What exactly transpired between Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) and Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) last Thursday is still a bit unclear.
Mitts has yet to divulge publicly whether Ramirez-Rosa got physical with her in order to keep her from participating in a special City Council meeting regarding the city’s sanctuary city ordinance. She did relay to Mayor Brandon Johnson and her pastor that Ramirez-Rosa never “put his hands” on her. Mitts then told her fellow Black Caucus members a different story, sources told Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman.
And then there’s Ramirez-Rosa’s version of the story, in which he was trying to persuade Mitts not to participate in the meeting when Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) intervened and “grabbed” Mitts — before all three of them “came in contact.”
It’s all a haze of “he said, she said” accounts, but Ramirez-Rosa did ultimately admit to “mistakes” Monday and said he’d be stepping down as chairman of the City Council Zoning Committee and as Johnson’s floor leader.
Which is a good thing for the mayor, in our view. With the myriad problems facing this city, he needs the coolest heads to prevail if the City Council is to have any chance at functioning efficiently and solving Chicago’s problems.
Council members won’t always agree on solutions. But scenes like what unfolded last week — and especially any attempt to keep members from attending a meeting — are an embarrassment. Chicago deserves better.
Ramirez-Rosa, an outspoken progressive, was hoping Lopez and Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) would not reach the 26-member quorum needed to consider placing an advisory referendum on the ballot next year asking voters whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.
Whatever this board’s views on that referendum, the rules of order and decorum must prevail, which means allowing City Council members to have their say on the referendum. That’s how democracy works.
Ramirez-Rosa should remember that and work on the overly aggressive reputation that only clouds his efforts. Consider that on Monday, after Ramirez-Rosa released a statement in which he described his actions as “unbecoming of a leader,” WBEZ published a story about a letter penned by Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), detailing how Ramirez-Rosa threatened to block any future zoning legislation in three alderpersons’ wards. Waguespack called for Ramirez-Rosa to be censured.
It’s up to Johnson to make sure he selects a replacement who knows enough to let the council engage in disagreement and robust debate without being combative or alienating — or trying to squelch opposing views.
Chicago already had the ugly, racially polarized “Council Wars” after the election of the late Mayor Harold Washington. Our city has too many pressing challenges, be it the migrant crisis, crime, schools, affordable housing — the list goes on.
Now is not the time for dysfunction.
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