FOP chairman warns councilors who fail to lift vaccination mandate: ‘We will come after all your damn seats’

Police President John Catanzara, fraternal order, on Monday compared Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate to the destruction of Meigs Field at midnight and warned city councilors who refuse to take a stand that “we come for each of your damn seats” in 2023 .

Two vaccine-related regulations were introduced at Monday’s council meeting. Both were removed to the Rules Committee, the burial place of legislation, which the mayor opposed. Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) tried to suspend the rules to reverse this action, but was voted down by 30 to 20.

That did not stop Chicago police officers from showing up outside City Hall. Nor did it stop Catanzara from demanding a show of hands from councilors who support the repeal of the vaccination mandate and threaten those who oppose the repeal.

“We take a report card and everyone who does not reach out – you will be challenged in 2023. We will come after all your damned seats because that is not how a government should run. It is not a queen on that throne. … It is not, ‘Take it or leave it,’ “Catanzara said during the public comment section that preceded Monday’s meeting.

“Shame on you all. When she challenged your advisory power, you all lost your mind. Where dare [she] challenge your councilor. You literally give it to her on a platter. Accusative denial will not be an excuse here. ”

Fraternal order police officers and their supporters are protesting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates outside City Hall ahead of Monday’s Chicago City Council meeting.

Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

In late August, Catanzara was forced to apologize after broadcasting a swear word tirade comparing the mayor’s vaccination mandate to restrictions imposed in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

But in an apology video posted on YouTube, Catanzara also tried to explain his offensive comparison.

“When governments, whether it’s Nazi Germany or today’s Chicago, try to start or any other big city like New York and many others that do this, try to create policies that require their employees to do things first. against their bodies it will not stop there, ”he said then. “You open the door for citizens to be next.”

On Monday, Catanzara told council members: “You can hate me. You may hate my message, ”but the vaccination showdown is about the entire city workforce. Not Chicago Police. Not even FOP. And it’s not about me. ”

He added: “Everyone hated when Richie Daley decided to bulldoze Meigs Field in the middle of the night because he thought it was the right thing to do. Shame on him. One person should not have that kind of power. “Everyone hated when Rahm Emanuel got rid of the pensioner’s healthcare with a stroke of a pen and laughed at it because he thought it was the right thing to do and it was not,” he said.

“This is not how the city council should function. For far too long, everyone sitting in these chairs – whether it is you or your predecessors – has allowed this to continue for generation after generation. It must stop today. This tyrant at the top must stop what she is doing. ”

Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23, gets a round of applause as she walks among Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 members and their supporters while protesting COVID-19 seats outside City Hall before a meeting of Chicago City Council Monday morning.

Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

The regulation, fought for by Alderpersons Silvana Tabares (23rd) and Anthony Napolitano (41st), would effectively lift the vaccination mandate and retroactively require the Council’s approval of “all policies, rules and regulations for discipline” of city staff.

“Notwithstanding any other provision of the City Code to the contrary and in accordance with the terms of any applicable collective bargaining agreement approved by the City Council, any new policy rule or regulation that makes it possible to place city employees on non-disciplinary, no-pay status City Council approval, ”the executive order states.

Lightfoot’s mandate that city employees report their vaccination status on the city’s data portal went into effect Oct. 8. The regulation “must be retroactive” until 1 October.

The second order was introduced by defendant Ald. Edward Burke (14th).

It would require the continuation of health care for the supply of city staff for the duration of the dispute. Many of these beneficiaries are being “treated for life-threatening illnesses, mental illnesses and receiving hospital and hospitalization treatment, which will be at risk”, the regulation states.

“No provision of the Municipal Code authorizes the Mayor of Chicago to perform this draconian act. And moreover, no action in the municipal code requires that city employees must submit the information “about their vaccine status.

Lightfoot has accused Tabares of bidding from a FOP president who “spews hatred” against his Latin American voters.

“She knows very well that this will never see the light of day. But the fact that she’s willing to put her name on it is … dangerous. It does not reflect her community. Said the mayor.

“It’s really amazing to me that a colored woman would carry the water to such a guy who every single day spits hatred at people who look like her and have her background. … It’s really, really shameful. And she will have to answer for that. ”

Also on Monday, the Council postponed and published Lightfoot’s budget of 16.7 billion. Dollars and all its associated regulations and set the stage for a final vote on Wednesday.

And by a now well-known vote between 29 against 21, Ald said. Anthony Beale (9th) again failed to suspend the rules of immediate processing of his bottled regulations, which raised the threshold for speed cameras and gave the Council its own lawyer.

Police and supporters gathered outside City Hall on Monday to oppose a vaccination mandate for city workers, including police officers. A proposal to reverse this mandate was introduced at Monday’s city council meeting, but assigned to the Rules Committee, traditionally a burial ground for legislation, the mayor opposes.

Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times