Chicago City Council meetings often can be tediously dry, and sometimes even appear scripted. Thursday’s meeting was anything but that.
A tumultuous Council meeting sputtered for hours in parliamentary disarray, then ended with an alderperson accusing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top ally in the chamber of “manhandling” a colleague to keep her off the voting floor.
Now Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) is calling for Johnson’s floor leader, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), to resign because of the allegation — and fellow Council members are calling for unity as divisions deepen in City Hall over the burgeoning migrant crisis.
“This was a s- - - show,” Lopez (15th) told reporters after a chaotic meeting he insisted should have been allowed to carry on. “This was despicable.”
In several social media posts, Lopez later accused Ramirez-Rosa of “harassing & manhandling” Ald. Emma Mitts (37th).
“No man has the right to lay hands on anyone, let alone grab a woman & physically block her from exiting trying to intimidate her,” Lopez wrote, claiming he “had to physically position myself between [Ramirez-Rosa] and her, physically pushing him back until she was able to break free.”
Neither Lopez nor Ramirez-Rosa responded to messages seeking comment.A spokesperson for Mitts declined to comment.
A Chicago police spokesperson said the department wasn’t called about the incident.
State Sen. Lakesia Collins, a Chicago Democrat whose district includes Mitts’ West Side ward, on Friday joined Lopez’s call for Ramirez-Rosa to resign.
“This repeated behavior by Alderman Ramirez-Rosa in city council is unacceptable and requires immediate action,” Collins wrote. “No one should be prevented from fulfilling their elected responsibilities on behalf of their constituents.”
Lopez and Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) — two of Johnson’s most vocal council critics — called the special meeting to consider putting an advisory referendum on the March ballot asking voters if Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.
They weren’t expected to draw the needed quorum of at least 26 of the Council’s 50 members. But Council president pro tempore Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) gaveled in the meeting with the bare minimum present, only after a series of confused roll calls as some Council members shuttled between committee meetings happening elsewhere in City Hall.
Nugent struggled to direct proceedings in the place of Johnson, who was in Washington seeking more federal help with the migrant crisis. “I’m a little new … just have a little grace with me,” she said.
The proceedings were anything but graceful, repeatedly starting and stopping with four separate roll calls as Lopez sought to ensure more members were added to the roll. Ramirez-Rosa moved to adjourn the meeting and Beale argued for their referendum question.
“What it is, is to find some kind of compromise and threshold to stop the bleeding that we’re undertaking right now,” Beale said of the more than $30 million being spent on the migrant crisis per month.
In fact, Chicago’s sanctuary city status isn’t related to providing shelter to the 20,000-and-counting migrants from the southern border who have been bused to the city by the day for more than a year. The policy, dating to former Mayor Harold Washington’s tenure, pledges the city won’t assist federal authorities in detaining undocumented residents.
As many as 30 alders were taking part at one point in the meeting — a handful of them joining virtually — but Nugent finally adjourned the meeting on the advice of city lawyers who argued there wasn’t a quorum physically present that could vote to add their video-chatting colleagues.
Reporters who stayed in the chamber for the extended spectacle later saw Lopez, as workers turned out the lights in the chamber, take the dais to recess the meeting until Tuesday morning.
A city Law Department spokesperson asserted Friday that the meeting “was officially adjourned. A Council member has the right to question the presence of a quorum during a meeting, and in that event, it is the Chair’s duty to determine if quorum is still present. If not, the Council must recess or adjourn.”
Freshman Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) described the scene as “chaotic,” and one that felt “a whole lot like political theater.”
“Frankly, I don’t even know what the actual intent of the meeting was, but I’m sure nothing good came out of it. … It was not the best use of democracy,” Yancy said.
Yancy was in the chamber but said he didn’t see the incident Lopez described. “If that was the case, there needs to be some consequences for it,” Yancy said.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), who wasn’t in the chamber and didn’t see the interaction, said Lopez was “very aggressive” himself in calling for the sergeant at arms to pull Council members into the chamber. “It was a disappointing political stunt,” Sigcho-Lopez said.
Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), the chamber’s longest-serving member, missed the latest parliamentary antics while traveling, but said “there’s always a show.”
“Lopez is running for Congress. Anthony Beale, for whatever reason, is getting a lot of attention out of this stuff right now... We’ve had this stuff before. Generally, it’s always the least effective person performing like that,” Burnett said.
As for next week’s meeting?
“I expect cooler heads to prevail,” Burnett said, “and for there to be a lot more respect.”
