CHICAGO — A coalition of news organizations convened by the Chicago Tribune is seeking to block the Chicago Park District’s efforts to seal a pending lawsuit alleging Mayor Lori Lightfoot yelled obscenities at and defamed a Park District attorney during a call about a controversial Christopher Columbus statue.
The Park District earlier this month asked a Cook County judge to shield from the public all records in the defamation lawsuit brought by George Smyrniotis, a former Park District attorney who alleges Lightfoot blocked an agreement that had been reached with an Italian American organization to allow the statue to be displayed in a parade.
Smyrniotis also alleges the mayor yelled obscene comments at him and another Park District attorney on a heated Zoom call, declaring that while they were “out there stroking your d---- over the Columbus statue, I am trying to keep Chicago police officers from being shot and you are trying to get them shot.”
