December 1, 2015

"Mayor Rahm Emanuel ousted Chicago’s police superintendent on Tuesday..."

"... after the city’s police department came under fire over an officer shooting a teenager 16 times, and for resisting, for more than a year, to release of a video of the fatal shooting."
“He has become an issue, rather than dealing with the issue, and a distraction,” Mr. Emanuel said of the police chief, Garry F. McCarthy.

The mayor hired Mr. McCarthy, 56, in 2011 to take over law enforcement in a city plagued by persistent violent crime, and homicides declined during his tenure. But Chicago still has a serious problem with gang violence....
A high-rated comment at the link (to the NYT):
It will certainly be interesting to learn at what point Rahm Emanuel knew of Garry McCarthy's suppression of the video. This certainly smells like Emanuel would throw his grandmother under a bus if he thought it might salvage his political aspirations.

47 comments:

PB said...

What did Rahm know and when did he know it?

Fernandinande said...

The mayor hired Mr. McCarthy, 56, in 2011 to take over law enforcement in a city plagued by persistent violent crime, and homicides declined during his tenure.

Not really.
2005: 451
2006: 471
2007: 448
2008: 513
2009: 459
2010: 436
2011: 435
2012: 516
2013: 441
2014: 432

Wince said...

Why do I suspect Mr. McCarthy will find a soft landing in "investment banking" or its Chicago hack-a-rama equivalent.

mccullough said...

Rahm follows a cowardly action with another cowardly action.

Rae said...

Chicago wont change until Chicagoan's change.

Most Conservative's look at the protests this week, and think they're misdirected - that they should be protesting gang violence, for example. But it's all part of a seamless whole - one party rule for decades, entrenched special interest groups, gang violence, corrupt politicians, an ineffective police force.

Chicago has to either start voting against machine politics, or *really* shut the city down. Probably both.

n.n said...

Emanuel is like Obama.

Brando said...

What political aspirations does Rahm have left? After this sort of tenure it's not like anyone trusts him anymore (though why anyone trusted him in the first place is a mystery).

In this case, tossing his man under the bus wasn't even the shrewd move--it's not like anyone will see that and say "ah, at least the mayor's doing the right thing here" because he delayed doing so for so long. He'd have been better off digging his heels, standing by his guy and saying they handled things right and the wheels of justice (re: the cop in question) are in motion. Stick with your police unions, because without them you have nothing left.

Not just cowardly, but stupid.

Sebastian said...

I'm so disappointed by Rahm's lack of integrity.

Roughcoat said...


It's so fortunate that Chicago has the nation's highest municipal sales tax (10.25 percent), which will certainly give Mayor Emmanuel the financial wherewithal to attract the most qualified applicants to fill the vacant position.

Ipso Fatso said...

I wonder what kind of golden parachute our man McCarthy has? One of my favorite decisions he made was to suspend a cop for 30 days for the temerity of going back to the home of a woman he had come in contact with that day as an officer, bringing her some wine and then having her kill herself with his service revolver while he was in the john. I Love Chicago!!!!

Hagar said...

Has not the mayor also become an "issue"?
So, Rahm, by our logic ....

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Emanuel, why hast thous foretokened me?

Birches said...

Chickens coming home to roost and all that...

jimbino said...

I'd like to hear from people like me, who had the fortune to grow up on Chicago's South Side about the misfortune of having to deal with Chicago's corrupt and bigoted cops.

Curious George said...

Why Rahm?

Bay Area Guy said...

Can Rahm fire himself?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Damn autocorrect!

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

How did autocorrect pick "foretokened"? Yours is way more literate than mine.

David Begley said...

Somebody had to take the hit and it wasn't going to be Rahm.

When will Barack go to Chicago and stop the killing?

He is, after all, the one we have been waiting for.

Larry J said...

This New York Times editorial:

THERE’S been a cover-up in Chicago. The city’s leaders have now brought charges against a police officer, Jason Van Dyke, for the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. But for more than a year, Chicago officials delayed the criminal process, and might well have postponed prosecution indefinitely, had it not been for a state court forcing their hand.
...
But the timing, in late 2014, was not good.

Then up for re-election, the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, was looking ahead to a contested election on Feb. 24, 2015, which would ultimately result in a runoff election on April 7. In Ferguson, Mo., a grand jury was hearing testimony on the police shooting of Michael Brown. The video of Eric Garner being choked to death during an arrest in New York had gone viral. The Black Lives Matter movement was gaining momentum across the country.

The video of a police shooting like this in Chicago could have buried Mr. Emanuel’s chances for re-election. And it would likely have ended the career of the police superintendent, Garry F. McCarthy.

And so the wheels of justice virtually ground to a halt. Mayor Emanuel refused to make the dash-cam video public, going to court to prevent its release. The city argued that releasing the video would taint the investigation of the case, but even the attorney general of Illinois urged the city to make it available.

Then the city waited until April 15 — one week after Mr. Emanuel was re-elected — to get final approval of a pre-emptive $5 million settlement with Mr. McDonald’s family, a settlement that had been substantially agreed upon weeks earlier. Still, the city’s lawyers made sure to include a clause that kept the dash-cam video confidential.


