Hours after CPS told her to stop.
According to newly released public records, leadership at the Chicago Public Schools directed Mayor Lori Lightfioot’s campaign to immediately stop sending emails to CPS teachers trying to coerce them into getting students to volunteer for the Mayor’s campaign in exchange for school credit last month. Incredibly, Mayor Lightfoot’s campaign defended this clearly unethical practice that is now under investigation hours later, even after being advised by CPS that “no recruitment for interns or [volunteers] can be done on campus or by staff/teachers.”
Paul Vallas is releasing the following statement demanding that Mayor Lightfoot come clean about why her campaign ignored CPS administrators and defended her outreach to teachers as “common practice,” despite the clear ethical red flags.
“It’s simply beyond belief that Mayor Lightfoot let her campaign publicly defend trying to coerce teachers into helping her campaign hours after CPS told her to stop,” said Vallas. “Mayor Lightfoot knew that this conduct was unethical and wrong but she still tried to justify it as ‘common practice.’ She’s been dodging questions about it ever since and is clearly trying to run out the clock and hope that the press loses interest in the story, because there is just no way for her to defend her actions.”