Three members of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s City Council leadership team and the police union president are demanding that Johnson fire a top mayoral aide for calling police as “f—ing pigs” and talking openly about defunding and even “abolition” of police.
Kennedy Bartley is the former executive director of United Working Families, which worked to elect Johnson and a more progressive City Council and defeat more conservative members who might oppose the mayor’s agenda.
Bartley joined the Johnson administration last spring as managing deputy of external relations, a job created for her. Johnson then decided to place Bartley in charge of the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs which earlier this week triggered the abrupt resignation of Sydney Holman, the mayor’s chief liaison to and lobbyist of the City Council.
The incendiary remarks now triggering the calls for Bartley’s ouster were made on a pair of podcasts first reported by Fox32 Chicago.
In a 2021 interview on comedian Dave Maher’s “This is Your Afterlife,” Bartley discussed the 2019 death of Elijah Jovan McClain, a 23-year-old Black man. McClain was walking home when he was stopped by police in Aurora, Colorado, and sedated by paramedics before going into cardiac arrest .
“If I die — especially at the hands of the f—ing pigs — don’t name s–t after me. I don’t want a piece of legislation named after me [or] a road. I would be honored if that like got more folks to abolition” of police departments, Bartley said.
“It’s frustrating to me that like, s–t man, the police lynch Black folks every day. [They] shoot Black folks and Brown folks down every day in the street and there’s still Black folks and Brown folks who are like, not abolitionists, who are pro-police. … That just like shows what work we have to do.”
In February, less than three months before joining the Johnson administration, Bartley was on another podcast, “Through the Portal,” and talked openly about defunding the police.
“If we’re talking about the budget — the time when every city department gets funded or de-funded, this is the time when we make demands where we say like, ‘Tax the rich, invest in communities and defund the police.’ That has been the constant in the last three years of us engaging in the budget in this way,” Bartley said on “Through the Portal.”
“ It’s hard to talk about investments without talking about where we get the money from and it’s always CPD.”
Bartley could not be reached for comment. The mayor’s office had no immediate response to the demands for Bartley’s ouster.
Later Wednesday, however, Bartley started calling alderpersons in an attempt to mend fences and save her job.
“She was very apologetic, and said she’d like to work with me,” said Ald. Peter Chico (10th), who also was among those calling for her resignation. He remained unmoved.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), the former Chicago police sergeant who chairs the Council’s Police Committee, also got a call from Bartley. He was so outraged by Bartley’s “disparaging” comments about the police, he demanded that Johnson take immediate action.
“Whether that means firing or whether that means disciplining her in some way, I certainly believe there needs to be a tough stance taken against those types of comments,” Taliaferro said.
“It’s gonna be very difficult if she is the person put at the forefront to help round up votes, especially when there is such a strong bias against one of our city departments. They’re more than just police officers. They’re family members. They’re fathers. They’re mothers. To call them `pigs’ or to defund the very entity that protects us” is outrageous, he said.
Public Safety Committee Chair Brian Hopkins (2nd) argued it is “incumbent on all city employees to support our first responders” and Bartley’s comments are “incompatible” with that imperative.
“She’s unfit to serve in Chicago city government. She should return to her former role as an activist marching against the police in the streets. … She should not be paid by the taxpayers of Chicago to work against their interests. Making the streets of Chicago unsafe by eliminating the police is not in the interest of the taxpayers of Chicago,” Hopkins said.
Aviation Committee Chair Matt O’Shea (19th), who represents a Far Southwest Side ward that is home to scores of Chicago police officers, was infuriated by Bartley’s comments.
“I have to collect my thoughts I’m so angry. … Coming out on the anniversary of 9/11. And to think how many first-responders lost their lives. To think of what our Chicago police officers went through during the civil unrest. For her to say such terrible things. And she’s supposed to be a leader? Absolutely despicable,” O’Shea said.
“This is not someone I’m interested in working with to solve the many, many problems we have in city government. … No one knew about these vile comments? This wasn’t 20 years ago. This was recent. I would hope this mayor is gonna address this very quickly.”
Johnson had a long history of supporting that concept, but distanced himself during the mayoral runoff against Paul Vallas.
“As the saying goes, a leopard can only hide its spots for so long. Brandon didn’t pick her by accident. She gets to espouse the beliefs that he really has down deep and can’t publicly say or enforce,” said Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara.
“Of course she should be fired. But is she going to be? No. Because he doesn’t care. That’s exactly what he believes. That’s exactly who he is to the core.”
The timing of Holman’s resignation and the Bartley controversy could not be worse for the mayor.
It comes as Johnson struggles to erase a $223 million shortfall this year, close a $982.4 million budget gap for 2025 and round up the 26 votes needed to confirm progressive firebrand Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) as chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee.
Already, an emboldened City Council has moved to tie the mayor’s hands when it comes to canceling the gunshot detection technology contract known as “ShotSpotter.” And Johnson has been forced to cast two tie-breaking votes. One, to spare his now-former Council floor leader from censure. The other, to pass a non-binding resolution demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War in Gaza.