Sounds like Benghazi to me. But that's different, somehow.

RonF said...

"This certainly smells like Emanuel would throw his grandmother under a bus if he thought it might salvage his political aspirations."

Hell, he'd drive the bus himself.

James Pawlak said...

Could it be that the year-of-delay allowed the "doctoring" of the video to not show the killed thug was: Within the 21-feet scientifically established (Pls. see "Tueller Test") as the zone of danger allowing the use of deadly force by a knife-armed criminal; And, that creature's turning towards the defensive shooter as demonstrated by the Medical Examiner's chart of the first shots fired?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Cracker, autocorrect moves in mysterious ways.

Rusty said...

Don't worry. he took onr for the team. his future is assured at some other liberal political bastion. in six months he'll have a job in Boston, or L.A. or San Fran.

Sammy Finkelman said...

According to Errol Louis' column in today's New York Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/errol-louis-chicago-cold-winds-blow-article-1.2450561

The video directly contradicts earlier police accounts of a single shot killing McDonald, and has stirred outrage about why it took a year (and the court-ordered release of the damning film) to bring charges in the case.

Also:



Handout

McDonald


Civil-rights leaders are rightly demanding a federal investigation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, pointing out that the offer of what looks like hush money appears to have been negotiated during the closing weeks of his re-election campaign. And prosecutor Anita Alvarez, who sat on the video for more than a year before charging anyone in the McDonald case, now faces a challenge in an upcoming election.

All this points to a self-correcting system, in which courts, elections, protests and media probing can, over time, help the public steer government to a better place.

The much harder part comes when we think about the cold-blooded murder of Tyshawn Lee. It’s one thing to protest peacefully on the Magnificent Mile, and quite another to take on armed psychopaths who would assassinate an innocent child, especially killers who are part of a vast syndicate like the Black P. Stones, whose estimated 23,000 members make it about twice the size of the Chicago Police Department.


And the protesters are probably allied with the Black P. Stones, or maybe the Gangster Disciples, or some person or persons who benefits from both of them. They are nobody to pay attention to. (The police could also be allied to some gangs, to tell the truth.)


Sammy Finkelman said...

I think there are some similarities between rahm Emanuel and New York's Governor Cuomo.

Sammy Finkelman said...

One part of the Chicago way is to erase records. Anotehr part is to act and be very tough - with favored exceptions.

Sammy Finkelman said...

The New York Times will editorialize against corruption until they realize that might result in the election of a (disfavored) Republican somewhere.

ken in tx said...

The Illinois governor should declare a state of emergency, suspend Chicago's charter and right to self government, dismiss all elected officials and appoint new ones from elsewhere in Illinois. Deploy the National Guard to occupy riot torn districts and take over police functions as needed. Have the state Attorney General launch Ham-Sandwich indictments against all former officials for their three felonies a day. Appoint special magistrates to oversee investigations, impeachments, and local elections. In other words, treat it like an occupied colony, the way the Union did the South. Also, Beef up personal security and carry a gun.

MAJMike said...

Blogger Char Char Binks said...

Emanuel, why hast thous foretokened me?

12/1/15, 2:11 PM

Actually, that's pretty cool.

jr565 said...

This is what throwing someone under the bus looks like.

Sammy Finkelman said...

The CBS Evening News reported that the crime rate for crimes other than murder is down, although murders didn't go down.

Of course the reason people use murder rates to tell you what the crime rate is, is because they are the hardest to fudge, although that's happened in the past. I think there was a scandal about this in New York City in the late 1940s.

The CBS Evening News also reported that there is some organziation wich issued a report that said that 99%+ of all complaints against police resulted in no discipline.

I think we can safely say that the reason is NOT because their conduct is impeccable and we're only getting false complaints now. (of course it's not like a certain stable percentage should be considered justified)

Sammy Finkelman said...

Another case ion Chicago - this mother says she won't take the city's hush money.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/01/mom-dashcam-shows-chicago-cop-killed-my-unarmed-son.html

Seeing Red said...

What difference, at this point, does it make?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

NYTimes editorial, excerpt from Larry J's clip: And so the wheels of justice virtually ground to a halt.

Silly Republicans complaining about government agencies stonewalling, dragging their feet, refusing to turn over requested documents, intentionally dilatory & contemptuous responses...oh, wait, it's not Republicans being harmed by those things? Oh, ok, suddenly that's a big problem, a scandal even!

Michael K said...

"people like me, who had the fortune to grow up on Chicago's South Side"

I did and it was a delightful place to grow up in the 40s and 50s. I saw what was coming and got out as soon as I was 18.

A few reminiscences.

More memories.

glenn said...

Boiled down. "Better you than me. Chief, you're fired"

JCC said...

Under McCarthy, the Chicago PD manipulated any number of Part I crimes, including murders. Media in Chicago discovered a number of murders which were uncounted by the Chicago PD when reporting to the FBI UCR's. The Chicago crime stats are completely untrustworthy. No telling when this started, but under McCarthy and Rahm, it became institutionalized.

