Chicago City Wire

The Tribune’s lead City Hall reporter Gregory Pratt, who was caught soliciting and receiving GoFundMe.com donations from sources he covers, announced on Twitter he has written a book about former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s tenure in office. 

“The City Is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis” is expected to be published next April by Chicago Review Press, which ironically has as special focus on “celebrating Black experience,” feminism and LGBTQ+ non-fiction books.

“I've written a book about Chicago City Hall and the past four years!,” Pratt wrote on Twitter. A promotional website says the book offers a “behind-the-scenes look at the tumultuous single term of Mayor Lightfoot and the chaos roiling the city and City Hall as Chicago fights to remain a global city.”

Neither the Tribune reporter nor his publisher, which strives “to contribute to a culture of inclusivity and representation and wholly condemn all forms of racism, prejudice, and injustice, has offered any details on how the book will offer readers insight into the inner workings of Lightfoot’s administration.

Indeed, Pratt has regularly complained about being denied one-on-one interviews with Lightfoot and being denied inside information from the former mayor’s administration.

Pratt has worn a lack of access to Lightfoot as both a badge of honor and a topic to regularly complain about on Twitter.

In 2020, Lightfoot sent her staff an email message reminding them to not give Pratt any scoops or “friendly background,” according to a Tweet pinned to the top of Pratt’s Twitter feed.

“If he makes an inquiry, answer it as briefly as possible, but under no circumstances is anyone to give him anything proactively,” according to the former mayor’s email posted on Twitter.

More recently, Pratt has complained on Twitter that Lightfoot denied his request for an “exit interview”  in advance of finishing his forthcoming book.

During Lightfoot’s term, Pratt regularly published stories based on Lightfoot’s text messages with elected officials that he received through Freedom of Information requests.

One set of emails Pratt highlighted was obtained without a public records request from Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who donated $200 to a GoFundMe benefitting Pratt’s family after the death of his estranged father, who was an ex-con.

After the donation, Foxx also granted Pratt an “in-depth exclusive interview” in April. SEE PREVIOUS STORY.

During an appearance on the Ben Joravsky Show, Pratt said he considers the Lightfoot’s text messages to Foxx as “funny.”

During the interview, Pratt also revealed his fondness for Foxx, who he referred to as “Kim” over Lightfoot.

In one story, Pratt described Foxx sympathetically, saying the Cook County prosecutor “has spent parts of the past few years as a punching bag for more conservative Chicago politicians, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot.”

Pratt’s stories on Lightfoot text messages and emails primarily focused on the former mayor’s brash language and use of “name-calling and shaming of her perceived enemies” used by the former mayor. Pratt rarely provided context to mayor’s private conversations, which she dismissed as “palace intrigue.”

“My goal was to write a substantive book about a pivotal time in Chicago’s history that is also an entertaining, eye-opening read. I feel good about what I’ve written,” Pratt tweeted.

Lightfoot did not return a message seeking comment.