Mayor Lori Lightfoot made political history on March 25, 2022, when she appointed Nicole Lee to serve on the City council. Lee is the first Asian American woman ever to serve Chicago. She will be replacing convicted former 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson.
As Lightfoot introduced the new alderman she stated, “I feel excited, but also nervous because this is such an important moment.” When the mayor called her to ask her to replace Thompson, Lee said it was all “exhilarating and scary.”
She went on to say that she was “a little bit crazy and I think you have to be, to put yourself in this position.” Especially since she is subjecting her “some public scrutiny in all of this.”
The new alderman believes that it will all be “worth it.”
She is the daughter of a longtime deputy chief of staff under former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago’s longest-serving mayor and Thompson’s uncle. Lee and her two sons are the “fourth generation of Lees” to live in the Chinatown building purchased by her grandparents.
During the press conference, reporters began to question the new alderman about her convicted father Gene Lee. Lightfoot stepped forward and said, “I hope in asking her that, in asking the question, you’re not asking her to say anything other than, ‘I love you, Dad. I love you, Mom.’ She loves her kids, her brother, and her family.” The mayor went on to say that the day was about Lee herself and her accomplishments, not her family’s past.
The City Council will be having a special meeting on Monday, March 28 about her being appointed alderman for the 11th district. Their website says the meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m.
Written by Sheena Robertson
Source:
Chicago Suntimes: Lightfoot’s pick to replace Patrick Daley Thompson would be 1st Asian American woman to serve on City Council
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