Lightfoot says lawsuit accusing her of obscene tirade over Columbus statue deal is 'wholly lacking in merit'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday slammed a lawsuit accusing her of a profane tirade Chicago Park District lawyers, calling the claims against her "deeply offensive and ridiculous."
A defamation lawsuit filed against the mayor earlier this week by former Park District deputy general counsel George Smyrniotis accused Lightfoot of berating him and other Park District officials over their proposal to allow an Italian American group to display a Christopher Columbus statue that had been removed from Arrigo Park during the 2020 Columbus Day parade.
Lightfoot ignored questions from reports about the lawsuit on Thursday after leaving her only public event since the lawsuit became public, and on Friday morning issued a brief written statement:
"I am aware of the lawsuit that has been filed by a former Chicago Park District employee. While I will continue my practice of not commenting on the specific claims alleged in pending litigation, I feel compelled to state that the deeply offensive and ridiculous claims are wholly lacking in merit, and I welcome the opportunity to prove that fact in court. Furthermore, to be clear, I never have and never will harbor any animus toward Italians or Italian Americans."
In his lawsuit, Smyrniotis claimed Lightfoot killed a proposed deal the Park District made with the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans to allow them to display a Columbus statue in a parade after it had been removed from Arrigo Park.
According to the lawsuit, former Park District Superintendent Mike Kelly and Park District General Counsel Timothy King, the district's top lawyer, wanted a quick settlement in an effort to help create "good will" with the group.
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The group wanted to display the statue on the last float in their annual Columbus Day parade, for about 20 minutes, and then return it to the Park District.
As part of the proposed deal with the group, Smyrniotis also suggested eventually giving the statue to them if they agreed to permanently remove it from the city, since it was already highly unlikely it would ever be returned to Arrigo Park, according to the lawsuit. King agreed to the arrangement, and ran the deal past other top Park District staffers, who also approved the offer.
But the suit claims Lightfoot was irate about a tentative deal to let the groups use that statue in a parade, and threatened to pull the permit for the parade if the Columbus statue was going to be displayed at all.
She also arranged a hasty Zoom call with Park District leaders, during which she angrily berated lawyers for the proposed deal, asking them "you d***s, what the f*** were you thinking?
"You make some kind of secret agreement with Italians, what are you doing, you are out there measuring your d***s over the Columbus statue, I am trying to keep Chicago Police officers from being shot and you are trying to get them shot. My d*** is bigger than yours and the Italians. I have the biggest d*** in Chicago," Lightfoot said, according to the lawsuit. "Where did you go to law school? Did you even go to law school? Do you even have a law license?"
Lightfoot is also accused of telling the Park District not to do anything with the statue without her approval.
"Get that f***ing statue back before noon tomorrow or I am going to have you fired," she said, according to the lawsuit.
Lightfoot in July 2020 ordered the removal of the Columbus statues from Grant Park and Arrigo Park, after protesters tried to tear down the one in Grant Park, setting off violent clashes with police.
Smyrniotis said the mayor's tirade made others think he couldn't do his job. He resigned last month.
His defamation lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in damages.
