Apparently there was a bullying email that Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent to her scheduler in January in which the woman demanded to have more “office time” and repeated the same sentence over and over. Needless to say, some were upset at this FOIA-request email, and it has now drawn comparisons to a creepy scene from the iconic horror film “The Shining”, as noted by the Chicago Tribune.
The Email
The paper was able to obtain the angry email as well as a separate missive that shows an attached photo of ripped-up documents three that Freedom of Information Act request.
The first email that Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot sent simply begins with a single sentence, “Since my prior requests for extra time in the office are routinely ignored, I am now resorting to this.” Then, Chicago mayor Lightfoot follows that with five paragraphs that consist of just a single sentence that has been repeated multiple times.
“I need office time everyday!” Lightfoot wrote 16 times a row in one paragraph, and then the Chicago mayor followed this by another where she repeatedly wrote, “Not just once a week or some days, but every day!” about ten times altogether. The mayor of Chicago wrote another missive that read, “Breaks or transition times between meetings are not office time!” and then she completed her hate email with “if this doesn’t change immediately, I will just start unilaterally canceling things every day.”
Lightfoot ended her online rant by asking the staffer, “Have I made myself clear, finally?” about 13 different times.
“All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy”
The Tribune was quick to note that some of the observers compared Lightfoot’s email to an iconic scene in the movie “The Shining” where Shelley DuVall’s characters discovered hundreds of sentences in a manuscript that simply read, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and it is typed out over and over again.
The Tribune went on to report that the scheduler that had incurred the Chicago Mayor’s wrath was luckily able to depart for another job earlier this year.
However, Mayor Lightfoot wasn’t done yet. In the second email, she posted a picture of a litany of ripped-up documents accompanied with the caption, “This is my new practice for memos that come in at the last minute. Like I said, I want decision memos no later than 48 hours before the decision needs to be reached! I have directed staff to reject all efforts to bring things to me directly in order to skirt these rules!” Lightfoot added, “I have asked this nicely, but now I am done.”
The Chicago Tribune also said that there had been a continued exodus of City Hall staffers, and this would include at least a dozen top employees who have said they are leaving since late last year.
The Chicago Tribune also noted that most current and former Lightfoot advisers complain that she can be very bullheaded, doesn’t take advice, is a difficult individual to approach, and can be profane and hard-charging.
Lightfoot’s Side of the Story
Lightfoot told the Chicago Tribune that the reason she wrote that odd email with the repeated sentences is because she was going through “a lot of frustration and it was after a lot of conversation.”
“We got beyond that at least five months ago and solved those challenges, and I think we are in a much better place now,” the mayor said.
What do you think about Mayor Lightfoot’s intense email?