Paul Vallas has returned a campaign donation from a retired police officer with ties to the Laquan McDonald case, but the fact he accepted the money has sparked a tsunami of criticism from his Chicago mayoral rivals.
That story is playing out as candidates look to establish their policy proposals to address safety concerns in the city, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot standing behind Chicago’s police superintendent and with Brandon Johnson unveiling his policy platform on Monday.
The Vallas controversy stems from a report from WBEZ that revealed he had accepted a $5,000 campaign donation from a retired police officer that had connections to the 2014 shooting death of McDonald.
The donation from former CPD employee Richard Hagen was made last year, according to the report. Court records show that Hagen was named in two settlement agreements stemming from the McDonald shooting, which cost the city more than $5 million.
Vallas’ campaign announced Monday that it had donated the $5,000 from Hagen, along with an additional $5,000, to Parents for Peace and Justice, a group dedicated to helping mothers whose children have been killed in gun violence.
Rev. Martin Hunter, McDonald’s uncle, was among those critical of Vallas for accepting the donation in the first place.
“Mr. Vallas owes the people of the city of Chicago, and the family of Laquan McDonald, an apology,” he said.
Local
Vallas said that he had been unaware of the donation until WBEZ’s report came out, but said that the officer was not directly implicated in wrongdoing in connection with the case.
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he said. “The police officer involved, there was no wrongdoing.”
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Lightfoot continued to step up her criticisms of Vallas, blasting him for appearing with former Chicago police officer and current president of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police John Catanzara at an event this week.
“Catanzara isn’t the first Republican that Paul Vallas is wrapping his arms around,” her campaign said. “The far-right has found their guy for mayor, and his name is Paul Vallas.”
Catanzara resigned from the department ahead of a Chicago Police Board hearing, which was determining his job status after controversial social media posts. He also pushed back hard against Lightfoot for the city’s vaccination requirements during the COVID pandemic.
Lightfoot has faced plenty of criticism of her own due to the city’s crime rates, but released a statement Monday defending Police Supt. David Brown when some candidates have called for him to be replaced if they are elected, including Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.
Johnson says that the city needs to be doing more to help combat crime, but his focus will instead be on reallocating resources rather than pushing more money toward policing, as his latest proposal includes cutting more than $50 million earmarked for ShotSpotter.
“Surveillance and spending more on policing per capita than anywhere else in the world has been a failure,” he said.
The company responsible for ShotSpotter technology, which is used to monitor for the sound of gunfire, has faced criticisms over the efficacy of the devices and over privacy concerns associated with the microphones.
The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concerns over the technology, pointing to reports from the Chicago Inspector General that cast light on a variety of issues.
The discussion around public safety comes at a key point in the election cycle, with the final vote just over three weeks away.
Despite the rapidly-approaching election, García will skip a televised forum on Tuesday, and will instead attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
“We’re at a critical point now where voters are paying attention to the election, and the election will be decided in the coming days,” he said.
While early voting has been open for more than a week, just 2,160 early ballots have been cast in Chicago, showing that voters may still be weighing their options ahead of the Feb. 28 election.
Nearly 18,000 mail-in ballots have been received by the Board of Elections as of Monday afternoon.
