Chicago aldermen voted to block a symbolic question that would have been placed on the March primary ballot asking whether voters wanted to end the city's status as a sanctuary city.
The non-binding referendum asked the question, “Should the City of Chicago limit its designation as a Sanctuary City by placing spending limits on its public funding?”
It wasn't even close. The vote was 31-16 in favor of keeping the city open to illegal aliens.
What the vote would have been on the question itself was the reason the aldermen were terrified of putting the city's status as a sanctuary city up for a vote. The citizens of Chicago may have learned their lesson, but the city's politicians have not.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), Raymond Lopez (15th), and David Moore (17th) sponsored the resolution.
“Mr. Chairman, let me just say that I think you all had something up your sleeve,” Beale said after his motion failed. “What are you scared of, to let the people have a voice? What are you scared of, the truth? … That’s all this question is asking, is to let the people have a say.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson tried to portray the effort to remove the sanctuary city designation as a question of "meanness."
“This is a crisis. As I’ve said, it’s not going to go away because people are upset,” Johnson told reporters the previous day, referencing unspecified critics of his response to the crisis. “Now unfortunately, you have individuals that have used this as a way to execute its meanness ... that type of meanness has caused the type of strife that we’re experiencing now.”
It's now "meanness" for people to express an opinion contrary to Johnson's? No one is saying anything mean about illegal aliens. It's Johnson being mean to people who disagree with him.
Thursday’s meeting almost certainly spells the end of Beale’s effort to advance the sanctuary city question to voters. His proposal heads back to the council Rules Committee, and Johnson’s hand-picked chair of that body told reporters afterward that she has no intention of holding a hearing on it before the Jan. 2 deadline to make the March ballot.
Beale, Lopez and Moore have been plotting the mini-rebellion for several weeks, with Johnson’s allies outmaneuvering them by using to their advantage the fact Chicago only allows three referendum questions per election. One spot is already reserved for the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum that would increase the real estate transfer tax for some to fund homelessness services, a major plank of Johnson’s progressive agenda.
Chicago is such a "welcoming city" that the mayor tried to force illegals to stay in a tent erected on a pile of toxic waste. Maybe Mayor Johnson should rethink his "welcoming" pitch.
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