Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa narrowly escapes City Council censure over allegations of bullying and threats
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With Mayor Brandon Johnson casting the deciding vote, the City Council on Tuesday voted down a bid to censure Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35th) for blocking Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) from entering a special City Council last week, and for allegedly threatening at least three other alderpersons amid a heated debate over Chicago's sanctuary city status.
Johnson cast a tie-breaking vote after the council was split 24-24 on whether to formally reprimand Ramirez-Rosa for his actions. Mitts herself voted against censuring Ramirez-Rosa.
The mayor argued that City Council rules allow an alderperson to be censured only for actions that take place at the same meeting, and that since Ramirez-Rosa's actions took place last week, censuring him was not proper.
Part of the incident between Ramirez-Rosa and Mitts on Thursday was caught on video exclusively by CBS 2. The video shows Ramirez-Rosa appearing to grab onto Mitts, and then use his body to block her from entering the City Council chambers during a special meeting on a proposal to ask voters in the March primary election if Chicago should stay a sanctuary city for migrants.
Ramirez-Rosa's actions called "beyond the pale and unbecoming of our colleague"
Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) moved to censure Ramirez-Rosa not only for his mistreatment of Mitts, but for allegedly pressuring three other alderpersons to either leave the City Council chamber during the meeting on the sanctuary city referendum, or to vote against the measure, by threatening to block "any future zoning legislation" in their wards from passing out of the Zoning Committee if they helped the meeting go forward.
City Council rules allow aldermen to formally censure "any member acting or appearing in a lewd or disgraceful manner, or who uses opprobrious, obscene or insulting language to or about any member of the Council, or who does not obey the order of the Chair."
"No matter the subject matter or where you stand on it, what happened on Thursday should be unacceptable in this body. So I'm calling for this censure because of the obvious need to restore decorum, and mete out some form of discipline," Waguespack said in calling to censure Ramirez-Rosa.
However, several aldermen said it should be sufficient that Ramirez-Rosa agreed to resign his leadership positions as the mayor's floor leader and as chair of the City Council Zoning Committtee, and that he publicly apologized to Mitts and the rest of his colleagues during Tuesday's meeting.
"Thursday's special meeting was chaotic, tensions were high, I dramatically overreacted to the intensity of what was happening in that meeting, and there's no excuse for that," Ramirez-Rosa said earlier in the meeting. "I sincerely apologize to you, my colleague, Alderwoman Emma Mitts, for the disrespectful interaction that we had outside of council chambers, and for my overzealous attempts throughout the day to try and convince you not to be part of a quorum. I should have never done that to you. I should have never put you in that position."
Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) was among the alderpersons who accused Ramirez-Rosa of threatening zoning matters in their wards if she chose to vote on that sanctuary city measure.
"I'm not okay, because I hate that we are all talking about this right now," she said. "Nobody should be able to abuse their position to gain what they want."
Lee has filed a report with the city's inspector general, requesting an investigation of Ramirez-Rosa's actions.
While Lee said she believed it was appropriate for Ramirez-Rosa to resign his leadership positions, she said censuring him "is one way that we can acknowledge that certain behavior is unacceptable."
For her part, Mitts accepted Ramirez-Rosa's apology, hugged him after he made his public mea culpa, and later voted against censuring him.
"I will tell you this. Action always speak louder than words. Apology is good, but you've got to have some action behind it, and I'm looking for the action moving forward. No one has a right to retaliate because one speaks their mind," Mitts said. "I'm willing to work along with you, because we have to represent all the people of Chicago. I don't want a divisive city."
While Ramirez-Rosa has denied threatening zoning matters of any of his colleagues, claiming he simply told them they needed to unite against the sanctuary city referendum, he apologized to a handful of aldermen on Tuesday "for my disrespectful words and actions."
Waguespack said while Ramirez-Rosa's apology should be acknowledged, "the actions that took place on that day do require censure. They were beyond the pale and unbecoming of our colleague."
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who had called for going as far as voting to expel Ramirez-Rosa from the City Council for his actions, but did not formally move to do so on Tuesday, said Ramirez-Rosa's actions left "a stain on the soul of this room."
"It must be purged, it must be cleaned, and it must be censured immediately," he said.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said those calling to censure Ramirez-Rosa aren't seeking to divide the council any further than it already has become in recent months, but just to acknowledge "what we all recognize is wrong."
