Chicago mayor fires longtime city spokesman

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has fired a longtime city spokesman who worked for three mayors, a city spokeswoman confirmed Sunday.

Bill McCaffrey, who worked at City Hall for about 15 years, most recently served as chief spokesman for the city's Law Department. Lightfoot's office said in a statement emailed Sunday that McCaffrey was "fired for cause'' Friday and declined to give an explanation.

Lightfoot's office also pushed back against a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, which said the firing came after McCaffrey raised unspecified "ethical concerns.'' The report cited an unnamed sourced.

City officials called it a false claim.

'Å“The mayor takes all allegations around ethics very seriously, as this has been a cornerstone of her administration. Mr. McCaffrey was terminated for cause,'' the statement said. "We will not be going into further details, as this is a personnel matter.''

McCaffrey declined to comment to the Sun-Times.