Police replacement a political perk of winning, holding elective office

It’s one of the perks of being elected mayor of any community – you get the power to have your very own uniformed, professional law enforcement type as your police chief, and that chief is totally susceptible to your whims.

JOHNSON: Politics puts job on the line

Whoever wins the office of mayor of Chicago come the Feb. 26 election (and likely April 2 runoff) is going to have the fate of Eddie Johnson in his/her hands. In all likelihood, the police superintendent of Chicago is likely to be unemployed shortly after the May inauguration.

IT’S JUST THE way it is. Being a police chief isn’t a lifelong appointment. It is a job you hold so long as the mayor is approving of you.

So when Toni Preckwinkle comes right out and says she’s going to replace Johnson if/when she becomes mayor, a part of me wants to credit her for being incredibly honest.

Not that I necessarily approve of the reason she has for wanting Johnson out on his keister. But at least she’s not trying to engage in some political rhetoric or high-minded doubletalk about her intentions.

These thoughts came to my mind Monday night while watching one of Preckwinkle’s many mayoral opponents on the WTTW-TV program, "Chicago Tonight." Susana Mendoza had the question put to her directly – would she be intent on picking a new police chief? And who, pray tell, could it be?

PRECKWINKLE: Wants points for firing chief

MENDOZA TRIED TO make it seem as though it is to her credit that she wouldn’t answer – offering up a high-minded rhetorical rambling about how it’s premature to be engaging in such talk about replacing public officials since she’s not actually elected mayor yet.

That sounds nice. In a certain goo-goo mentality way of thinking, it might be admirable.

Yet it also strikes me as being a load of, how shall I say it, horse hockey!

The simple fact is that a police chief post of any type is – by definition – one in which the person serves at the will of the elected official. Invariably, a new mayor brings in a new person to run the police department for them – in ways that are befitting the persona of the new mayor.

MENDOZA: Wants points for not saying

IN FACT, ONE of the few police superintendents in Chicago I’ve ever heard of who didn’t immediately get replaced upon the election of a new mayor was that of LeRoy Martin – who gained the post from Harold Washington and remained in charge of the police even after Richard M. Daley was elected in 1989.

Of course, Daley the younger wound up serving more than two decades as mayor and wound up going through his share of police superintendents after Martin retired in 1992.

The point being that it’s pretty much a sure thing that Eddie Johnson’s time as superintendent – which dates back to 2016 – will end some time next year. The new mayor is going to view having a police chief who owes their presence in the job to her/him as one of the perks of the job!

Particularly if Garry McCarthy winds up somehow winning the mayoral election. Being a former police “chief” in both Chicago (where Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired him in a move he wrongly hoped would make the “stink” over the shooting death of Laquan McDonald fizzle away) and Newark, N.J., I’m sure he’ll have strong thoughts about how his superintendent should behave – and will expect his new “top cop” to follow instructions from City Hall very closely.

AS FOR PRECKWINKLE, she’s admitting she wants to replace Johnson because she says she thinks he is a significant part of the problem in terms of the distrust a portion of the population has for the police department in Chicago.

McCARTHY: Cop turned mayor? Maybe!

“He refused to acknowledge that there was a code of silence in the police department,” Preckwinkle told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t think that’s an honest statement.”

Of course, there are those who think this attitude is more evidence of Preckwinkle behaving like a political “boss,” which is exactly what they’d really like to see removed from municipal government.

Some people may even vote against Preckwinkle for this very attitude. Although if we want to be honest, Johnson’s 30-year career with the Chicago Police is likely to end in retirement – regardless of who prevails on Election Day.

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Were the White Sox just six some decades ahead of the pack with sirens?

Sept. 22, 1959 is regarded by some sports-minded fans as a day of infamy.

Could anyone outside Soldier Field hear the sirens?

That’s the date the Chicago White Sox managed to clinch an American League championship with a victory over the Indians in Cleveland. Back in Chicago, city Fire Commissioner Robert J. Quinn acknowledged the achievement by ordering the city’s air raid sirens to blast away.

FOR FIVE MINUTES, the warning sign of some alien attack or coming tornado rang out, scaring much of the populace who either were Cubs fans clueless as to the championship won that day – or else just overly paranoid and willing to believe the worst was coming.

There may even have been some who thought it natural – that the White Sox winning a championship of any sorts was evidence of the End of the World as We Know It.

