Making the front page of two successive issues of the Naperville Sun, is one thing, but who would have guessed that Naperville’s mayor, Steve Chirico, would qualify to be the topic of a full page article in the Chicago Sun-Times. What outstanding achievement or egregious act did Chirico perform for such notoriety; well, he attended his daughter’s wedding in Florida. To do so, he left Illinois, which is really the only way to get to Florida.
‘Oh, how could he do that’ his detractors shouted, ‘it’s horrible, it’s terrible’, it was worse than the Chicago Cubs trading Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals. Governor J.B. Pritzker criticized Chirico by saying, “that’s precisely what we ask people not to do”. We don’t know if Pritzer said this before he left for Lake Geneva for some fudge and ice cream, or if he said it after returning from vacation in Florida.
Former Republican congressional and gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives said, Chirico “is proving to be just like all the other hypocrite Democrats in Illinois”. Somebody needs to inform Ives that Chirico leans Republican and not Democrat. No wonder she keeps wasting money and losing elections.
Chirico and his family took COVID tests and tested negative prior to departing for Florida, followed COVID precautions as best as possible over the weekend, and after returning to Naperville he self-quarantined with follow-up COVID testing.
Chirico didn’t try to hide his trip, he didn’t don a disguise, and sneak into the wedding. It was not a secret that his daughter was getting married, it was out there. He did what just about every proud dad would do, he supported his daughter and family, and took precautions before, during, and after the event.
If the mayor made a misjudgment, it was in his timing of floating the idea of a mask-mandate in Naperville, during a council meeting, a few days prior to his trip. Sometimes it’s all about timing.
To the stone-throwers, it begs the question, what would you do if it was your daughter getting married.
Nobody, begrudges him going to his daughter’s wedding but rather he and the rest of these sanctimonious SOBs who preach to we peons as if we are 3 year olds and mandate away our freedoms under the guise of the common good. Hypocrits and pompous asses are what they are and will always be.
Yes
Hear, Hear! Spot on, he’s part of the do as I say, rules for thee, governing body.
I agree with Gerard on this point, I don’t think anyone is upset that he attended his daughters wedding as any good father would do everything in their power to make sure that they were there. The issue is with him leading the charge right before this wedding on a mask mandate and then being seen not wearing one in the exact situation the mandate rule would cover. It was just one more politician telling you what you couldn’t do, but they could. That’s the breaking point for everyone, the rules don’t apply to me. He did the right thing about changing his position on it, but some might question that if he didn’t get caught not wearing a mask at this wedding, would he have changed his mind on the mandate?
Watch dog I’m a huge fan, but this article proves you are smitten with Chirico. A politician should not talk out of both sides of their mouth. Chirico’s Madigan style politics to benefit his kids pot business combined with kneeling for something other than the fallen are more than enough to throw him out of office. Watch dog, you need to rediscover the principles which caused you to start this blog.
Mayor Chirico has been good for Naperville, and yes, I do tend to agree with many of his positions on issues, but not all. In this posting I mentioned, “the mayor made a misjudgement in his timing of floating the idea of a mask-mandate”, and in the previous posting I wrote, “Why in the world would he want to walk down a bomb-infested road knowing that a vast number of people don’t take too kindly to having the heavy-hand of politicians squeeze their freedom and rights”. WD’s principles remain the same.
Do not know were you are getting your information but Chirico did not take a knee. I attended this protest and Chirico along with all members of the NPD did not take a knee. Yes park district police did and some other members of city council did but not Chirico (despite the clearly insincere promises by protesters that they would go home if only he would do this.
Jim, I think you may be a little off on this one; you may have been taking a knee towards the back of the “mostly peaceful” crowd and unable to see upfront. However, it’s also possible that he was picking up some loose change on the ground.
Jim, you are 100% wrong on this one as he did in fact take a knee with the protesters. I watched it live online via NCTV. They were heckling him for awhile and he gave in finally. You can tell that he didn’t want to do it, but the pressure was mounting up with the protestors. It was him, Councilman White and the Park District Police officer who took a knee. It couldn’t have been more clear via the online feed. If you search online, you will see many articles and pictures of it to.
I know about the testing and self isolation that members of Chirico’s family took because I read. Specifically the statements he has made to the press as well as posted on-line.
As to whether or not my use of the term “extraordinary” is appropriate to describe these remediation measure I will simply quote the definition of the word according to Webster’s – “beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established”.
As soon as your show me that is it usual, regular or established that most people test before leaving on a trip, test again on arriving at their destation and again upon their return as well as self isolate upon their return, I will concede that I misused this term. Until then I stand by my usage of this term.
Jim, this is why you won’t get elected to City Council, you have no humility, you act like you are the expert on everything and you always think you are right. Sound familiar? Voters tend to not vote for people like that.
Completely unrelated to the topic, but why is the background black now? I don’t like it. Just my opinion, and yes I know all about opinions and a$$hol@s. Is there some setting I can change?
After 10 years, the website ‘broke’ so we were required to make some changes. While making those changes we decided to make some other adjustments including the background color. I wasn’t sure about the color myself, however I thought I might get used to it. After reading your comment, we decided to return to the more readable format, which shows that one person can make a difference, especially if the webmaster guy can easily do it.
Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you changed it. Thank you
The issue here is remediation. Yes the timing was poor, but Chirico and the other attendees of this wedding took extraordinary steps to remediate the possibility of spreading this virus.
No those measures did not include wearing masks while posing for pictures, but they did include multiple tests for being infected with the SAR-CoV-2 virus. And yes if everyone walking in public without a mask only did so after a negative virus test then I would have no problem with it. In fact if everyone dinning at local restaurants had a negative test before dinning I see no reason a restaurant should not be able to operate at 100% of capacity.
I also agree with those that have stated they don’t see what good it does to wear a mask when they are out along (or with the person(s)they are isolating with)in public in an area were there are few if any people and they are maintaining a social distance.
When I am out on my daily walks in areas with few if any people and I can maintain a social distance I do not wear a mask. I am not trying to convince anyone that if they are comfortable always wearing a mask outside their home that they should stop, only that the science not be blindly followed, that a little common sense be used.
I also feel it is a bad idea to put salient emphasis on face masks. Remediation is also about social distance, hygiene and isolation (only essential public interactions). Masks are not silver bullets and treating them as such is misleading and dangerous.
That said I did not support this mandate simply because it was unenforceable and as I have repeatedly stated I do not support any government organization passing legislation it can not enforce. Such legislation is a waste of time and other resources and only serve to promulgate a private agenda.
“Yes the timing was poor, but Chirico and the other attendees of this wedding took extraordinary steps to remediate the possibility of spreading this virus” said Chirico Spokesperson JIM HASELHORST.
Did we miss something, are you the new spokesperson for Mayor Chirico? How would you know if they “took extraordinary steps” to remediate spreading the virus? Are you in the inner circle of his family? Were you at the wedding? Are they consulting with you on these matters? Be careful what you say Jim, words matter and by you saying “extraordinary”, it gives the impression that you have inside knowledge as nothing that was discussed in the press would be considered “extraordinary”. Wearing a mask is a step below “extraordinary” in my opinion and they didn’t even do that. Now that you are a politician (again), you might want to seek permission to speak on behalf of someone else in a public setting.