Chicago Alderman To Chick-Fil-A: You Can't Open Store "Until Things Are Clear"

By Anthony Todd in Food on Sep 25, 2012 2:40PM

On Saturday, it became clear that something fishy was going on at Chick-Fil-A. Despite a letter they had supposedly written to Alderman Joe Moreno (1st) promising that their anti-gay days were over, the CEO, Dan Cathy was still at a fundraiser for a group that supports traditional marriage. Cathy also gave a statement to Mike Huckabee saying that nothing was going to change at the company. Moreno has struck back, and he's not happy.

It seems clear from the tone of his statement (a blog post on his website) that he was caught off guard by this change of course. He's demanding that Cathy set the record straight.

Dan Cathy decided to make a PUBLIC statement to Mike Huckabee that, at the least, muddied the progress we had made with Chick-fil-A and, at the worst, contradicted the documents and promises Chick-fil-A made to me and the community earlier this month. Since Mr.Cathy made a PUBLIC statement, I am PUBLICLY asking him to confirm and support what I was told and shown by his company representatives.

He also makes it clear in the post that he will not move forward with anything until he's absolutely sure what is going on — and that PR double-speak won't satisfy him.

Mr Cathy continues to not confirm to the press what his company executives have told and showed me. This is disturbing. Since Mr. Cathy wants to confuse people, he needs to publicly confirm the three components described above, which allowed us to move forward. I am simply asking Mr. Cathy to confirm statements and documents that HIS company exectuives (sic) provided to me. It is pretty simple, Mr. Cathy. Do you acknowledge and support the policies that your exectuives outlined to me in writing or do you not? Yes or no? If not, Chick Fil A is a business that practices irresponsible, and potentially illegal, business standards.

Here's the whole statement. Whatever you may think of Moreno's actions, he's sticking to his guns. Even if you believe politicians have no business meddling with Chick-Fil-A based on the company's politics, as consumers we need to be able to make informed buying decisions. Hopefully, Moreno's stonewalling will force Chick-Fil-A to either change or solidify and clarify their stance so that everyone can decide whether or not to buy their products. All of this confusion just muddies the waters.