To this day, Quinn’s reputation takes a knock from people who say he grossly over-reacted. Even though technically, he was merely acting in reaction to a City Council-approved ordinance that said, “there shall be whistles and sirens blowing and there shall be great happiness when the White Sox win the pennant.”

So what should we think of the Chicago Bears; who on Sunday beat the Green Bay Packers and included amongst the revelry at Soldier Field an air raid siren blasting away.

Lost to Indianapolis, of all cities

THE BEARS, AFTER all, are NFC North Division Champions!!!!!! They’re going to the playoffs for the first time in oh so many years. The hard-core of gridiron fandom in Chicago likely is already dreaming of the Super Bowl victory party to be held in Millennium Park.

All the more reason for pandemonium to run amok, and for us to have “whistles and sirens blowing” and “great happiness” even if it is for the Bears – because we honestly don’t have a clue when again the White Sox will give us occasion for such celebration.

Now I’ll admit this was merely a sound effect within the stadium. The rest of Chicago (many of whom likely watched the game on television) didn’t get woken up out of a deep sleep and scared into believing that disaster was impending.

The original siren blarers

And the Chicago Tribune managed to find a few fans who were offended by the ringing out of sirens, although team officials insist the sirens are merely part of the overall effects offered up at modern stadiums to try to get the crowd all excited.

HENCE, WE’RE LIKELY going to keep getting the sirens blared at future games as the Bears try to work their way through the various rounds of the playoffs toward a Super Bowl.

If anything, that’s the reason I can’t get quite too excited about the Bears phenomenon of 2018.

Literally half of the National Football League manages to qualify for a playoff spot each season. The real issue at stake isn’t whether the Bears are good enough to win the whole deal this year.

It’s really one more of how could they have been so god-awful pathetic that they couldn’t even qualify for a playoff spot in recent years. Not even one of those one game and done early in January.

AS FOR USE of a blaring siren, I can’t help but think it’s become a cliché, similar to shooting off fireworks in the sky to celebrate a sporting something.

Ultimate deities of Chicago sporting scene

What was considered outlandish some 59 years ago is now routine. An air raid siren ringing out to the skies to let people know something extraordinary has just happened.

Just as those ’59 White Sox ultimately lost the World Series that year, I wonder what it will feel like if the Bears can’t quite make it to the big game (to be played Feb. 3 in Atlanta)?

Will the air raid gesture seem like overkill? Instead of a victory party, will Bears fandom wind up holding the equivalent of a funeral procession for the team? And will the ’85 Bears (the ones who beat New England in the Super Bowl) be elevated even further in the pantheon of Chicago sporting history?

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EXTRA: Will family tie be the key to White Sox success with Machado?

The Chicago White Sox had their face-to-face meeting Monday with Manny Machado, the all-star infielder who's trying to get the big-money contract that will make him potentially the highest-paid ballplayer ever.

Is Yainee Machado key to if her husband plays for Sox?

Reports are indicating that the White Sox aren't enthused about having to spend that much money (potentially some $300 million). There's also the fact that his meeting with the White Sox came first -- the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are scheduled to have their one-on-ones Wednesday and Thursday.

The newest White Sox

MEANING THE WHITE Sox are unlikely to get in the last word and chance to top anybody else's financial offer. Which really means that any serious chance of Machado coming to Chicago is going to be in the hands of Yainee.

As in Machado's wife -- who also is the sister of Yonder Alonso, who happens to be a professional ballplayer in his own right. In fact, he's a first baseman who was acquired by the White Sox from the Cleveland Indians.

Freddy Garcia once had to call 'skip' … 

Would Machado want to be on a ball club with his brother-in-law? Would Yainee be inclined to think that having her brother and husband so close be a benefit (the two actually live a couple of blocks from each other in Miami during the winter months)? Or will they decide that a little bit of space during the summer would be beneficial to maintaining family unity?

I don't actually know the answers to any of those questions. But it would be an intriguing story line if the White Sox' ability to acquire a star shortstop like Machado depends on who their reserve first baseman is.

… the man who was sort-of a father-in-law

IT COULD TURN out to be as interesting as back when the White Sox' pitching rotation included Freddy Garcia -- who was married to the niece of manager Ozzie Guillen.

For a few years, including that World Series'-winning season of 2005, White Sox baseball was truly a family affair. In fact, when the Sox later traded Garcia away to Philadelphia, one of the people most upset was Guillen's wife, Ibis, who blamed her husband for not stopping the trade from occurring.

