A judge dismissed a libel lawsuit this week filed by a Southwest Side alderman against his last election opponent.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, sued 2023 City Council candidate Aida Flores over her claim that he regularly failed to recommend projects in the ward for the $1.5 million given to aldermen to spend on capital improvements. Judge Jerry A. Esrig ruled Thursday that Flores’ comments were not defamatory.
Esrig also denied a motion from Flores to label Sigcho-Lopez’s lawsuit as a strategic effort to silence criticism. Despite that decision, Flores accused the Pilsen alderman of trying to squash dissent in a statement shared with the Tribune.
“It is unacceptable for a lawmaker to misuse our legal system to attempt to silence criticism this way,” Flores said. “I will continue to fight alongside the community to expose his ineffective leadership and the many harms he has caused to the neighborhood and residents.”
Sigcho-Lopez told the Tribune he stood by his belief that Flores defamed him. He accused Flores of a “Trumpian” effort to spread lies.
“She tried to use false information to basically change the course of the election,” he said. “She still owes an apology to the public.”
Sigcho-Lopez filed the lawsuit in February, almost a full year after he defeated Flores 4,201 votes to 3,734 votes in their election showdown.
The second-term alderman pointed to Esrig’s decision to not designate his lawsuit as a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation” to argue that, while he lost the case, it was filed in good faith. He is considering filing an appeal, he added.
“I’m a big believer of First Amendment rights,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We have as elected officials a responsibility to make sure that we differentiate between First Amendment rights versus false, misleading information.”
According to the lawsuit, Flores claimed in social media posts a week before the February 2023 election that Sigcho-Lopez’s purported failure to recommend expenditures of the so-called “menu money” demonstrated “ineffective leadership.” The public school administrator cited public records she said backed up her claim that the sitting alderman had not submitted a single request to use his money.
“Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez has received a lot of attention for being vocal about important issues,” she wrote. “However, his ineffectiveness as an Alderperson has failed our community, placed residents at risk, and stalled our ability to move our progressive agenda forward.”
Sigcho-Lopez maintains he did in fact allocate his menu money — and said he has the evidence to prove it.
The alderman’s office on Friday shared emails sent by staff in 2022 and 2023 to Chicago Department of Transportation officials that included requests for hundreds of specific expenditures of menu money. Meanwhile, public records show nearly all of the ward’s menu money was spent in each year Sigcho-Lopez has held office.
The Pilsen alderman known for his fiery speeches and willingness to harshly criticize opponents has faced intense backlash this year.
He weathered an April vote to strip him of his Housing Committee chairmanship that ultimately failed to pass. His opponents at the time argued he was unfit to serve in the role after he spoke at a rally in front of an American flag that had earlier been burnt by a military veteran to protest America’s military support of Israel’s war efforts in Gaza.
This summer, Mayor Brandon Johnson tried to appoint Sigcho-Lopez to the powerful Zoning Committee chairmanship, but aldermen effectively blocked the move by refusing to support the appointment.
Sigcho-Lopez also filed an election fraud lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and Flores days after the February 2023 municipal election. In the preemptive challenge to election results that had not yet come out, he alleged Flores’ claim that she would soon receive enough mail-in ballots to win could only come true thanks to election impropriety.
He shared over 30 allegations — including that voters outside the ward had cast ballots and that “numerous” ballots were never counted — but withdrew the case after he was declared the election’s winner.
jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
