Lightfoot starts another backtrack
Thursday, Nov 14, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Substituting the word “payoff” for “investments,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot tried Thursday to clarify the political bombshell she dropped this week about a publicly-traded company: that Uber offered black ministers a $54 million “pay off” to kill her $40 million congestion fee. […]
“My understanding, as I said yesterday, was that they offered up $54 million in — I’ll put in air quotes — ‘investments.’ What they’re trying to do … is divide and conquer and pit one group against another. We’ve seen that happen historically in Chicago. We’re not gonna tolerate that,” Lightfoot said. […]
In shooting down what Uber called the mayor’s “categorically false” charge, Uber’s director of public policy Josh Gold accused the mayor of “confusing the $54 million in revenue that one of our proposals would have raised for her own budget.”
For the first time, Lightfoot seemed to acknowledge as much.
No proposal by Uber, Lightfoot said, “whether it’s the $54 million or a more recent counter-proposal,” allows the ride-hailing giant “to be regulated and deal with the congestion. They offer nothing to deal with congestion.”
I don’t think that’s much of an acknowledgement. She also blamed the media, but this is some of what she said yesterday…
Asked about a different tax structure for ride-share companies that Uber is publicizing as an alternative to her own proposal, the mayor responded: “Is this the one where they’re paying off black ministers by offering them $54 million, or is this a new one?”
The mayor later doubled down on her allegation. “They offered up black ministers $54 million, a one-time deal, if they would convince the mayor to do away with any other kind of regulation,” she said.
Look, we all know that companies often pay ministers and others to help them generate some astroturf pressure on politicians. That’s been going on in Chicago and at the Statehouse for a very long time and I’m glad the mayor is taking on this topic. But claiming that Uber offered black ministers a $54 million payoff is just way out of line.
…Adding… Doubles down…
- Altgelds Ghost - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:04 am:
Indubitably
- Billy Shears - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:06 am:
Lightfoot appears a bit Trumpian in her public comments.
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:06 am:
This is another instance when I think the main wrongdoing gets lost in the shuffle because we’re so numb to the corruption. Yes, Lightfoot was wrong to throw this wildly inflated charge out. But when ministers - ministers! - are taking bribes, that should remain the story even if it’s common practice. I saw Uber on Twitter retweeting defenses against the mayor’s charges but not responding to questions of whether/how much they had paid any of their champions. This from a company famous for a “better to ask forgiveness than permission” business model.
- Levois J - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:07 am:
this is troubling for a mayor who’s an outsider.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:08 am:
=== But claiming that Uber offered black ministers a $54 million payoff is just way out of line===
This is the ball game to the lack of honesty and amateurish way this Mayor goes about business.
You pick a specific number, you best better be able to back that up. Oh, this…
=== The mayor later doubled down on her allegation. “They offered up black ministers $54 million, a one-time deal, if they would convince the mayor to do away with any other kind of regulation,” she said.===
SHE said. She said this.
It’s wholly false, purposely misconstrued to ding Uber and the ministers, and now has others clean up her mess, while not owning her own brazenly inflammatory… interpretations.
Amateurs using derogatory “interpretations”… it’s not an accident, it’s now more of a pattern, her M.O.?
We have three plus years to see.
- Robert the Bruce - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:15 am:
It is out of line. And I do hope someone asks Uber how much they did give to black ministers.
- Nick - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:19 am:
It’s genuinely sad how often it is that the biggest obstacle for Lightfoot is herself.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:21 am:
It’s not an apology, it’s not an acknowledgement, it’s a doubling down.
Uber is not promising to build training centers on the South and West side if ministers will oppose the mayor’s plan. That type of “investment” is common corporate strategy, morally dubious but also perfectly legal.
Uber is promising their plan will put $54 Million in city coffers for Lightfoot and the city council to spend, not the ministers.
The mayor still owes a public apology to the clergy whose integrity she impugned.
- Sue - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:29 am:
Going to be a long 4 years and Chicago is going to pay a price for having an incompetent mayor
- Occam - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:34 am:
Is it too late for Uber Freight to back out of their 10 year lease at the refurbed post office building and relocate to a city less openly hostile to Uber?
- Montrose - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:40 am:
Owning you made a mistake is not a weakness. Just say, “I am dealing with a lot of numbers and meetings, and I got this one wrong. My apologies for my mistake. That mistake does not take away from Uber’s efforts to avoid being regulated…”
She would both get credit for owning it and defuse the story. She just won’t let herself ever admit she can be wrong. THAT is her weakness.
- Jocko - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 11:49 am:
==My understanding, as I said yesterday, was that they offered up $54 million…==
Did you misunderstand, misspeak, or both?
- Telly - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 12:01 pm:
== this is troubling for a mayor who’s an outsider. ==
I’d change the word “troubling” to “typical.”
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 12:01 pm:
== She just won’t let herself ever admit she can be wrong. THAT is her weakness.==
Lightfoot has contracted a severe yet less contagious strain of the trump virus. “I’m not wrong, you just don’t have the capacity to understand my statement”
- Pundent - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 12:26 pm:
So Uber has a proposal that would put $54M in the city coffers and the mayor mischaracterizes this as a payoff to black ministers? Exactly how is this the fault of the media?
- Anon - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 12:52 pm:
=how is this the fault of the media?=
They accurately reported her actual words, without recognizing she somewhat did not mean exactly those words.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 12:58 pm:
Yeah, but I don’t trust Uber is telling the truth.
- lincoln's beard - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 1:09 pm:
If we have learned anything over the past three years, it’s that the institutions that made it damaging for politicians to commit a “gaffe” like this are *dead*, and that there’s nothing out there anymore that’ll make stuff like this a lasting political liability.
There’s simply no longer an incentive not to throw out something inflammatory like this, have it widely reported, and then let the correction/clarification/walk-back be a minor story, if it’s reported at all. Especially in situations like this where the headline is outrageous enough to be widely reported and close enough to something that feels like it might be true to a lot of voters.
- WSJ Paywall - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 2:00 pm:
= There’s simply no longer an incentive not to throw out something inflammatory like this, have it widely reported, and then let the correction/clarification/walk-back be a minor story, if it’s reported at all. Especially in situations like this where the headline is outrageous enough to be widely reported and close enough to something that feels like it might be true to a lot of voters. =
Maybe nationally this is true, but in a media market like Chicago constantly backtracking then blaming the press is unsustainable.
- Teve Demotte - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 2:10 pm:
There is a troubling pattern emerging in the first six months of Mayor Lightfoot’s tenure. There appears to be no cogent political, governmental and media strategy that is aligned properly on any issue it appears. She will frequently make statements that appear off the cuff that she then has to backtrack on or revise. It seems like she is just winging it sometimes. Perhaps, as time passes, she will build a more disciplined structure as to the formulation and execution of her policy and building the necessary coalitions to be successful.
- Pundent - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 2:27 pm:
=Maybe nationally this is true, but in a media market like Chicago constantly backtracking then blaming the press is unsustainable.=
It also helps when you can leverage the media (broadcast and social) to support a false narrative. Take those two things away and you simply end up looking like someone who can’t get their facts straight.
- Teve Demotte - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 2:31 pm:
One more point, I see that Mayor Lightfoot announced a reduction of fees and fines related to marijuana offenses and library fines etc…That’s all well and good, but in her budget address she claiming an increase in revenue from fees and fines essentially. There appears to be an incongruity here, if I am correct.
- Shytown - Thursday, Nov 14, 19 @ 3:18 pm:
Lightfoot seems to be her own strategist and comms director. Therein lies the problem.