Brandon Johnson’s got 99 problems in his dysfunctional mayor’s office. Well maybe 100 now that CWB Chicago reports on Big Brain’s inability to follow Illinois Vehicle Code. Chicago’s ubiquitous speed and red light cameras have caught his SUV pretty much ignoring traffic laws on a regular basis. And what’s more, until very, very recently, they’ve all gone unpaid.
The only one that might be a gimme is when he was going to the hospital to visit a wounded police officer. He had emergency lights activated, but is going to the hospital REALLY an emergency? After all, when running code, that puts other motorists and pedestrians at risk of injury or death.
CHICAGO — Brandon Johnson has only been Chicago’s mayor for five months, but he is already outperforming his predecessors by one metric: His SUVs are racking up red light and speed camera violations faster than any of them.
Since taking the keys to City Hall, the black SUVs that Chicago cops drive him around town in have racked up an impressive 11 moving violations, according to records reviewed by CWBChicago. That’s about one ticket every two weeks. One of the SUVs picked up a parking ticket earlier this month, too.
Over the years, we’ve told you about motorcade tickets racked up by Rahm Emanuel, Lori Lightfoot, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. But none of them accrued violations as prodigiously as Johnson.
The mayor’s drivers went next level on September 1 by getting a red light ticket on one of his cars and, 65 minutes later, getting a speeding ticket on another.
As of Wednesday, Johnson’s SUVs owe the city $855. When we first contacted the city about this story, even more was owed, but someone started making payments.
By the way, do you think that license plate prefix on his SUV is a coincidence? And note that there are at least three of his protective detail watching an empty car. Probably more. But then again, Brandon has a 149-member protective detail, something nobody except maybe the president or veep have.
It is good to be king.
I seem to remember a congresswoman whose staff were speeding and they all got the big chop. These laws are in place because they are dangerous to the driver and others.