Boasting 'Biggest D---' Part Of Chicago Mayor's Official Duties, Judge Rules

CHICAGO — A judge found former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was acting within the scope of her official duties when she allegedly boasted having the "biggest d--- in Chicago," dismissing a defamation lawsuit filed by a former Chicago Park District attorney.

George Smyrniotis filed suit against the then-Chicago mayor more than two years ago, claiming that Lightfoot had damaged his reputation and prompted his resignation by berating him in a profane tirade.

“You d---s, what the fuck were you thinking?" Lightfoot told the lawyers, according to the suit.

Lightfoot allegedly made the remarks during a 2021 videoconference in which she berated park district lawyers over an agreement with the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans over a statue of Christopher Columbus.

The statue had been removed from Arrigo Park in July 2020 after it became a point of potential violence and vandalism during that summer's protests following the murder of George Floyd.

In July 2021, the Italian American committee sued the park district in an effort to return the statue. Smyrniotis represented the park district in negotiations with the committee over its temporary display during that year's Columbus Day parade.

When the mayor learned of the agreement, two days before the parade, she threatened to revoke the permit unless the Italian American committee promised not to display the statue, which they had planned to do for 20 minutes at the end of the parade.

On Columbus Day 2021, Smyrniotis was summoned onto a Zoom call with city and park district officials, according to his suit.

"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," Lightfoot said. "I am trying to keep Chicago Police officers from being shot and you are trying to get them shot."

Nearly 50 officers were injured and 12 people were arrested during a clash between police and protestors who attempted to tear down the Grant Park Columbus statue on July 17, 2020. Less than a week later, Lightfoot ordered the "temporary" removal of both that statue as well as the one in Arrigo Park.

"My d--- is bigger than yours and the Italians, I have the biggest d--- in Chicago," she said.

"Where did you go to law school? Did you even go to law school? Do you even have a law license?" Lightfoot said, telling the park district's attorneys they had to run their pleadings by the city's chief constitutional and commercial lawyer, John Hendricks, to get his approval before filing.

"John told you not to do a f------ thing with that statue without my approval," she told Smyrniotis and his boss. "Get that f------ statue back before noon tomorrow or I am going to have you fired. ”

Smyrniotis sued the city and its mayor in March 2022 — the month after he quit his job two years earlier than he had planned to retire from it.

"As a proximate result of [Lightfoot’s] false and outrageous per se defamatory statements," the attorney alleged, "[Smyrniotis's] reputation was damaged, he was portrayed in a false light, his ability to perform his work was impaired, he was forced to resign on February 2, 2022, and he, suffered lost income, a reduced pension, and suffered great emotional distress."

Smyrniotis contended that he was not employed by the city and had no responsibility to the mayor or anyone else at City Hall.

In response to the suit, Lightfoot described its claims as untrue, as well as “deeply offensive and ridiculous."

“Furthermore, to be clear," she said, "I never have and never will harbor any animus toward Italians or Italian Americans.”

Park district officials sought to seal the lawsuit, citing the right to protect attorney-client privilege. They were opposed by a coalition of media organizations.

Attorneys for Chicago and Lightfoot filed a motion to dismiss the suit. They contended that it failed to actually claim Lightfoot defamed Smyrniotis and that, regardless, the mayor had absolute immunity against defamation claims because her remarks were made as part of her official duties. Such privilege is intended to permit government officials to do their jobs without exposure to civil liability.

In a May 24 ruling, Cook County Circuit Judge Kathy Flanagan granted the city's motion to dismiss the complaint, finding that Lightfoot's statements were privileged and thus immune from Smyrniotis' claims.

"The complaint does not anywhere allege that Mayor Lightfoot’s statements during the Zoom call occurred outside of the scope of her official duties. Smyrniotis’ complaint even alleges that at all relevant times the Mayor of the City of Chicago and was authorized to speak on its behalf," Flanagan ruled.

"There does not appear to be any further facts which could be alleged that Mayor Lightfoot’s actions and statements occurred outside the scope of her official duties."