Aurora Mayor John Laesch faced pushback, including from within city staff, for his decision to fly flags at full-staff over the weekend after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during an appearance in Utah last week.
President Donald Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff at all federal facilities through sunset Sunday in memory of Kirk, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and was the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also ordered that “all persons or entities covered by the Illinois Flag Display Act” fly the U.S. and state of Illinois flags at half-staff from sunrise Friday to sunset Sunday, but in remembrance of the victims of political violence.
And while flags at Aurora city buildings were lowered on Thursday in remembrance of the victims of the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, they were ordered to be raised by Laesch to full-staff starting on Friday.
In a statement from the city sent out on Saturday, Laesch said the president’s orders only applied to federal buildings and the governor’s orders only applied to state buildings. While he respects those directives, he said, the city was instead focusing on those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
“On Friday, our flags were raised again as we moved forward, carrying with us the spirit and memory of those who died,” Laesch said in the statement. “I recognize that some employees and community members may not agree with this decision, but lowering the flag is a solemn act that carries great weight.”
The choice to lower the flag “should not be made cavalierly,” as it “diminishes the importance of the remembrance of tragedies” like 9/11, the statement said.
When asked about how he made the decision to keep the flag up over the weekend, Laesch told The Beacon-News that he decided early on it was “a little excessive to elevate this political provocateur to a place of high level.” Then, sitting through the 9/11 ceremony held by the city on Thursday morning, he thought that it “diminishes the relevance of the act of lowering the flag,” he said.
Later, he did research and found that other significant events had happened where the flag had not been lowered, Laesch said. So, in the end, he decided it wasn’t appropriate to lower the flag to half-staff, he said.
Laesch sent an email informing police, fire and public works leadership about his decision on Thursday afternoon, he said, and at that time he said he didn’t face any pushback.
But on Friday, all 12 of the city’s fire stations had their flags at half-staff, Laesch said and a city spokesperson later confirmed.
So, Laesch said he drove around Friday evening and took photos and then sent them to Aurora Fire Chief David McCabe, who on Saturday morning went around and raised the flags to full-staff with the help of a deputy chief.
A video posted to Facebook by state Rep. Jed Davis, R-Yorkville, appears to show McCabe raising the flag at what is said in the video to be, and appears to be, Aurora Fire Station 8. The video shows him being asked if he was ordered to raise the flag by the mayor, and in response, saying he is following the directions of the city.
Laesch told The Beacon-News that he didn’t expect “city employees to exercise their private political opinion using government resources.”
When asked what his response will be to employees seemingly defying his directive, Laesch said he needs to “look into what happened there a little bit better.” If there are “personnel matters,” he probably won’t be talking to the press about them, he said.
In addition to internal pushback, the city also faced pushback from area residents.
A gathering was held at the Aurora Police Department on Saturday morning, during which an American flag was affixed at half-staff on the flagpole, according to Aurora Township Republicans Chairman Danny Souri. Videos from the Aurora Township Republicans Facebook page appear to show Souri at that gathering.
Laesch also confirmed that there was a gathering at the police station.
Later that night, Souri lowered the flag at City Hall, at the city’s development services building in downtown and at two fire stations, Souri said. He livestreamed himself lowering the flag at City Hall and posted a video of himself lowering the flag at the other downtown building to the Aurora Township Republicans Facebook page.
When asked why he decided to lower the flags himself, Souri told The Beacon-News that it needed to be done.
“When you stay silent in the face of evil, it will always win,” he said.
People were upset about the situation, Souri said, and so he decided that it was time for action, but peaceful action. Someone needs to stand up and inspire others, he said.
Souri called Laesch’s decision to not lower the flags “disgusting” because, even though Trump ordered the flags be lowered after Kirk’s death, Pritzker’s order was to denounce political violence more broadly.
It was supposed to be a call for unity, according to Souri. So, he said that going against it means Laesch both thinks the American flag is “nothing more than a political prop” and that he supports political violence.
In his statement over the weekend, Laesch said the city “stands firmly against all forms of violence and remains committed to promoting peace, safety, and dignity for every resident.”
When asked about Souri’s comments on Monday, Laesch told The Beacon-News that he has been a peace advocate and supporter of non-violence since his time in the military. For example, he was participating in peace demonstrations when the war in Iraq started, he said.
Davis, in a news release, said he was deeply concerned about Laesch’s decision to raise the flags despite the governor’s order. That order carried the “force of state law,” he said in the release, but the city violated it and “undercut the purpose of this solemn tribute.”
He thanked Aurora firefighters for bringing the situation to his attention.
Davis also made similar comments to Souri about the governor’s order being intended to honor all victims of political violence, and he said that disobeying the order was disrespectful to the law and to the people the order was meant to remember.
Laesch said he had his legal team look into the issue, and they found that the president has control over federal buildings, the governor over state buildings and the mayor over city buildings.
Former Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who Laesch defeated in the mayoral election in April, also weighed in on the situation in a post to his Facebook page. He said that Laesch “had the uncomplicated opportunity to denounce political violence throughout our country and in our beloved City of Aurora by simply and painlessly lowering our American flags to half-staff.”
Not only did Laesch not “observe the mourning of a nation, but he also showed monumental disrespect by ordering APD and AFD, and the entire City of Aurora, to raise all flags to full staff! That order showed a blatant disregard for our democracy,” Irvin said in the Facebook post.
Laesch told The Beacon-News that the city has received a lot of responses about his decision to not lower the flags over the weekend, both positive and negative. What has been posted publicly on social media has been a lot more negative, he said, but there has also been “privately delivered support.”
One public post in support of Laesch’s decision was made by Aurora Ald. Keith Larson, at-large, who is one of Laesch’s political allies.
In the post, he said that political violence is unacceptable, and its rise is deeply concerning, but the president did not order flags at half-staff when a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were killed earlier this year.
“To give special treatment to one victim of political violence but not to others is to endorse that victim’s political ideology,” Larson said in the post. “I again want to clarify that Charlie Kirk’s ideology DOES NOT justify his murder.”
No one should live in fear of exercising their free speech, his post said, but neither should people with certain viewpoints “that also happen to be hateful” be selectively honored while others are “forgotten.”
A post to the Aurora city government’s official Facebook page on Monday said the city has received notice from Pritzker that flags are again to fly at half-staff, this time to honor former Gov. Jim Edgar, who died Sunday.
The city is lowering its flags, the post said, until the day of Edgar’s interment.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