BTW, McCarthy made his reputation first running the NYPD's ComStat program, which is where the national emphasis on crime stats - and the resultant manipulation downward - first started and became an industry fixture. McCarthy went on to Newark where the crime numbers dropped like a stone during his tenure. Whether they were manipulated is certainly questionable.

McCarthy was/is a hack, and his dismissal justified, but for the mayor to claim some surprise at the cover-up? Laughable.

This too shows the degree the criminal justice system has been subverted in Cook County. The cop was still working and free, until the media got the video. Then suddenly he was charged with Murder 1. That's huge, whether you believe him evil or stupid, or anything in between. Obviously, justice is for sale.

Phil 314 said...

Erlichman and Haldeman have been fired.

Drago said...

Phil 3:14: "Erlichman and Haldeman have been fired."

But where is the Chicago version of W. Mark Felt.

And even if he/she were to materialize, where is Woodward & Bernstein?

And even if there is a Woodward & Bernstein, where are the associated organs to amplify the story?

Smilin' Jack said...

This certainly smells like Emanuel would throw his grandmother under a bus if he thought it might salvage his political aspirations.

Hee...Emanuel is smarter than that. His only aspiration now is staying out of prison.

Roughcoat said...


Michael K:
I dated a Polish girl who went to South Shore HS. This was in the 60s before the neighborhood went to hell. Long drive down from the North Side on LSD, but it was worth it: she was smokin' hot Polish, blond and built, and very merry if you get my drift. Met her during a festive weekend on the Irish Riviera (a.k.a. Long Beach, Indiana), she was wearing a bikini, wowza. It wasn't love but it sure was fun.

After living in Colorado for the most part of two decades I returned to Chicagoland in the late 80s, settling in near-suburb just west of Midway Airport. Hung out in the Irish neighborhoods that remained, namely Bridgeport, Canaryville, Marquette Park, and, of course, Beverly and Mt. Greenwood. With age I went to my hang-outs less and less and anyway the Marquette Park Irish all moved away along with the Lithuanians. But I still make occasional forays into the other neighborhoods I named.

But the old days are gone forever, sure.

cf said...

I never believed Rahm was really the Mayor, it is just a stage set to cover his real work.

This is the fellow who was Clinton's Money Man, worked the room like nobody else, and had so many guys by their balls. are you kidding me? Being a two bit Mayor? Haha. It is something he bats around on the side. The Real Action is handling the Flow. That Awesome Flow of BigBlueGovt$$$$ out the orifices of the Machine he is so good at running.

He stood at one elbow of Clinton while the president -- in Those hectic late days while the Gore/Bush election was being recounted -- signed the expanded lending orders that set the stage for our 2007 credit meltdown. Taibbi spoke of this dramatic moment in his Rolling Stone big story, but I think he left Rahm out, only mentioned Phil Graham at the other elbow, because Taibbi has his leftie blinders in place.

This is the guy that oversaw the feral federal lending programs as they exploded in corruption and excess.

This is cunning and ferocious man. Like the union and leftie machinery that do all the city work for him. Like the under disciplined police force the union protects instead of weeding these guys Out.

If we deserve Rahm, we are in such Big Trouble.



Th

cf said...

Rahm, bigGovtUnions, HillaryClinton, out-of-control public bureaucrats, Welcome to the BigBlueGovernment SerenePoliceState.

[ They burn children to death in American households for their parents' beliefs. ]

Godspeed, America

Kyzer SoSay said...

The most comprehensive listing of murders in Chicago can be found at www.heyjackass.com

Yes, this is a real website.

damikesc said...

Hey, he's vacationing in Cuba with his family. He will learn how to police brutality the right way.

Sammy Finkelman said...

They burn children to death in American households for their parents' beliefs.

No, Bill Clinton did that, and everybody involved was protected. The orders taht Janet reno gave said that the perimeter was to be reduced, and that IF there was firing they could fire back OR inject tear gas. They claimed there was firing, which was not true, and that they had not fired themselves, and tear gas was usedinstead. The CS tear gas started the fire, but was not generally officially understood as flammable, but fire experts knew. Janet Reno, said "This was not supposed to be D-Day" and taht was true on paper. Everybody was protected, as I said.

The FBI spokesman the day of the April 19 kept on demanding a surrender. Of course they were physically preventing that. The few people who escaped escaped through nreaches in the walls. While david Koresh was killed the manifestop they claimed he wasn't wirting did survive the fire on floppy disk.

The FBI claimed the Davidians started the fire and "That's why they called it Ranch Apocalypse:" Except that the Branch Davidians did not call it Ranch Apocalypse, but Mounth Carmel. That lie had been planted in the March 17, 1993 issue of both TIME )(in the text) and Newsweek (in a picture caption)

Bill Clinton murdered them to protect Jay William Buford the head of the Bureau of alcohol Tobacco and Firearms in Little Rock and one of the 3 leaders of the raid as well as the final investigator for the Waco search warreant, who added the sex charges. They children were not killed because of their parents sins but to prevent them from contradicting the sexual abuse charges and to make the davidisna slook really bad.

,said "
time