Machado would have Hall of Famer Aparicio as goal, if he becomes a Sox

Could the saga to rebuild the White Sox into a team that doesn't think avoiding 100 losses a season is a significant accomplishment develop its own potential for a family-type soap opera angle?

And could Machado wind up following in the path of star shortstops from Latin America who established their athletic credentials while wearing the old-English script logo of the White Sox.

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Brawl for big-name stars could peter out into whole lot of Chicago nothin’

Harper, along with Machado (below) … 

It’s becoming the big joke this winter amongst certain baseball people – that the Chicago White Sox are spewing a whole lot of talk about how they’re trying to win over the two big-name ballplayers available through free agency, yet all they’re really going to do is sign one of those star players’ brother-in-law.

It’s true. The White Sox have managed to pull off a trade – acquiring Yonder Alonso from the Cleveland Indians.

OF COURSE, THE two big names that are getting baseball teams all aroused are Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Manny Machado of the Los Angeles Dodgers; the latter of whom is married to Alonso's sister.

.. are the big names baseball teams are dreaming of

Both are stars who’d be capable of rejuvenating just about any ball club. The White Sox have gone about stirring up a lot of speculation that they’re willing to make serious bids to try to acquire at least one of the two – if not both.

Yet you have to admit it would be oh so typical if it turned out that the White Sox didn’t manage to acquire either. Which would make their acquisition of Alonso come off as quite pathetic.

There is one big reason why the White Sox are so eager to engage in such talk – they need to do something to show the fan base that their talk of wanting to some day have a winning ball club has a basis in reality and is not just wishful thinking.

Are Nova and Alonso (below) … 

BECAUSE THUS FAR, all the youthful talent is NOT holding up to the stories of being on the verge of turning into future stars. Yoan Moncada, who when he was Boston Red Sox property was regarded as the best ballplayer in all the minor leagues, has turned into a .235 hitter for the White Sox.

While supposed future star pitcher Steve Kopech has managed to injure himself, underwent surgery and likely won’t play ball at all during 2019, and Eloy Jimenez has suffered a quad injury while playing baseball this winter with the Cibao Giants of the Dominican League.

Meaning the tales of Jimenez becoming the rookie star of the White Sox for 2019 may have to be postponed – if not tabled altogether.

… the ones the White Sox will settle for?

If the Chicago Cubs rebuild of the early 2010s was the example of everything going right and resulting in a World Series title in 2016, we have to wonder if the White Sox rebuild is evidence of everything going wrong.

WHICH IS WHY gaining a big-name star would be beneficial for the Chicago Sout’ Side ballclub. Particularly if it were to turn out that they acquired Harper – who during his time playing ball in the District of Columbia never made a secret of it that he’d like someday to play for the Chicago Cubs.

On some level, it would be a psychological victory if the White Sox were to gain the guy who could have been a Cub – if only the Cubs weren’t crying broke; in large part because they blew their own money on the big-money deal they offered pitcher Yu Darvish.

Is Darvish the reason Cubs can't compete?

The deal that got the Cubs a 1-win, 3-loss record with a 4.95 earned run average in eight games (only 40 innings pitched) before his own injuries became too serious for him to continue playing.

Then again, could it turn out to be that all the White Sox’ talk of trying to gain Harper is what ultimately motivates the Cubs to try to figure out a way to “do” the big bucks needed to acquire Bryce – who seems determined to want to get the biggest contract ever in baseball history!

Dominican League injury delays Jimenez?

PERSONALLY, IT WOULDN’T bother me in the least if Harper were to choose to go elsewhere – largely because I actually think Machado (a Miami native of Dominican ethnic origins) would be the better fit for this rebuilt White Sox team.

This is one that supposedly can have Cubans (Moncada, Jose Abreu and Luis Robert) as its stars, with a whole slew of other peloteros from Latin American nations, including Jimenez. Machado of Miami might be a better fit and wouldn't have the attitude that has a lot of baseball fans thinking Machado is not worth the fact that HE wants to get the biggest contract ever in baseball history!

Is Moncada really just a .235 hitter?

But one way or another, those two big stars are going to wind up somewhere and likely will get contracts giving them enough funds that (unless they get stupid and waste money) will enable them to never have to work for real for the rest of their lives.

