Tuesday Marks Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's First Full Day in Office

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot arrived at the LaSalle Street entrance of City Hall at around 9 a.m. Tuesday, ready for the first full day of her administration.

When asked how she felt, less than 24 hours after she was sworn in as Chicago's 56th mayor, she responded simply, "pretty good" as she headed into work.

In a powerful inaugural speech on Monday, Lightfoot laid out several initiatives, including public safety, education and more. But perhaps most notably, she took aim at corruption in city government, as the entire City Council sat behind her.

"For years, they’ve said Chicago ain’t ready for reform. Well, get ready, because reform is here," Lightfoot said, to raucous applause.

"No official in the City of Chicago, elected or appointed, should ever profit from his office. Never. Ever," she added, bringing the audience and many of the aldermen onstage - including Ald. Ed Burke, who was criminally charged with corruption in January - to their feet in a standing ovation.

While Burke didn't comment, other members of City Council like Ald. Anthony Beale said they felt Lightfoot's speech was a big aggressive.

"It was a huge attack on the City Council," Beale said. "You know, we're a lot of hard-working people that really care about our community and we were elected just like she was."

Less than two hours after her inauguration, Lightfoot then signed her first executive order: one laying out a process to end aldermanic privilege, which allows individual aldermen to block city ordinances within their own wards. The order fulfilled a campaign promise and was part of what she called a "comprehensive ethics reform package to reform the way government works in Chicago."

That reform package also includes a newly created ethics committee, headed by Ald. Michele Smith.

"It’s a new committee, precisely, to really highlight the point that ethics and good government, which many of us have fought for for a long time, is really going to be a top priority of her administration," Smith said.

Lightfoot said Monday that her other priorities include a focus on public health, mitigating gun violence, distributing funding equitably across Chicago and tackling the city's debt.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, a staunch Lightfoot supporter who she has tapped to chair the powerful Finance Committee, said members of her new cabinet are anxious to get started.

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