The mayor of America’s real-life Gotham City, Lori Lightfoot, hasn’t been leading by example.

It seems her motorcade has racked up several hundred dollars in speeding tickets and other traffic violations that will be paid off whenever the Chicago mayor deems it prudent.

The drivers of Lightfoot’s SUVs have been involved in at least eight incidents since February 2020, and since May 2021 have received three speeding tickets and two warnings, one for a red light violation.

None of the fines, now totaling $658, have been paid, CWB Chicago reported.

(Video: Daily Mail)

Ironically – and yet unsurprising in a Democrat-led hellscape like Chicago – the news of scofflaw Lightfoot came on the heels of a months-long battle with a city alderman who proposed a 10 mph buffer before the ubiquitous speed cameras in the city would click into action and register traffic violations. That is the way it had been for some time, but Lightfoot rejected the idea of keeping it that way, deciding instead to lower the buffer to six miles an hour.

She argued the change was necessary to keep Chicago’s streets safer, but critics see it only as a money grab.

“No one likes speed cameras. I get it,” she said last month.

“But this is life or death that we’re talking about here, and we’ve got to step up as a city and address this.”

As a mayoral candidate, however, Lightfoot sang a different tune.

“The red-light camera program was sold to Chicagoans as a public safety solution, but it’s really been about revenue — and those fines fall disproportionately on people of color,” Lightfoot said at the time.

Records show at least one of those SUVs is now eligible to be booted and impounded as a result of defaulting on payment, the outlet reported.

This is reflective of a consistent trend with the mayor. A 2020 article in the Chicago Tribune found that since her inauguration in May of 2019, Lightfoot’s protection detail had racked up 13 moving violations, 10 of which were dismissed.

A spokeswoman for the city defended the dismissal of the many tickets at the time.

“The Chicago Police Department’s mayoral security detail is responsible for protecting the Mayor and her family at all times of the day. When traveling, this security detail is a two-car team — a lead car and a tail car — that is trained to stay together at all times for the safety and protection of the mayor,” the statement said. “Any and all red-light violations or speeding tickets dismissed by the City were done so when the tail car following the lead car became separated or in conjunction with City’s policies and practices when it comes to law enforcement vehicles.”

Exhibiting a stupefying lack of self-awareness given the number of murders that take place on any given day in her city, Lightfoot seemed to assert that speeding was the capital and existential threat to life in Chicago, especially for kids.

“It is unconscionable that any City Council member would consider voting to allow for increased speeds near spaces utilized by our children,” Lightfoot said.

Last week, she added, “It makes no sense for us to increase the speed around the parks and schools when we know what the horrific consequences are for pedestrians and for other drivers.”

Lightfoot’s city government maintains there is a process that needs to be followed before the fines can be paid.

“Payment is not collected until that process is concluded,” City Hall said, adding that “Individual members of the Mayor’s Detail are responsible for payment of tickets incurred while they are driving.”

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Frank Webster

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Frank (Chip) Webster is a musician and composer, former teacher of percussion and U.S. Army Infantry veteran. He holds a degree in English from Arizona State University.

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