"We want to make sure that we send a message to future City Councils, when we're all long gone, that these sorts of things that occurred last Thursday do not happen again to any member – regardless of what caucus they serve in, their gender, their race, the geography they represent," he said.
In arguing against censuring Ramirez-Rosa, one of his closest allies, Johnson said he saw the situation as a teaching moment.
"I'm actually quite impressed with this body's ability to recognize the opportunity that is in front of us – is to hear one another, to recognize where as humans we fall short, and also recognize that very few of us have the ability to cast too many stones," he said. "We also have to extend grace, and that is not easy, and quite frankly it can be unnatural, because retribution is what we oftentimes call for. I am grateful that this body has extended grace, and that our colleague has recognized where his transgressions lie."
Had the council voted in favor of censuring Ramirez-Rosa, it would have been a first in the city's history.
Mitts says Ramirez-Rosa's treatment left her feeling "like I was back in the South"
Speaking for the first time about the incident, Mitts said Ramirez-Rosa's treatment of her on Thursday "was unbecoming of anyone who's elected to represent people."
"Because if it happens to me, then who else can it happen to, or who else have it already, and they didn't have a voice?" she said. "Every woman should be respected. No one should overexert their power or their authority on them because they can. It's unacceptable."
Nonetheless, Mitts said she accepted Ramirez-Rosa's apology, hugging him on the council floor. The two also said they believe they can work together in the future.
"I will tell you this. Action always speak louder than words. Apology is good, but you've got to have some action behind it, and I'm looking for the action moving forward. No one has a right to retaliate because one speaks their mind," Mitts said. "I'm willing to work along with you, because we have to represent all the people of Chicago. I don't want a divisive city."
Ramirez-Rosa also apologized to the mayor and the rest of the City Council, and said he was committed to making amends.
"I feel awful about everything that happened, and the role that I played in everything that occurred last week," he said. "Our Chicago City Council does important work, and even when we strongly disagree with each other on policy or approach, it is critical that we show each other respect. The people of Chicago deserve nothing less, and have every right to demand that of all of us. I cannot take away the mistakes I made last week, but I hope to be able to rebuild the trust that we have in each other as we move forward as a Council that addresses the important things impacting the city of Chicago."
Mitts also offered her first public account of the incident, saying Ramirez-Rosa had texted her Thursday morning, urging her not to attend the meeting. At that meeting, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) was seeking to pass a resolution to put an advisory referendum on the ballot in March, asking voters if Chicago should keep its sanctuary city status.
Mitts said she planned to attend the meeting regardless of Ramirez-Rosa's request, but he later approached her in person during the meeting and asked her "do you know that the migrants get offended when they hear you all talking about them like that?"
"I replied to floor leader Rosa, 'my community gets offended when our resources are being driven and taken away from us because of this issue,'" Mitts said.
As that meeting became more chaotic, with multiple roll call votes called to determine if there was the needed 26-vote quorum to conduct business, Mitts said Ramirez-Rosa told her "you shouldn't be in here."
Mitts said, when she asked him, "why are you bothering me?" he said "Because the rest of your colleagues are idiots."
"I take that stuff seriously. I don't call people idiots. Never would," Mitts said.
Finally, when another roll call was demanded to determine if there was a quorum for the proposed sanctuary city referendum, Mitts said she was the last one to arrive at the door to the council chamber, where Ramirez-Rosa told her "you can't go into this meeting" and blocked her path.
"It was more of 'you can't go into this meeting,' where I was literally blocked at that door," she said. "Not manhandling, I don't call it, but more or less 'you can't go into this meeting,' facing me."
Mitts said that's when Ald. Shirely Coleman (16th) Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) saw what was happening and moved Ramirez-Rosa out of the way to make sure she could go into the meeting.
"I felt like I was back in the South. I felt like everything in me was shaking, and I literally tried to share, but it seemed like no one wanted to hear it but my colleagues," she said. "At that point, I really didn't know if I could do my job again. I didn't. If this is what I have to put up with, if this is what women have to put up with, somebody better stand up for not only me but any young women who get abused. That's the problem with Black women today, and I'm a strong Black woman that believes in fairness."
Saying that she and her colleagues need to serve as a example for others, Mitts said she is hoping for a more respectful attitude within the council going forward.
"Until we get some law and order in here now, and start respecting each other, then we'll be having even more darker days ahead," she said. "This should never happen again. Just never, never happen again."
