If you’re feeling safe because there’s been no “mass shootings” as dramatic as the one Wednesday in San Bernardino, California or the one in Colorado Springs the week before, you’re simply not informed about how violent the state of Illinois has been in 2015.
Data from shootingtracker.com shows that according to the Reddit group that maintains the information, there have been 23 mass shootings in Illinois in 2015 alone. Shootingtracker.com defines mass shootings as incidents when at least four people are killed or wounded, including the gunman.
The website is down as I write this, but you gotta wonder if many of these mass shootings are gang-related.
Whatever the case, and no matter what else has happened to the image of the police here in the past several weeks, the cops are doing a job that almost none of us would ever want.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday he favors releasing the dashcam video that reportedly shows a Chicago police officer shooting 25-year-old Ronald Johnson III.
“We’ll do that next week,” Emanuel said after unrelated event Thursday.
The video allegedly shows a police officer shooting Johnson eight days before Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by another Chicago police officer.
* It’ll be interesting to see how the Fraternal Order of Police reacts to this new video. Its president’s reaction to the LaQuan McDonald video was quite something to behold.
Chicago FOP President Dean Angelo told reporters this week that when he watched the McDonald video, he saw Officer Van Dyke stepping “into his training mode.” And then he said he saw this…
“Just prior to the engagement, of the first shots fired, the shoulders square off towards the officer.”
In case you need to refresh your memory, click here to watch the shooting video. I’ve watched it several times and don’t see any clear sign that the kid “squared his shoulders” at the officer.
* This FOP behavior could very well give the anti-union governor some credibility…
Rauner on collective bargaining btwn FOP & city on discipline for cops: ppl have begun to question that process
Recently ousted police Supt. Garry McCarthy said in a 2013 interview that his policy is “termination” for cops who get caught lying during an official investigation.
But as things turn out, that’s hardly the case in our town.
DNAinfo Chicago found that IPRA recommended firing only 55 percent of officers found guilty of violating Rule 14 [a little-known provision in the Chicago Police Department’s disciplinary code related to officers “making a false statement, written or oral.”]. And none of those officers were fired for making false reports. […]
[Chicago should] Follow the lead of states including Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Washington, that make all police disciplinary records public.
* Related…
* Rauner: ‘I cried’ when watching Laquan McDonald video: “Anybody who sees that video has to really wonder, why would it take so long to prosecute or deal with this? What’s taking so long? It’s a legitimate question for everybody to be asking.”
* The Beth Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Carol Shehorn, who works for both Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie and Assistant Majority Leader Sara Feigenholtz…
I don’t care what kind of day you are having or what is melting down on your legislative agenda, Carol will make it seem you are the most important in the Statehouse and your issue the most important.
She handles a parade of lobbyist and agency staff coming and going and never, ever gets rattled or fails to treat everyone with respect no matter what is going on around her.
* And as long as no objections are heard, the Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant will be henceforth named after this year’s winner…
Robin Gragg is unfailingly pleasant and helpful in her traffic-cop role at the antechamber to SenDem leadership offices. Some days, there are 15 people milling about in that tiny space, making demands, etc, and it never seems to faze Robin.
She’s won before, so I think it’s only fair to everyone else if we name the award after her so others can win. Plus, she really is an example for others to follow.
* Today’s categories are…
* Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political
* Best State House Staffer - Non Political
Try to nominate in both categories if you can. I understand if you just don’t have enough info about one chamber, but please try. And always remember that the awards are based far more on the intensity of the nominations than the number of nominations. Explain your votes!
Also, unless I hear strong objections, I’d rather skip over political legislative staff this year. We’re running out of time and it’s not a campaign year.
HARRISBURG — In the sixth month of a state budget stalemate, lawmakers may make a final push this weekend to agree on the details of historic education funding, expanding the sales tax base, reforming public pensions and making wine and liquor more readily available.
The plan to increase state spending by 6 percent is far from finalized. There’s a “framework” of an agreement, but questions remain on the tax increase. Some Republicans question the robustness of liquor and pension proposals.
Several session days are scheduled next week.
Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, when asked how much is agreed to, said: “Ninety percent, but that last 10 percent is the bumpiest.”
“We have to be close,” said Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. “We worked through the past weekend. We need a budget soon.”
Wolf told reporters there’s not “any sticking point” but rather a need to work out details and language.
Pennsylvania is the mirror image of Illinois. They have Republican majorities in the General Assembly and a wealthy Democratic governor.
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and others have called for a Department of Justice civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department. Mayor Emanuel didn’t like the idea, but he came around to it today. From a press release…
“Many things must happen to restore trust in the Chicago Police Department and I welcome efforts and ideas that can help us achieve that important goal. I want to clarify my comments from yesterday and I want to be clear that the City welcomes engagement by the Department of Justice when it comes to looking at the systemic issues embedded in CPD.
First and foremost, we need answers as to what happened in the Laquan McDonald case, which is why the United States Attorney should swiftly conclude his year-long investigation and shed light on what happened that night, and the actions of everyone involved.
As it relates to a longer-term review of our police department and efforts to improve police accountability, I am open to anything that will help give us answers and restore the trust that is critical to our public safety efforts. I trust the Department of Justice to make the right decision based on the facts and the law. Like every Chicagoan, I want to get to a place where we’re permanently addressing the entrenched issues in our police department. Our residents deserve that, as do our police officers. Adherence to civil rights and effective crime fighting go hand in hand.”
