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Chicago Mayor Apologizes After Staff Asked Teachers for Re-Election Support
(Bloomberg) -- Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot apologized after her campaign asked public school teachers to encourage students to volunteer in order to help her win a second term.
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At a press conference on Thursday, Lightfoot blamed a member of her campaign staff for sending the request, saying it was “clearly a mistake.”
The apology came after local media reports that she had emailed Chicago Public Schools teachers, saying students could earn class credit if they participated in a program to contribute 12 hours per week to the the mayor’s campaign.
Lightfoot, who is seeking reelection next month, said she first found out about the email on Wednesday, after receiving a media inquiry. The staff member who made the error won’t be fired, the mayor said, calling the incident “not only a teachable moment, but a real learning experience.”
The mayor said that the staff member and all other campaign employees were reminded that there’s a wall between politics and public schools.
The email drew harsh criticism from her opponents. Mayoral candidates Paul Vallas and Kam Buckner called for an investigation and Sophia King, an alderman who is also running for mayor, said she was “flabbergasted” and questioned the ethics of the request.
Vallas tweeted late Thursday that he was glad the matter will be investigated by Chicago’s ethics board and the Office of the Inspector General for the Chicago Board of Education. Neither agency replied to requests seeking confirmation of the investigation.
(Updates with candidate Vallas’ comment on investigation in the seventh paragraph.)
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