And if it turns out that neither Harper nor Machado choose to come to Chicago, well then White Sox fans will just have to settle for the brother-in-law and the one-time New York Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova as their off-season acquisitions leading into 2019.

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Will Election ’19 create lasting grudge between Preckwinkle, Mendoza?

It was 1992, and Bill Lipinski and Marty Russo wound up having to run against each other for a seat in Congress – the Republican-drawn boundaries for that decade wound up pitting the two in a head-to-head brawl.

MENDOZA: Prevailing in fight thus far

Lipinski of the Southwest Side and Russo of south suburban Cook County actually had a reputation as political colleagues who also shared a friendship. Yet that election cycle saw the two engage in such hard-core politicking that the friendship did not survive Lipinski’s eventual victory.

SO IT CERTAINLY wouldn’t be unheard of if tensions arise sufficiently that Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza wind up despising each other by the time Feb. 26 (Election Day) arrives.

Preckwinkle and Mendoza, of course, are among the nearly two dozen people with dreams of becoming Chicago’s new mayor. Preckwinkle is showing just how hard-core a politician her time as county board president and alderman have made her – she’s trying to get Mendoza kicked off the ballot.

Because the perception is that Preckwinkle and Mendoza could be the two most legitimate candidates. Preckwinkle’s chances benefit if Mendoza is removed from the political equation.

But the investigators looking into Toni’s allegations that Mendoza’s nominating petitions had way too many invalid signatures of support to be legitimate are finding that they’re not anywhere near as flawed as she’d have us believe them to be.

NOT THAT MENDOZA is totally in the clear. A hearing officer may have dismissed one of Preckwinkle’s allegations, but three other charges are still pending. An Elections Board hearing officer is giving the Preckwinkle campaign a chance to produce evidence to back up her claims against Mendoza.

Another hearing is scheduled for Sunday, and eventually the Elections Board will render a ruling. Which is going to wind up in court – with Mendoza fighting for survival if she gets kicked off the ballot, and Preckwinkle battling if Susana survives.

I found it interesting to learn that the hearing officer dismissed the charges related to a pattern of fraudulent behavior by the Mendoza campaign. If any legitimacy had been found, it could be the basis of criminal charges against the campaign.

PRECKWINKLE: Playing hardball politics

Meaning that any of the continuing allegations are likely to be pure partisan politics. Considering that Election Day is purely political, that’s natural. But it’s not like anybody’s in danger of going to jail because of any of this.

IF ANYTHING, THE challenge process is about political harassment. Because all of the time and money that Mendoza has had to spend on defending herself and justifying her presence on the ballot is taken away from efforts she could have engaged in to try to convince people that she ought to cast their mayoral vote for her.

Considering that she had to wait until after her Election Day victory for Illinois comptroller before she could start campaigning for Chicago mayor, she already had a strike against her.

Build up enough strikes, and you could wind up taking down the Mendoza campaign before she can make it to a run-off election come April 2.

The Eddies, both Burke … 

Which means Preckwinkle is playing hard-ball. She’s engaging in tactics that are bound to create hard feelings. Are these bound to turn the Preckwinkle/Mendoza relationship into one of political people who wind up despising each other? Of course, Mendoza isn’t the only person Preckwinkle is playing politics with – she’s already said she’ll fire the police superintendent AND greatly restrict long-time Alderman Edward Burke when she becomes mayor.

NOT THAT SUCH tactics would be unheard of. It’s not uncommon for people in politics to detest each other when they think nobody’s paying attention. In fact, that may be the reality that many people don’t understand when they complain about too many Democrats in government.

… and Johnston, could face Toni's wrath

The Democratic establishment has so many cliques that can’t stand each other. They’re nowhere near as united as Republicans are.

In fact, I once had a Republican political operative explain to me that all these cliques are the very reason it was pointless to try to cooperate with Democrats.

Although I’ve also heard some speculate that the Preckwinkle/Mendoza rivalry that is developing could very well be what costs both of them a serious chance of winning – and what could wind up giving us Mayor Daley III.

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Where should Chicago casino be?

Soon-to-be-former Mayor Rahm Emanuel let it be known just where he’d like to see Chicago develop a casino as part of a plan to let the city raise tax monies to pay off pension-related debts.

Envision a casino in the shadow of the port district near Lake Calumet

Not that it’s a shoo-in that a casino will be built any time soon. The city, after all, has been talking for decades about plans to have casino gambling within the municipal limits – without a thing becoming of such talks.

