Chicago City Wire

Car dealer Joe Perillo recently spoke with Chicago’s Morning Answer about Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

Perillo said he “must be crazy” for speaking so openly about his interactions with a sitting mayor.

“I love Chicago. I know I've been born and raised in Chicago. I just could live anywhere. And I'm past the retirement age, you know, And I could live anywhere. And I don't really have to work,” Perillo told hosts Amy Jacobson and Ramblin’ Ray Stevens who was filling in for Dan Proft. “I love the city. I live in the city. I was born and raised in the city. I raised my kids in the suburbs, couldn't wait till they got to college so we could move back to the city. 

Perillo said Chicago was one of the greatest cities in the country but things have changed. Its reputation has changed.

“Every place I go around the United States when I say Chicago, they tell me, you have to carry a gun. Is it safe? Do you have to carry a gun? I do," he said. "I'm fearful. I'm a licensed gun carrier, but I you know, I'm fearful for my life like everyone else. I walk to my car, I'm looking always I mean, I'm uncomfortable. A lot of people are uncomfortable. This isn't the city I know and I love. I just think, what it's about is change. The word is change. If you don't change anything, you can't expect any different results. Now, what motivated this call to you is this you got a week left. There's a lot of voters out there, [who] are a little confused with all these candidates and they don't. At this point, they don't know who to vote for. Well, I say the one that you don't vote for is Lori Lightfoot. She has brought this city down to its knees. We don't watch another four years this will be Detroit."  

Perillo emphasized all Chicagoans must come together and ensure that they will be able to reach their goal to make Chicago a better place again.

"She has been incompetent," Perillo said of Lightfoot. She has. And it's not getting better. It's getting worse now. The second thing we all have in common is we all are entitled to be safe. We should all feel safe. We've got to take this crime. There're plenty of things. There're things, but if you gave me ten, my priorities would be, and the first top ten, the first three would be safety, safety. safety. Now, how is that affecting everyone, besides safety? Besides safety Is the taxes. Businesses are not thriving. Businesses are surviving. We're in survival mode. Businesses are moving out of Chicago. And if Lightfoot gets in, there are a lot more businesses that are going to leave Chicago. What is that going to do to the people who can't leave Chicago who have jobs in Chicago? Conventions are down, tourism is down. And by the way, wherever I go, people say Chicagos are one of our favorite cities, but we're afraid to come there. They're waiting for a change so they could come here. This city has things that I travel all over the world. We have things in Chicago that no one could have. But it takes safety when you take tourism out of Chicago, right? When you take conventions out of Chicago.” 

Perillo told Chicago’s Morning Answer about the time Lightfoot came to visit him at his office and tickets came after the meeting between him and Lightfoot that was spurred by a daytime robbery at his Gold Coast Motors luxury car dealership in Chicago. 

“I said, what's your plan, your honor? You went to the University of Chicago, which is a brilliant school," he recalled his conversation with the mayor. "I said 'Albert Einstein helped design the atomic bomb there.' And I said, Albert Einstein said, it's insanity if you keep doing the same thing and you expect the different results, it's insanity. And I said, So what's your plan for the security? And I said, You know, I have these kids. There's got to be retribution. What's your plan? And I said, you just can't catch these kids and let them go. And she said, 'Well, they're not the problem.' She said they're only young kids, she says, and they're innocent until proven guilty in the United States. She said they deserve a day in court, she said. And we think that instead of incarcerating them and feeding them and housing them, she said, we'll just let them go and they could go to work the next morning until they could go to work until their court date comes up.” 

Perillo puzzled about Lightfoot's response, asked her further about how she would want to address the issue. “I was wondering, I said if they were working, why would they be out there stealing? And I said, So you're honor, You don't think if someone steals $950 worth of goods, they said that they're criminals. And anyway, it got into, she started yelling at me and I gave her about two or three passes. She didn't answer the question and I told her she has to leave and she got really insulted and got up. I told her, This meeting is over, your honor and I got a call from City Hall later and they said, for my friend who brought her to me, said. I'm probably the only person who threw a mayor out of their office.” Perillo said after he threw Lightfoot out of his office his business was given five tickets.

In that December 2021 incident, armed thieves conducted a smash-and-grab on his showroom floor in which they stole over a million dollars worth of luxury watches. Lightfoot has been criticized for allowing criminality and gangs to proliferate during her four years as mayor. Gold Coast Exotic Motors’ Perillo blamed Lightfoot and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for building a “network of thieves.” Perillo said he voted for Lightfoot but will not make that mistake again. He blames her actions as mayor and Foxx’s inaction for the criminal environment. “Their legacy is going to be they ruined a great city if we don't turn this around,” Perillo said, according to Chicago City Wire.

Candidates for mayor include Lightfoot, former CPS CEO Paul Vallas, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (R-IL), businessman Willie Wilson, 26th District State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago), Cook County commissioner for the 1st District Brandon Johnson, Obama-backed 4th Ward Alderman Sophia King, 6th Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer, and BLM-protestor Ja’Mal Green, Axios Chicago listed. The election will be on Feb. 28. A runoff will be held on April 4 if no candidate is able to gather more than 50 percent of the vote.

Perillo’s comments come as Lightfoot has been struggling in polls to maintain the city’s top job. The latest poll in the Chicago mayor’s race was conducted by M3 consultants. “New Chicago Mayoral Poll (with leaners) Paul Vallas: 33% Brandon Johnson: 20% Lori Lightfoot: 18% Chuy Garcia: 13% Should no candidate receive at least 50%, the top two finishers will compete in an April 4th runoff election. By M3 | 416 LV | E: ±4.8%,” Political Election Projections said on Twitter.