Judge Mitchell's bogus ruling in favor of the FOP
Why would a Cook County judge seemingly encourage the actions of FOP President John Catanzara?
Don’t miss Brother Fred’s post this morning about Judge Raymond Mitchell’s bogus ruling in favor of the FOP, the sham union suing the city of Chicago in an attempt to stop or delay Mayor Lightfoot’s life-saving vaccine mandate.
Why would any judge favor a delay in enforcing the mandate, not just for cops, but any and all city workers, especially those who work up close and personal with the public? Why would Judge Mitchell think that protecting the public in the middle of a deadly pandemic should even be up for bargaining? Especially when the mayor’s initiative seems to be working and driving down the city’s hospitalization and death rates.
Finally, why would a county judge seemingly encourage the actions of FOP President John Catanzara who is openly and illegally encouraging Lodge members to defy vaccine orders?
The mayor makes the point that vaccine mandates have been upheld all across the country, including in the U.S. court’s 7th Circuit, where a federal court allowed Indiana University to mandate vaccinations for students.
It’s hard to believe that Mitchell hasn’t read the news that COVID-19 is now killing more law enforcement officers than any other threat they face in the line of duty — 716 officers have died since March 2020, according to the Fraternal Order of Police themselves.
More likely, the judge feels a certain political kinship with Lightfoot’s detractors like Catanzara who claims the mayor is using “a stream of histrionics about the dangers of COVID-19” to force the vaccine into the arms of city cops.
If this language sounds a bit Trump-like to you, you’re onto something. Catanzara is a vocal Trump supporter and went so far as to defend the January 6th rioters, even after they killed five people — including a police officer.
But why would such a kinship exist? That one’s easy. Mitchell hails from the city’s white and cop-heavy, machine-controlled 19th Ward. When he ran for judge, he was endorsed by the 19th Ward Democratic Organization, the Cook County Democratic Party, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, and the Chicago Firefighters Union, Local 2. The CCDP’s judicial slating committee at the time was headed by none other than now-indicted Alderman Ed Burke whose wife Ann Burke who is the Chief Justice of the IL Supreme Court.
So knowing this in advance, who would you guess Judge Mitchell would side with in this clearly political dust-up?
Side Note:
Throughout this battle, FOP’s Catanzara has been trying to hold the city hostage, claiming that thousands of cops would quit or be fired if the mayor stuck by her vax mandate. But as of Tuesday afternoon, just 21 officers have defied the mandate and been put on no-pay status.
Similarly, New York City’s vaccine mandate for municipal workers has taken effect, and just 34 police officers have refused it – a far cry from the 10,000 threatened by the NYPD’s union.
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