Mayor Brandon Johnson Declines to Block Jan. 6 Rioters From City Jobs After Trump Pardons


Video: The WTTW News Spotlight Politics team on Jan. 6 pardons and more of the day’s top stories. (Produced by Andrea Guthmann) 


Mayor Brandon Johnson declined on Tuesday to immediately block those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in city jobs after most were pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Johnson’s decision not to prevent those convicted of attacking the Capitol as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election comes days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is also a Democrat, directed state hiring officials to block the employment of anyone who took part in the attack that claimed the lives of five members of the U.S. Capitol Police and injured an additional 174 officers.

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Pritzker directed the Department of Central Management Services, the state’s primary hiring authority, to restrict hiring of those who took part in the attack on the Capitol by declaring they had taken part in “infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the state.” That order was first reported by NBC News.

After commending Pritzker for issuing that order and calling it the “right thing to do,” Johnson said only that he was prepared to have “conversations about how we make sure that the best and the brightest individuals show up and work for our government.”

“We have not made any, you know, decisions around any particular group that we would consider restricting,” Johnson said at his weekly news conference. “What I will say, is that our standard for public service has to remain high because the people in Chicago have to be able to trust the people who show up every day on their behalf have their best interests at heart.”

After Johnson’s remarks, Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward) told WTTW News that he was shocked the mayor did not immediately move to stop those who participated in the attack from joining the city’s workforce.

“It is a no-brainer,” Martin said. “Those who participated in an attempt to overthrow an election have no place in city government.”

Martin said that if the mayor refuses to act, he plans to introduce an ordinance to the Chicago City Council that would block those pardoned by Trump from being employed by the city.

Martin, a member of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus, is the chair of the Ethics and Government Oversight Committee.

Approximately 50 Illinois residents were pardoned by Trump after being convicted of offenses connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including former Chicago Police Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, who was convicted of four misdemeanors for entering the Capitol. He was sentenced to three months of home detention.

Chwiesiuk, who entered the office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), wore a CPD sweatshirt while inside the Capitol. In text messages about his trip to Washington, D.C., he used a racial slur for African Americans and bragged he had “knocked out a commie,” records show.

Chwiesiuk was fired from the Chicago Police Department in May for violating the department’s leave of absence policy. After he was charged, Chwiesiuk was prohibited from owning a gun, a condition of employment with CPD.

After Chwiesiuk was pardoned by the president, his lawyer told the Chicago Sun-Times Chwiesiuk hoped to get his job back with CPD.

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling declined to rule out Chwiesiuk’s return to the CPD in response to a question from WTTW News at a Jan. 28 news conference, saying he would not comment on specific individuals.

“When it comes to (CPD), we look for people of the greatest character,” Snelling said. “This is the greatest police department in the world, I believe, and we have great people here.”

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg has repeatedly criticized Johnson and Snelling for failing to keep their promises to root out extremism in police ranks.

Witzburg has repeatedly found probes conducted by the Bureau of Internal Affairs into officers with documented ties to the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys deficient. The city’s watchdog has also blasted Snelling for declining to terminate those officers for violating the department rule that prohibits officers from bringing discredit to the department.

Johnson has also rejected Witzburg’s recommendation to form a task force “to plan for and implement a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying and eliminating extremist and anti-government activities and associations within CPD.”

Johnson has referred to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys as “unconscionable hate groups” but said there are “very few courses of action that can be taken” if investigators do not gather evidence of wrongdoing by the officers.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]


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