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| JOHNSON: Same police superintendent |
Eddie
Johnson, the man who became police superintendent after long-time law enforcement
veteran Garry McCarthy was sacrificed by Rahm Emanuel to try to appease people
p-o’ed about the shooting death by a police officer of teenager Laquan
McDonald, is being retained.
IT’S
USUALLY not at all unusual for a new mayor to want to have her very own police
chief – someone whose political loyalties would be to her.
So
if Johnson were really to be thrown out on his keister, now would have been the
perfect time to do so. Nobody would have questioned it. If anything, it would
have been expected.
For
Lightfoot to keep the veteran Chicago police officer (beginning with the
department as a patrolman back in 1988 is a sign of confidence in his
professional abilities. Or at least evidence he hasn’t done anything that would
offend Lightfoot.
So
perhaps Lightfoot, whose past professional experience includes a stint as head
of the Chicago Police Board, is not about to make radical changes in police
operations – if she’s keeping the same person in charge.
BUT
THEN, THERE’S the other decision she made on her first full day in office as
mayor. As in the one involving her personal security team.
For
the mayor of Chicago usually has a special detail within the Police Department
whose duties include protecting the mayor, accompanying her to all public appearances,
and usually serving as the driver of the mayoral automobile.
Yes,
that’s a sworn police officer behind the steering wheel, while also keeping his
eyes open for any potential that could become a threat to the mayoral persona.
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| SMITH: New head of mayoral security |
Only
not this time!
FOR
LIGHTFOOT IS hiring the services of Silver Star Protection Group to handle her
mayoral security detail. That company is run by James Smith – who prior to
going into business for himself worked as a corrections officer at the Cook County
Jail, then served for 26 years as a U.S. marshal based in Chicago who was in charge of providing protection for Supreme Court justices and other federal officials.
Perhaps
it’s only logical that Lightfoot, who once also served as a prosecutor with the
U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, would turn to someone with a sense of
federal law enforcement to provide protection with herself.
But
as the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday, Smith is married to Margaret
Houlihan-Smith, who once was a managing director for United Airlines and now
works as a lobbyist both for United and AT&T.
Is
it a conflict for a lobbyist to now have a direct tie to the mayor? Is it the
kind of thing that could be a mini-scandal in and of itself? As though it
creates the appearance of a conflict of interest!
WHO’S
TO SAY. For what it’s worth, a whole series of questions to various officials
along that line of questioning resulted in a whole slew of “no comment”-type
responses. Or maybe I should say, “nunayabizness”-type answers.
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| LIGHTFOOT: First law enforcement picks |
Does
the new mayor not trust Chicago police enough to ensure that no one tries to
harm her while in office? Is she rewarding someone who comes from similar outside-the-established
circles that she thinks she can trust better?
Or
does James Smith really have a skills set that just isn’t possessed by anyone within
the Chicago Police Department? That is something we’ll have to see.
While
we also see if the retention of Johnson as police superintendent is a sign that
the Chicago Police Department is on the right track, and not about to undergo
significant change. Or is it really just a matter of Johnson getting about a
year on the job before getting pushed into what she’ll call a “retirement” so
she can make room for a police chief of her own pickings.
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