Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot made obscene comments aimed at government lawyers during a meeting over the use of a Christopher Columbus statue during a parade, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
After the Chicago Park District agreed to let an Italian-American group display the statue in last year's Columbus Day parade, Lightfoot blocked the deal, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The mayor threatened to pull the permit for the parade and ordered park district officials to attend a hastily called Zoom meeting, according to a lawsuit filed by former Chicago Park District deputy general counsel George Smyrniotis against the city and Lightfoot.
The lawsuit alleges Lightfoot berated and defamed Smyrniotis and Timothy King, then the district's top lawyer, during the video meeting and asked them, "Where did you go to law school? Did you even go to law school? Do you even have a law license?"
The suit said Lightfoot told the lawyers that they had to submit their formal request to a city lawyer for approval and were told "not to do a f****** thing with that statue without my approval."
"Get that f****** statue back before noon tomorrow or I am going to have you fired," Lightfoot said, according to the suit.
Lightfoot also made obscene comments to Smyrniotis and King, according to the lawsuit.
She allegedly called them "d****" and asked, "What the f*** were you thinking?"
"You make some kind of secret agreement with Italians ... You are 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," Lightfoot said, according to the complaint. "My d*** is bigger than yours and the Italians, I have the biggest d*** in Chicago."
Smyrniotis, who resigned from the park district last month, said Lightfoot's alleged comments defamed him by imputing he lacked the ability to do his job. King also has left the district.
Smyrniotis' lawsuit is closely related to another case brought by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans against the park district after Lightfoot removed Columbus statues from the city.
In his lawsuit, Smyrniotis alleges he was told by King, and then-superintendent Michael Kelly, that they wanted to settle the statues lawsuit "as soon as possible."
Smyrniotis said he then worked with lawyers for the Italian Americans to make a deal.
The group proposed putting the statue last in the parade and covering until the end, according to Smyrniotis’ lawsuit.
King approved the request, the suit said, because the Park District thought it would generate goodwill with the Italian Americans.
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