A group of City Council members want to bar rioters who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol from future city employment after President Donald Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 people arrested in connection with the insurrection.
Ald. Matt Martin, (47th), who is sponsoring the measure along with Alds. Gilbert Villegas (36th), Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Bill Conway (34th), said participating in a violent insurrection to undo an election — and in the process, assaulting law enforcement — should be disqualifying factors for city employment, and “it’s important that we make that crystal-clear.”
“Someone who wants to overthrow a government should not be eligible to serve government,” a draft of the resolution reads.
Villegas — who, along with Taliaferro and Conway, is a veteran — said the oath they take to defend the U.S. “doesn’t have an expiration date.”
“We don’t have our weapons … [but] we do have the power of the pen as legislators,” Villegas said. “I thought it’d be very hypocritical for folks that were being convicted to then want to work for government — the same process that they tried to eliminate.”
At least 53 people in Illinois faced federal charges for their role in the Jan. 6 riots. That group includes one Chicago police officer who was fired from his post after conviction. At the time of Trump’s pardon, 43 of the 53 Illinoisans had already been convicted, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Trump also directed the U.S. attorney general to dismiss pending indictments.
Last week, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker directed the state agency in charge of hiring to consider “any participation” in the Jan. 6 insurrection as “infamous and disgraceful conduct,” violating Illinois’ personnel code.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson praised the move at an unrelated news conference earlier this week but declined to say whether the city would follow suit.
“I commend the governor for his actions. It’s the right action to do,” Johnson said. “We have not made any decisions around any particular group that we would consider restricting. But what I will say [is] that our standard for public service has to remain high.”
Johnson has taken heat for not moving more aggressively to root out officers from the Chicago Police Department who have extremist ties, including to groups who played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as revealed by a WBEZ and Sun-Times investigation.
Johnson has said he has no tolerance for officers with ties to extremist groups.
Yet the Office of Inspector General has repeatedly found the Chicago Police Department’s internal investigations into officers who are members of groups like the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters have been “materially deficient.” Johnson’s office declined to implement the OIG’s recommendations to convene a task force to address the issue.
“He hasn’t done that yet, but he should do that,” Villegas said of forming the working group. “We want to make sure that when someone’s being served in the city of Chicago, they’re being served for the right reasons.”
The resolution cites city rules that allow for discipline for violating city, state and federal laws, and it directs the Human Relations Department commissioner to reject or disqualify any applicant who participated in the riot.
The resolution would apply to those working for city departments and not sister agencies like Chicago Public Schools, but Martin said he hopes sister agencies would adopt similar policies. People who actively participated in the Jan. 6 siege but weren’t charged and convicted also shouldn’t be in government, he said.
“When we’re looking to combat extremism, [we] shouldn’t look only at the people who were convicted in participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Martin said. “That work will be ongoing.”
Alderpersons plan to introduce the measure at February’s City Council meeting.
Tessa Weinberg and Mariah Woelfel cover Chicago government and politics for WBEZ.