Lori Lightfoot Biography
Lori Lightfoot (Lori Elaine Lightfoot) an American politician known for working on various government positions in the city of Chicago, notably having served as President of the Chicago Police Board from 2015 to 2018. Lightfoot has also worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown.
She was a candidate for the mayor of Chicago in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election. She was the top vote-getter in the first round of the election, advancing to a runoff election which will be on April 2, 2019, against Toni Preckwinkle.
Lori Lightfoot Age
Lightfoot was born on August 4, 1962, in Massillon, Ohio, United States of America.
Lori Lightfoot Career
Lightfoot became a practicing attorney at Mayer Brown after graduating from law school. She first entered the public sector as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Lightfoot cites several reasons for entering public service, inclusive of a desire to represent the African-American community, a sense of injustice based on the murder of a family member in the 1920s by a Ku Klux Klan member and her older brother’s struggles with the law.
While working as an assistant United States attorney, she assisted with Operation Silver Shovel, an FBI investigation into Chicago corruption. Lightfoot helped to convict alderman Virgil Jones.
Lightfoot was issued a warning for misconduct by judge Richard Posner based on a 1999 case where she allegedly misled a judge about the status of an order to extradite a suspect. She denied the allegation and she was exonerated after a Justice Department review.
Lightfoot was appointed in 2002, as the chief administrator of the Chicago Police Department Office of Professional Standards which is a now-defunct governmental police oversight group, by Mayor Richard M. Daley. Lightfoot held the position for two years.
While in the position, she was charged with investigating possible cases of police misconduct, including police shootings of civilians, though Lightfoot says her recommendations were often rejected by the Chicago Police Department.
Lightfoot went against Police Department orthodoxy in one notable case, by recommending the firing of officer Alvin Weems, who shot and killed Michael Pleasance, an unarmed man.
Initially, Weems was believed to have accidentally shot Pleasance, but after video evidence contradicting the initial claims was revealed, even Weems himself expressed feeling that the shooting was unjustified.
Chicago Police Department did not fire Weems but the city was eventually forced to pay a settlement to the Pleasance family. Weems later committed suicide.
In another controversial case where officer Phyllis Clinkscales shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Robert Washington, Lightfoot determined that the shooting was justified. In doing so, Lightfoot reversed the order of her predecessor, who had called for Clinkscales’ firing. Clinkscales’ account of the events of the shooting had been found to contain untrue statements in an investigation.
Later, Lightfoot worked with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. She then moved on to work as deputy chief of the Chicago Department of Procurement Services, where Lightfoot and her boss, Mary Dempsey, investigated Chicago corruption, drawing Mayor Daley’s ire in the process.
Their investigations included probes of Blagojevich associate Tony Rezko and prominent Daley donor Elzie Higginbottom. Lightfoot worked at the Department of Procurement Services for a few months before subsequently returning to Mayer Brown.
Lightfoot defended Republicans as an attorney at Mayer Brown, in two cases protesting Democratic gerrymandering. She has also served on the boards of the Illinois chapters of NARAL and the ACLU. Lightfoot was a finalist in 2013, for the position of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, but the job went to Zachary T. Fardon.
Lori Lightfoot Career
Lightfoot became a practicing attorney at Mayer Brown after graduating from law school. She first entered the public sector as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Lightfoot cites several reasons for entering public service, inclusive of a desire to represent the African-American community, a sense of injustice based on the murder of a family member in the 1920s by a Ku Klux Klan member and her older brother’s struggles with the law.
While working as an assistant United States attorney, she assisted with Operation Silver Shovel, an FBI investigation into Chicago corruption. Lightfoot helped to convict alderman Virgil Jones.
Lightfoot was issued a warning for misconduct by judge Richard Posner based on a 1999 case where she allegedly misled a judge about the status of an order to extradite a suspect. She denied the allegation and she was exonerated after a Justice Department review.
Lightfoot was appointed in 2002, as the chief administrator of the Chicago Police Department Office of Professional Standards which is a now-defunct governmental police oversight group, by Mayor Richard M. Daley. Lightfoot held the position for two years.
While in the position, she was charged with investigating possible cases of police misconduct, including police shootings of civilians, though Lightfoot says her recommendations were often rejected by the Chicago Police Department.