Background:
* On Tuesday, Mayor Emanuel announced that a six-member Police Accountability Task Force would immediately begin a top-to-bottom review of the system of oversight and accountability training and transparency that is currently in place at CPD.
* In his speech, Mayor Emanuel said: “Every day, we must ensure the checks and balances are in place to keep the confidence of Chicagoans … There are systemic challenges that will require sustained reform. It is a work in progress as we continue to build confidence in our police force.”
* Additionally, on Wednesday during a discussion with Politico, Mayor Emanuel was asked a question of whether CPD violated the constitution and federal laws. He responded to that question in the context of the Laquan McDonald case. See the exchange below:
Q: Yesterday, the Illinois Attorney General requested the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division investigation whether practices by the Chicago Police Department violate the constitution and federal laws. Do you worry that’s the case?
A: No. I want everybody to remember this. First, the city had a civil – there’s kind of three legal tracks and three kinds of oversights. On February 27, the family came and approached the city. We reached a settlement in and around the civil case and then took it to the City Council. If you go and look back at what Steve Patton said in front of City Council, a lot of that was there and in public domain. Immediately after the incident, back in February 2014 – so 14 months ago, within weeks, I think two weeks — the U.S. attorney and the State’s Attorney both opened up investigations with the FBI as an investigatory body. They had all materials, all the tapes, all the background. We settled – as I said – in April. But started in the discussions end of February when the family approached. As you now know, the State’s attorney concluded her investigation. There’s an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office here in Chicago with the FBI. My view is that given the period of time they’ve had the information, like everybody else, I await their conclusion. They are looking into this situation and all the aspects around it. I think an additional layer prior to the completion of this, in my view, would be misguided. And if you notice, they are doing a thorough job, given that they had the information two weeks after, just immediately after the incident. They are doing a thorough job, and hitting the restart button on a whole new investigation does not get you to the conclusion in an expedited fashion.
Q: But those are two different things. What she’s looking at is a civil rights investigation. It would look at pattern and practice at the police department. It would be a more sweeping view. Other cities have done it – would you welcome that?
A: Well, what I would first welcome is the conclusion of the existing investigation by the U.S. Attorneys right now that’s present. I think that one of the reasons I asked the former head of the Civil Rights Division, Deval Patrick, to be an outside adviser and senior adviser to this working commission is because it’s exactly the question he is familiar with and he has a different set of eye — I think is essential. Before the U.S. Justice Department would ask the local U.S. Attorney and FBI to take on additional work, I would them to complete the work – I understand these are very hard cases. And so they are taking on and look at all the perspectives around this case.
* Randall Samborn, who was the US Attorney’s press spokesman for years, explains what’s at stake…
What is needed is a full-scale Justice Department “pattern-and-practice” investigation of civil rights abuses within the Chicago Police Department — the type of sweeping, outside investigation that Chicago, seemingly alone among large American cities, has mysteriously evaded over the last several decades.
From Newark to New York, Cleveland, Miami, New Orleans, Albuquerque and Los Angeles, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which exercises sole authority to launch and conduct such inquiries, has scoured dozens of large police departments, leaving Chicago’s omission head-scratching.
The Justice Department may act if it finds a pattern or practice by a local law enforcement agency that systemically violates people’s rights. These investigations have resulted in settlements and court orders requiring increased transparency and data collection, steps to prevent discriminatory policing, independent oversight, improved investigation and review of uses of force, and more effective training and supervision of officers — all measures that the Chicago Police Department urgently needs.
*** UPDATE *** I meant to post this earlier and forgot…
The Chicago police officer charged with murder in the shooting of a black teen also played a role in the alleged cover-up of another fatal police shooting 10 years ago, according to court records in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the city.
Officer Jason Van Dyke admitted as part of that civil case that he copied the work of other officers on the scene, which made his official report match theirs, without conducting his own interviews of witnesses to the controversial 2005 shooting of Emmanuel Lopez.
While his role in that case was relatively minor, it looms larger now as the Lopez family lawsuit heads to trial in February over allegations that Chicago police shot the 23-year-old janitor 16 times without justification and then concocted a story that they were acting in self-defense because Lopez tried to run over an officer with his car.
If no one ran in the GOP primary, the Republican Party could pick someone in a caucus, gather signatures for him or her to put the choice on the ballot.
If a ringer like Lichte were on the ballot without opposition, however, the local GOP would not be able to field a serious candidate against Franks.
Unknown to the Franks folks, Steve Reick, the Democrat’s 2014 opponent who drove his winning margin down to 58%, changed his mind and filed on the last day possible.
Nevertheless, a Lichte stalking horse campaign could be of value to Franks.
His pawn could be the source of criticism of Reick, leaving Franks’ hands relative clean.
The Google photo you see below, however, makes the connection of Lichte to Franks picture perfect.
The Franks sign is readable; the other isn’t.
It is Franks’ sign favoring passage of electing the McHenry County Board in an at-large election.
We tend to think of the drastic decline in unions as an inevitable consequence of technological change and globalization, but one need look no further than Canada to see that this isn’t true. Once upon a time, around a third of workers in both the US and Canada were union members; today, US unionization is down to 11 percent, while it’s still 27 percent north of the border. The difference was politics: US policy turned hostile toward unions in the 1980s, while Canadian policy didn’t follow suit.
