One of Chicago Mayor Johnson's top aides calls police 'f---ing pigs' in 2021 podcast

CHICAGO - A top aide to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson once referred to police as "f---ing pigs" and advocated for abolition of police departments in podcast comments that were unearthed by FOX 32 Chicago.

Kennedy Bartley made the comments during a 2021 podcast interview.

She is currently Johnson’s Managing Deputy for External Relations, a position that was created for her back in May.

This week, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Bartley’s responsibilities have expanded to oversee Johnson’s intergovernmental affairs team, responsible for whipping votes on Chicago’s City Council and in Springfield on the mayor’s legislative priorities.  

That office is now in turmoil, as four staffers have departed – including the resignation of IGA Chief Sydney Holman, reportedly in protest of the reorganization.

On Friday, Bartley took responsibility for the comments and expressed remorse that she had made them.

"I want to make it absolutely clear I don’t stand by them," Bartley said in an interview with WTTW News. "I am embarrassed by them."

Bartley made the comments on a podcast called "This is Your Afterlife with Dave Maher," when she was the Legislative Director of United Working Families, a grassroots progressive advocacy group closely aligned with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

The comments came as part of a conversation about the killing of Elijah McClain, a suburban Denver man, at the hands of police and paramedics.

"If I die at the hands of the f---ing pigs, don’t name s--t after me. I don’t want legislation named after me," Bartley said in the conversation. "I would be honored if it got more folks to abolition."

Bartley goes on to defend rioting and the burning down of police departments in response to police-involved killings like McClain’s, and expresses disappointment that there aren’t more people in communities of color that advocate for abolition.

"The police lynch Black folks every day, shoot Black folks and brown folks every day in the street, and there’s still Black folks and brown folks who are not abolitionists, who are pro-police," Bartley said in the podcast. "It shows us what work we have to do. We have to show folks that abolition, because not another – like, your baby, –  this is about safety, making it so that folks are taking care of each other so you're not grieving alone."

THE PODCAST EPISODE CAN BE FOUND HERE

In a separate podcast from Feb. 24 of this year called "Through the Portal", three months before landing a job with the Johnson administration, Bartley talked about lobbying city council members to cut the police budget.

"We need to be talking about ‘Defund," Bartley says in the podcast.

Bartley served as United Working Families’ Executive Director, where she advocated for defunding the police department, before leaving to work for Johnson.

The mayor’s reported reorganization comes at a critical time, as he tries to win support on City Council for the coming year’s budget that features a $1 billion budget gap. Fox 32 Chicago reached out to the Mayor’s office for comment late this evening. A spokesperson did not directly address the comments, but offered this statement:

"Kennedy Bartley serves the Mayor and will be supporting the Mayor’s vision for comprehensive public safety. Under Mayor Johnson the CPD budget has grown, and just last October the Mayor negotiated a two-year extension of the CPD's collective bargaining that doubled scheduled Chicago police raises for this year and next."

CTU President and close mayoral ally Stacy Davis-Gates praised Bartley in a 2023 WBEZ profile, ultimately becoming Bartley’s mentor and influential in landing her a role with United Working Families.

"It was her energy," that Davis-Gates remembers. "I mean she is one of the smartest people walking the Earth right now. She has a beautiful mind. That’s number one. I think number two was that she’s so fun to be around. She is funny. She has a great smile. She’s very perceptive. She’s intuitive."

FOX 32 Chicago shared the audio with 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins, chair of City Council’s Public Safety Committee, who called on Johnson to fire Bartley, noting that Johnson had separated himself from the "Defund the Police" movement during his campaign.

"I would call on him to honor that and terminate Ms. Bartley immediately," Hopkins said.

Hopkins said the comments revealed Bartley’s philosophy in a "rare moment of candor," and said she should not be working in city government.

"I will do everything in my power to stop this agenda from being advanced during the next three years," Hopkins said. "The idea that law-abiding people are best served if we eliminate the police and empower criminals is the definition of social suicide, it is the destruction of our way of life, it is a threat to every citizen who tries to live their life without fear of being attacked, robbed, raped or otherwise harmed. And the people who believe in abolition of the police are delusional and dangerous."