Lightfoot went against Police Department orthodoxy in one notable case, by recommending the firing of officer Alvin Weems, who shot and killed Michael Pleasance, an unarmed man.
Initially, Weems was believed to have accidentally shot Pleasance, but after video evidence contradicting the initial claims was revealed, even Weems himself expressed feeling that the shooting was unjustified.
Chicago Police Department did not fire Weems but the city was eventually forced to pay a settlement to the Pleasance family. Weems later committed suicide.
In another controversial case where officer Phyllis Clinkscales shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Robert Washington, Lightfoot determined that the shooting was justified. In doing so, Lightfoot reversed the order of her predecessor, who had called for Clinkscales’ firing. Clinkscales’ account of the events of the shooting had been found to contain untrue statements in an investigation.
Later, Lightfoot worked with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. She then moved on to work as deputy chief of the Chicago Department of Procurement Services, where Lightfoot and her boss, Mary Dempsey, investigated Chicago corruption, drawing Mayor Daley’s ire in the process.
Their investigations included probes of Blagojevich associate Tony Rezko and prominent Daley donor Elzie Higginbottom. Lightfoot worked at the Department of Procurement Services for a few months before subsequently returning to Mayer Brown.
Lightfoot defended Republicans as an attorney at Mayer Brown, in two cases protesting Democratic gerrymandering. She has also served on the boards of the Illinois chapters of NARAL and the ACLU. Lightfoot was a finalist in 2013, for the position of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, but the job went to Zachary T. Fardon.
Lori Lightfoot Chicago Police Board and Police Accountability Task Force
In 2015, Lightfoot returned to the public sector, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed her to replace 19-year incumbent Demitrius Carney as President of the Chicago Police Board. The main responsibility of the board is to make recommendations for or against disciplinary action on certain disputed cases of police misconduct. Under the leadership of Lightfoot, the board became more punitive, firing officers in 72% of its cases.
In the wake of the controversy over the murder of Laquan McDonald, Lightfoot was appointed by Emanuel as Chair of a special Police Accountability Task Force.
The Task Force, led by Lightfoot, filed a report critical of the Chicago Police Department’s practices in 2016. In May 2018, Lightfoot resigned from the Police Board, just before announcing her mayoral run
Emanuel.
Lori Lightfoot Campaign Manager
Lightfoot’s team hired Manuel Perez, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, as campaign manager. It’s a strategic hire as Perez is seen as the progressive force behind Garcia, who hasn’t made an endorsement in the race.
Hiring Manuel suggests Lightfoot is targeting the Hispanic vote. Manuel also ran Garcia’s 2015 campaign against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and more recently ran Tanya Patino’s campaign for the 14th Ward seat won by disgraced Ald. Ed Burke.
Lori Lightfoot Height and Weight
Lightfoot stands at a height of 5 feet 1 inch (1.5 meters) and weight 119.05 lbs (54 Kg).
Lori Lightfoot Education
Lightfoot graduated from Washington High School in Massillon, where she serves as a class president. In 2013, her high school alumni association named her a “Distinguished Citizen”. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, working seven jobs to afford her education.
She began working for Congress members Ralph Regula and Barbara Mikulski before geaduating at the University of Chicago Law School, where she earned a full scholarship.
She rose to fame as a law student at UChicago when she, as president of the student body, led a successful movement to ban a law firm from campus after the firm sent a recruiter who made racist and sexist remarks towards a student. She as well served as a clerk for the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1989, she graduated from law school.
Lori Lightfoot Parents
Lightfoot was born the youngest of four children. Her mother served as a healthcare aide and school board member, and her father a factory worker and janitor. She was raised up up in a mostly white neighborhood on the west side of the city.
Lori Lightfoot Married
Lightfoot is married to Amy Eshleman and the couple is blessed with one adopted child, a daughter, Vivian.
Lori Lightfoot Gay and Lesbian
Lightfoot is openly gay and first African-American woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States as announced in 2019.
Chicago sworn in its first black female and first openly gay mayor, concluding Lori Lightfoot’s astonishing, yearlong rise from near anonymity to the leader of the nation’s third-largest city.
Lori Lightfoot Net Worth
Lightfoot has an estimated to have a net worth of about $3 million through proceeds from her work as a politician.