Last updated Feb. 16 at 10:00 p.m.
Mayor Daniel Biss responded to a Jan. 28 letter from U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) on Monday, defending his decision not to deploy Evanston Police Department officers to make arrests and clear the pro-Palestinian encampment on Deering Meadow in April 2024.
Biss agreed to brief the House Education and Workforce Committee, which Walberg chairs, “as soon as practicable” to outline “local law enforcement coordination” between the city and Northwestern during the protest.
Biss, a Democratic frontrunner in the crowded race to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, called Walberg’s inquiry “a dishonest political attack” during a news conference last month. The mayor’s written response comes about a month before the March 17 primary election.
A spokesperson for Biss’ campaign told The Daily on Monday that it remains unclear when the briefing will happen or whether it will be held publicly. The spokesperson added “we are waiting to hear more details from the committee.”
In his response, Biss wrote he “remained in close contact” with EPD officials throughout the encampment, noting they did not consider the demonstration a threat to students or the broader Evanston community.
He reiterated that EPD leadership cautioned that “forcibly clearing the encampment could escalate tensions and increase the risk of unrest.”
“I did not, and would not, direct the Evanston Police Department to disperse a protest or arrest protesters against the advice of department leadership,” Biss wrote. “Doing so would unnecessarily endanger officers, improperly suppress constitutionally protected speech, and substitute political judgment for the expertise of public safety professionals.”
In the letter, the mayor appeared to reject NU trustee Michael Sacks’ claim that Biss was likely to publicize his decision not to intervene “to shore up his progressive credentials,” which Sacks told former University President Michael Schill in a private text message in April 2024.
That message, among several others between University officials, was publicly released in Walberg’s letter to Biss last month.
“The matter became public only after your committee released the transcript of its interview with former President Schill last year, and has gained further media interest since your letter last month,” Biss wrote to Walberg, referencing a wide-ranging interview released on the day of Schill’s September resignation.
In his interview with investigators, Schill explained NU was “counting on the city of Evanston to make their policemen and women available” to arrest demonstrators, adding the University “lost the ability to use force to remove the tents” after Biss declined to intervene.
During last month’s news conference, Biss questioned the timing of Walberg’s inquiry, accusing Republicans of trying to incite a “media circus.” He also denounced Walberg’s top campaign contributor, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has criticized Biss and fundraised on behalf of his primary opponent State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview).
Biss’ letter to Walberg was publicly released in a Monday news release from the mayor’s campaign. In the news release, Biss accused Fine of “relying on right-wing money to prop up her campaign,” citing a new pro-Fine super PAC reportedly tied to AIPAC, and of “relying on right-wing talking points for her attacks.”
In a separate April 2024 text message to Schill, also attached to Walberg’s letter, Sacks claimed to “know Biss well” and that “if the winds blow the wrong way he will throw you under the bus.” Fine’s spokesperson quoted those words in a statement to The Daily responding to questions about the new super PAC earlier this month.
Sacks donated $7,000 to Fine’s campaign in September, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.
“I stand by our decisions to protect free speech in Evanston, especially in light of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on peaceful protest nationwide,” Biss wrote in Monday’s news release. “Antisemitism is a real and rising threat in our country, not a political football to be used in cheap attacks by Laura Fine and her MAGA backers.”
Biss argued voters across the 9th District should know whether Fine would have “sent in the police to clear the peaceful protest” on NU’s campus two years ago.
A spokesperson for Fine’s campaign did not directly respond to the mayor’s question, instead writing “Daniel’s sad campaign for personal glory gets sadder every day” in a Monday afternoon statement to The Daily. The spokesperson then appeared to reference a policy paper Biss himself submitted to AIPAC last year.
“The guy can’t even defend his own paper thin record without finding some tortured way to attack Laura Fine, one of the most effective legislators in Illinois,” the spokesperson wrote. “And to be more specific, to attack Laura Fine for donors he actively courted himself but failed to secure.”
According to a January Substack post by Biss, the mayor had multiple meetings with local representatives of the pro-Israel lobbying group but “never sought — and would never accept — AIPAC’s support in this campaign.”
Biss claimed that after outlining his policy positions on Israel’s military actions in Gaza during those meetings, the group decided to support Fine.
“My race may have been easier if I took this route and toed their line. But I knew then, as I do now, that I was not interested in their endorsement, and that once they knew more about my views on the issue, they probably wouldn’t be interested in me, either,” Biss wrote in the Substack post. “That turned out to be true.”
Biss went on to call antisemitism “a dangerous and growing problem” in Monday’s letter. During last month’s news conference, the mayor accused Republicans of using the “very real danger of antisemitism to advance a political agenda,” invoking his experience as the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
Biss also criticized the Trump administration, citing comments reportedly made by Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino mocking the Jewish faith of a U.S. attorney in Minnesota.
“In addition to its voluminous inquiries into universities, businesses, local municipalities, and other entities, I encourage the committee to also examine the rise of antisemitic rhetoric originating from within the federal government,” Biss wrote.
Email: [email protected]
X: @jdowb2005
Related Stories:
— Biss calls encampment-related congressional inquiry ‘baseless’
— Biss calls for clarity on Northwestern deal in letter to Department of Education Secretary
— House committee interviewed Michael Schill a month before resigning
