Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot explained an email she sent – which has been compared to the deranged rantings of Jack Nicholson’s character in “The Shining” – in which she berated an aide for a lack of what she calls ‘office time.’
Lightfoot said that the email was “born out of frustration” and she’s now in “a better place.”
The email, sent in January, was discovered by Chicago Tribune reporter Gregory Pratt.
The message to the aide repeats what Lightfoot considers key points over and over again and is peppered with a plethora of exclamation points.
“Since my prior requests for office time are routinely ignored, I am now resorting to this,” the Democrat mayor writes.
What follows are 16 consecutive sentences reading: “I need office time every day!”
“Not just once a week or some days, every day!” Lightfoot continues, an additional 10 separate times.
The email continues the same theme, writing messages in a seemingly crazed manner.
Several observers claimed the email bore a striking resemblance to a chilling scene in the 1980 movie “The Shining,” when Jack Nicholson’s character typed “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” thousands of times instead of writing his manuscript.
Just got this email via FOIA — more insight about City Hall staffing/turnover/culture under Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Read our May story also https://t.co/pCGx8WsSOy https://t.co/4k0vKVuykv pic.twitter.com/kBMBMhFBse
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) June 12, 2021
Lori Lightfoot And Her ‘The Shining’ Moment
Not only were people comparing the Lori Lightfoot email to “The Shining,” but Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld had a guest read the message aloud on-air to emphasize the level of crazy.
“It was confirmed what many of us had suspected about Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot,” Gutfeld told his audience. “She is raving bonkers.”
Lightfoot, at a recent press conference, contended that the email was something simply “born out of frustration.”
“We got beyond that and solved the challenges that were at the heart of that email which was written five-plus months ago so I think we’re in a better place,” she said.
Tucker Carlson shredded the mayor for the email as well as a history of abusing staff saying somebody needs to “stage a hostage extraction” for their sake.
Tucker roasts Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after newly released emails reveal gross mistreatment of her staff, then compares her to Jack from “The Shining:”
“She needs help— but not as much help as her staff needs. Someone ought to stage a hostage extraction for their sake.” pic.twitter.com/cKBJJGGx0U
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) June 17, 2021
No Wonder Her Office Has Such High Turnover
This past May, the Chicago Tribune ran an article on significant turnover in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.
The Tribune, in trying to analyze the staffing issues, noted Lightfoot’s “notoriously abrasive leadership style or her thin government resume” as possible explanations.
Last year, audio of a phone conversation between the mayor and the City Council showed Lightfoot dropping expletives repeatedly in what she would later describe as a “candid conversation.”
Prior to that, Lightfoot emailed a photo of ripped-up documents to her Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and scheduler showing them what she does to memos that come “last minute.”
“As I noted, I want decisions memos no later than 48 hours before the decision is needed and I have directed (staff) to reject all efforts to bring things to me directly that skirt these rules,” she wrote.
“I have asked nicely, now I am done.”
About Mayor Lightfoot being hard to work with and that contributing to hiring/retention problems, see this email where she ripped up documents and sent staff a photo of it to illustrate her message: “I have asked nicely, now I am done.” https://t.co/pCGx8WsSOy https://t.co/PCCX8rEXYk pic.twitter.com/g4c0VQQzEk
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) May 13, 2021
Lightfoot has recently been the subject of a lawsuit on behalf of a white reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation who claims she violated his civil rights by only granting interviews to “black or brown reporters.”
“By now, you may have heard the news that on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as Mayor of this great City, I will be exclusively providing one-on-one interviews with journalists of color,” Lightfoot said in a letter last month.
The mayor has argued that the lawsuit is “frivolous” because she only discriminated against white reporters for one day.
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