Lori Lightfoot portrayed herself in her 2019 run for mayor of Chicago as a progressive who would fight for all Chicagoans. Lightfoot’s COVID-19 recovery task force, which she rolled out on April 23 to plan the city’s economic recovery, was a chance to stay true to the progressive values she ran and was elected on by ensuring an equitable recovery for all Chicagoans, especially its black and brown working-class communities that have been most impacted by the pandemic. Instead she has chosen to appoint corporate and finance insiders who have made a career out of fighting for the 1 percent at the expense of workers.

Co-chaired by a staunch Republican with plenty of banks, investors, and big business representatives, Mayor Lightfoot’s task force for COVID-19 economic recovery is an insult to the workers who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic and its economic impact. This crisis demands equitable economic recovery and majority representation for unions and community groups, not corporate and banking insiders.

“In crises, it is essential for different levels of government, different industries, and different communities to work together as we embark on the most ambitious recovery project Chicago has ever seen, one rooted in equity and inclusion,” said task force co-chair Samuel K. Skinner, who held various positions in President George H.W. Bush’s White House, including chief of staff. These kinds of platitudes ring hollow from a man, who, in the past few years, has donated to several Republican senate campaigns, the Republican National Congressional Committee and former Illinois governor Bruce Rauner.