Natalia Chi
CHICAGO – Mayor Lori Lightfoot he said he would return $43,000 in campaign contributions that may violate political fundraising rules.
The campaign money came from a series of companies owned in part by Carmen Rossi, a registered lobbyist with city hall contracts and large financial interests in bars and other city-regulated businesses.
After Sun-Times explained everything in a story by their investigators Tim Novak and Frank Main, Rossi publicly demanded that Lightfoot return the money.
On Friday, a spokeswoman wrote that Lightfoot had agreed to repay $43,000.
The Ray Lopez of 15th Ward he is an outspoken critic of the mayor by the city council.
“The fact that it took the news, the media and the pressure put on her to give the money back – that she didn’t have the moral strength not to accept it in the first place – is surprising that this is the same candidate who said four years ago would have brought light and changed the way we do business at City Hall,” Lopez said.
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A spokeswoman for the mayoral campaign wrote:
“To avoid even the appearance or implication of a problem, we are complying with requests for the return of contributions related to the activities in question. We believe that these contributions will be given to charity.”
Ray Lopez of the 15th Ward, who received $6,500 from Carmen Rossi, said he would ask the city’s ethics board if it was necessary to return any of it.
