*Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is being sued by a former attorney for the city after she allegedly berated him during a meeting over the removal of the Christopher Columbus Statue.
George Smyrniotis, 65, who served as First Deputy General Counsel for the district, is suing Lightfoot for defamation and claims she used obscene language ver a Zoom call.
Under Lightfoot’s orders, the Columbus statue was removed in July 2020 amid unrest over the murder of George Floyd, during which protesters attempted to topple the monument.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, says that during the Zoom call, Lightfoot berated a group of lawyers who struck with an Italian-American group to display the statue in the Columbus Day Parade.
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The suit claims Lightfoot insinuated that Smyrniotis is incapable of performing his duties as an attorney. According to the report, he has been a licensed attorney in Illinois since 1989 and had been employed by the park district since 2007.
“Where did you go to law school? Did you even go to law school? Do you even have a law license? You have to submit any pleadings to John Hendricks for approval before filing. John told you not to do a f***ing thing with that statute without my approval. Get that f***ing statue back before noon tomorrow or I am going to have you fired,” Lightfoot said, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also claims the mayor called the lawyers “d—-” and made the following statement: “You make some kind of secret agreement with Italians, what you are doing, you are out there measuring your d—- with the Italians seeing whose got the biggest d—, 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.”
According to the lawsuit, Lightfoot went on to say, “My d— is bigger than yours and the Italians, I have the biggest d— in Chicago.”
After the Columbus statue was removed from Arrigo Park in Little Italy, Smyrniotis agreed to allow the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans (JCCIA) to display the Columbus statue at the 2021 Christopher Columbus Day parade. When Lightfoot caught word of this, she allegedly threatened to pull the permit for the parade if the statue was used, according to the lawsuit.
Ultimately, the statue was not used in the parade.
Smyrniotis said he was forced to resign on Feb. 2, 2022.
The lawsuit is seeking $57,240 in compensatory damages due to loss of income from a reduced pension.
The lawsuit will be brought to court on May 5.
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