up poor
Lightfoot, 55 , said her father's parents were sharecroppers in
Lightfoot got choked up as she talked about her late father, Elijah, who as a young man contracted pneumonia, possibly as a result of the extreme temperature changes he endured on one of his jobs -- stoking coal for the local
The pneumonia developed into spinal meningitis and left him in a nearly yearlong coma. Doctors, Lightfoot said, counseled her mother not to waste money on medicine, saying her father wouldn't make it. He did but was left deaf from the illness.
"Here's my dad, who's black, young, high school degree, and now has this profound disability," said Lightfoot, the third of four children. "And by the time I came along, 10-plus years later, my family continued to struggle."
Her father eked out a living as a janitor, barber and handyman. Her mom worked too, first at mental hospitals and nursing homes, then as a home health care aide. But her mother, Ann, stressed education, impressing on her that "the only thing that can hold you back is you: not your gender, not our financial situation, not our race. And you work hard, and you will be rewarded."
Lightfoot took that to heart. In high school, she was the first black class president. She graduated from the
She noted that not all went as planned in her family. Her brother, Brian, spent much of his life in and out of jail and prison, including a 17-year stint on cocaine- and drug-related charges.
"He's now a 62-year-old man with a high school degree and no training and trying to find his way," Lightfoot said. "So does that shape who I am? Does that affect my view of the world? Absolutely it does."
Lightfoot is married to
"I have a coming-out story that's probably very similar to lots of people who are my age: the fear of being rejected, the fear of losing your family and friends," she said. "You know, I worked through all of that, and that fear, and what that does to you, is pretty profound."
Career rise
Lightfoot first made
After law school, Lightfoot worked for the
In 2004, Daley appointed Lightfoot to head
Lightfoot is now a senior partner at the
Those volunteer duties expanded to include leading a task force in the wake of the release of the
That led to much speculation about whether Emanuel would reappoint her to the post. The two met in August. "I really think the whole reason that I was there was so he could ask me point-blank if I was going to run against him," she said. "But, you know, it is what it is. He is who he is. And I am who I am."
Lightfoot told the mayor she was not running, a refrain she repeated to reporters. "What I said at the time, which was accurate," she said, "was that I wasn't actually running."
Now, as she prepares to run for mayor, she's likely to ramp up the criticism. In the Tribune interview, Lightfoot contended too many ideas at
"I think you've got to go into these neighborhoods and actually see what's going on," she said, pledging to "be visible and present in all" 77 community areas during her campaign.
"It's going very different for citizens of
She then referenced a 2015 campaign ad by Emanuel, the now-famous one featuring the mayor in a sweater acknowledging he could "rub people the wrong way, or talk when I should listen."
"I don't need a sweater to be a person who understands and empathizes with the daily grind of people in the city who are just trying to lead a decent life and take care of their family," Lightfoot said. "I know because I lived it."
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