Never mind former Aurora Mayor Paul Egan’s unconventional antics from 1954-1962 that led to a national profile of him in Time magazine, Aurora’s current mayor might be on a path to become the city’s most controversial leader.
Consider that in his first five months in office, Laesch discussed slashing the Paramount budget that led to the cancellation of its popular and critically-acclaimed BOLD Series; scaled back flag raisings, which led to a controversy concerning a Juneteenth ceremony; ordered the fire chief to raise municipal flags again last month in defiant opposition to President Trump’s directives to honor right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on the weekend following his death; interjected himself into school politics when a District 131 board member took heat over comments made during an interview process; and is discussing slashing city staff to dramatically reduce a budget deficit some critics say has been greatly exaggerated.
While none of the above rises to the absurdity of Egan appointing a parrot as chief of the Aurora Police Department – bird-brained but true story – Laesch’s most recent controversy does involve local law enforcement. And it has created such a backlash that one alderman has questioned whether the mayor should step down.
In the wake of increased federal immigration enforcement activity in Aurora that led to panic and protests on Oct. 9, Laesch sent an email to Aurora Police Department leaders last week that accused law enforcement of traditionally “being on the wrong side of history” and included a link to a story published by the official newspaper of a Marxist-Leninist-oriented organization.
Laesch told me that the email, which was obtained by The Beacon-News, was intended
to challenge the department to find ways to deescalate tense situations and keep the community safer.
For some, it came across as a vague and some would say a politically dangerous directive to police.
Referring to a 2020 article in Workers World, the official newspaper of the Marxist-Leninist-oriented Workers World Party, Laesch said in the email how “police have been on the wrong side of history,” and that pivotal moments have come when “police realized that their solidarity should be with labor, not capital.”
In this ”current struggle,” the mayor wrote in the email, “we are 2-3 years away from a moment where we see the shift in solidarity” and would “like to see Aurora lead and show something different.”
Acknowledging in the email “it will create discomfort during the transformation,” he said that during an Oct. 9 march toward a local business, “the police escort disappeared” and “activists I didn’t know used their vehicles to block the intersection and protect the marchers.”
“All living things have the capacity to evolve and grow,” Laesch wrote in the email. “Government is about to go through a huge evolutionary period and shed that which is not necessary, and refocus on what is important.”
The mayor continued in the email, “As government continues to disintegrate from the top down” (he says he was referring to such things as the current federal shutdown, immigration raids and the feds’ “financial war on Illinois”), “we have an opportunity to reinvent the ways we find food, water, shelter and protection.” And he’d like the APD “to play a historic role in defending the United States of America, and our city against fascism.”
“We have a unique opportunity to do something different, leave our mark in the history books and make a difference,” he wrote in the email, then signed off by noting he “was excited about the opportunity.”
While the Aurora Police Department is not publicly responding to this email – except to note the mayor and Police Chief Matt Thomas have spoken about it – I’m guessing there are cops who don’t share Laesch’s excitement.
I wasn’t even sure of what to make of some of the words the mayor used, other than they remind me of the socialist rhetoric of the Cold War era around class conflict and tension between labor and capital. Using a link to a newspaper that is often associated with communism certainly did not help its overall tone.
The mayor told me the email, sent after a “very frustrating meeting” between a few police officers and the Latino community earlier in the week, was asking the Aurora Police Department to challenge its “thought process in such a way it would lead to more open communication with the community.”
That includes “rethinking” how the department will deal with the federal government’s “blatant overreach of power,” he said, adding that taxpayers “are being racially profiled and are vulnerable” during the federal immigration crackdown, which “is a scary place” to be.
“When people become frustrated, things can go wrong,” Laesch insisted. “If gangs see the police are not protecting the community, they will step up to do so.”
That’s especially critical, the mayor added, when he believes the federal government is ignoring its own laws, with no repercussions, by “taking people without warrants, including those who are U.S. citizens.”
The mayor, however, maintains his actions are all about upholding his oath of office, and he’s doing what other city mayors are doing as they too deal with the impact of the federal immigration crackdown on their residents.
His mind is still wrestling with how to handle this problem, Laesch admitted.
“We are seeing the erosion of our Constitutional rights and it is escalating,” he said. The Latino community feels “like this is a direct threat to them and no one is doing anything about it.”
While Laesch vehemently disagreed with my comparison to former Mayor Paul Egan, the current mayor admits he “learned a lesson” from this most recent brouhaha: “to be more clear in my communication,” especially if it can get out to the public.
As with all things controversial these days, there has, indeed, been plenty of backlash – online and off – including from those who say Laesch was not elected to promote his political ideology but to be chief executive of a large municipality.
“He has to remember he is no longer a candidate but the mayor of a city that wants you to govern,” said Ald. Dan Barreiro, 1st Ward, adding that it is not the job of the Aurora Police Department to “defend the United States,” but to “serve and protect Aurorans.”
Others note how bad the timing was for this email, considering the low morale as staff cuts are going on in many city departments, including the APD.
“This is unacceptable for the mayor of Aurora to put police officers in this situation” where they are asked to “follow a communist ideology and moral compass versus the law,” said Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward.
“Governing is not easy. However, adhering to the rule of law is,” he wrote in a Friday email to The Beacon-News. “The only ideology the police should follow is keeping us safe. If the mayor of our city does not understand this basic premise then he should step down and allow us to find someone that does.”
Barreiro also questioned the reasoning behind a request that the Aurora Police Department, which he describes as “among the best around,” rethink how it operates.
“Aurora has come a long way” from its violent past, he said, noting how the biggest concerns he hears at neighborhood group meetings these days are not about shootings or murders but repainting street stripes or setting up a radar sign to slow down drivers.
“This is what people care about,” he said. “We need to focus on local issues and not get into national issues.”
Still, while crime certainly has gone down and many more Aurorans “feel safe” in their neighborhoods compared to previous years, Ald. Mike Saville, 6th Ward, told me that once he became aware of the email’s context, he better understands the intent behind it.
“There are people in our city fearful of government” and who want “all levels of government to follow the law,” Saville said.
One thing is for sure, the email is out there now. And as Barreiro points out, “everyone is going to put their spin on it.”
It has “become a thing … a distraction,” he said, “which we don’t need.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com