Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) on Tuesday survived what would have been the Chicago City Council’s first censure of one of its own members, but only after Mayor Brandon Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote.
The vote followed an initial 25-24 roll call that included Ramirez-Rosa voting against his own censure. When Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) rose to say Ramirez-Rosa was not eligible to vote for or against his own censure, it resulted in a 24-24 tie — that Johnson broke by voting “no.”
Also voting against the censure was Ald. Emma Mitts (37th), the veteran City Council member Ramirez-Rosa was accused of mistreating.
“This has been quite the journey over the course of — not just these last few days, but clearly, you heard pain that predates my administration,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting.
“Here’s the part that I’m grateful for: Alderwoman Mitts made it very clear that she’s committed to restorative practices. And she voted with the rest of her colleagues that censureship did not apply in that particular scenario. We stood with Alderwoman Mitts today.”
Although Ramirez-Rosa survived the censure vote, Johnson said, “Today as a body, we stood collectively supporting those who have been impacted by behavior that the alderman has expressed a tremendous amount of regret and remorse [for]. Now, we get to move forward.”
The historic vote followed a cathartic debate during which some members demanded Ramirez-Rosa pay a higher price than simply resigning from his leadership roles as Johnson’s floor leader and Zoning Committee chairman for “bullying,” threatening and “manhandling” his colleagues in an attempt to prevent proponents of a sanctuary city referendum from achieving a quorum at last week’s special meeting.
Alds. Nicole Lee (11th) and Felix Cardona (31st) led the charge for the censure.
They described how intimidated and infuriated they felt after Ramirez-Rosa threatened to withhold zoning approval from projects in their wards after they both refused to leave the special meeting on the sanctuary city resolution.
“I’m not making this up. It’s on video. He grabs my shoulder. … I was hurt. My peace was gone. … I’m a victim here. Ald. Lee is a victim. Alderman [Chris] Taliaferro is a victim,” Cardona said.
“This is not the first time. He did it before. Ald. [Jeanette] Taylor was bullied by Carlos. … The difference [this time] is, he got caught,” Cardona told Johnson.
Lee said she was shaken to the core when Ramirez-Rosa made his zoning threat after she refused to leave the Council chambers.
“The resignation from both jobs is appropriate. Nobody should be able to abuse their position to gain what they want,” Lee said. But “the censure is one way that we can acknowledge that certain behavior is unacceptable. ... This is the first step in the healing process for me.”
Before the censure debate, an emotional yet defiant and proud Mitts took to the Council floor to tell her version of the allegations that prompted Ramirez-Rosa’s ouster.
Mitts said she was so shaken by the threatening text messages from and physical confrontation with Ramirez-Rosa, she didn’t know whether she could continue as alderperson, let alone address the issue on the Council floor.
Days of prayer and an outpouring of support from her colleagues and constituents helped, she said.
“I prayed to the Lord to give me the strength to come here and tell you exactly what happened. … It was unbecoming of anyone elected to represent people. If it happened to me, who else could it happen to?” Mitts told her colleagues.
“I have been in this Council 24 years. I am 68 years old. I have seen a lot in my lifetime of struggle. … To have me put up under that strain — I felt like I was back in the South. I felt like everything in me was just shaking. … At that point, I really didn’t know if I could do my job again ... if this is what … women have to put up with. Somebody got to stand up for not only me but for any young women who get abused. That’s the problem with Black women today. And I’m a strong Black woman who believes in fairness. To have faith to work out your differences, agree and disagree, but have respect.”
Mitts got a standing ovation from colleagues who stood in rapt attention during her emotional speech. She also got a personal apology and a hug from Ramirez-Rosa before he rose to publicly apologize to his colleagues and vow to earn back their respect.
Ramirez-Rosa told reporters after the meeting he never threatened to hold up projects for colleagues who went against his wishes, but “as I sit there and think about, you know, the interactions that we had, I can see why they would interpret it. But that was not my intent.”
He also vehemently denied the “assault” and “manhandling” allegations by Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), pointing to video captured by CBS2-Chicago that showed him briefly blocking Mitts’ path to the Council entrance and possibly brushing her arm — but not, apparently, making extended physical contact.
“Those allegations took on a life of their own. There were people at my office protesting on Friday, saying, ‘You hit a Black woman.’ And that was not true.”
After the meeting, Mitts said she voted against the measure to censure Ramirez-Rosa because “once I accept someone’s apology, I don’t throw stones for stones. I want to give him an opportunity to grow from that mistake. If I were to sanction him right now, I would be putting fire on top of what we already did. It doesn’t help this Council, and it won’t help the city of Chicago. It would only keep things more divided.”