BUT EMANUEL IS talking about a casino down near Lake Calumet on a site by the Illinois International Port, which is the border between the 9^th and 10^th wards – which also are the far southeastern corner of Chicago AND adjacent to the Illinois/Indiana border.

What it is not is a location up at the exact opposite far northwestern corner of Chicago which would be adjacent to O’Hare International Airport, or somewhere near downtown Chicago (perhaps near Navy Pier).

Either of those sites would clearly be meant to entice tourists coming to Chicago to blow a significant amount of their money at our gambling casinos and (in the process) help Chicago pay off some serious bills it has developed.

I can already hear people inclined to want to trash Emanuel in his final months as mayor for picking the “wrong” site for a casino. They’re probably going to dredge up the same tired old rhetoric that they’ve used for ages against the part of Chicago that I actually was born in – and where I have cousins who are life-long residents of.

BUT LISTENING TO Emanuel’s rhetoric, it would appear he realizes one fact that is all-too-true. There are Chicagoans who like to gamble who enjoy the fact they have casinos not that far from where they live.

As Emanuel pointed out, the casinos of Northwest Indiana (particularly the Horseshoe Casino of Hammond that is less than one mile from the Chicago city limits) take in about $40 million per month in gross revenues from people who cross over the state line from Illinois – mostly from Chicago.

Which means Emanuel’s motivation is that he wants to keep people IN Illinois and within the city limits when they choose to throw their money away into slot machines or playing other games of chance.

I’m sure this will offend the Indiana Legislature-types who seem determined to want to bolster their economies off the proximity of part of their state to Chicago. But I can’t say that fact would bother me in the least, since those parts of Indiana with proximity to Chicago usually are amongst the most civilized and livable parts of the Hoosier state.

YES, I KNOW full-well how many people make the cross-over to Indiana for the cheap thrills they can derive from gambling, whereas a full-fledged trip to Las Vegas can be ever-so-costly.

I myself have been to those casinos on occasion, and it never fails to amaze me the amount of Illinois license plates on cars bringing people in to those casinos. I don’t doubt in the least that many of those people would stay closer to home, if only such a gambling facility existed.

As for those people who can’t envision something of the pseudo-luxury level of a casino being built in that part of the city, I suspect they’ve never seen the Harbourside International Golf Center.

It’s a one-time landfill that was converted to a golf course in the mid-1990s, and Emanuel points out there is open land upon which a casino and hotel could be built. It would force people to give up their image of the Southeast Side as a land of slag piles and sludge – which is something that would be beneficial to the city as a while.

SO I WILL be intrigued to see just how successful Emanuel is in his final effort to try to gain something on behalf of Chicago. Although I’m also realistic enough to know what a long-shot the concept is.

There are those who will see this being put at the city’s far Southeast corner and will figure it won’t benefit their home areas in the least.

Particularly those places where horseracing is predominant when it comes to local gambling opportunities. Because all-too-often, casino bills get dragged down because the racetracks want to be offered something to compensate them for the fact that many people will prefer the idea of throwing their money into a slot machine – rather than sticking it under a window to place a bet on the ponies.

For despite all the rhetoric we’ll hear about the glories of horseracing being the “Sport of Kings,” the fact is that most people who go to either racetracks or casinos really have only one goal in mind – a dream of a jackpot big enough that they don’t ever have to work again for a living!

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Emanuel remains ambitious in his final months serving in his mayoral post

I’ll say one thing for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel – he’s an ambitious S-O-B.

EMANUEL: Won't depart a failure

He’s not seeking re-election, and in fact the process of picking his replacement is now underway. People interested in mayoral politics are focused on the dozens of people with dreams of replacing Rahm.

EMANUEL IS ABOUT as “lame” a duck as one can be. Not exactly someone who’s capable of going out with a “bang,” because most people are determined to ignore anything he says or thinks.

Yet perhaps it’s just evidence of the political-style “fighter” he always was. The guy once nicknamed “Rahm-bo” isn’t going to let himself be turned irrelevant.

And he also seems determined to impose policy changes for Chicago’s betterment; although I have no doubt there will be critics of everything Emanuel suggests – particularly if they’re the type who’ve been complaining about him for the past just under eight years that Rahm served as mayor.

Just the other night, I happened to be in attendance at a suburban City Council meeting where the focus of discussion amongst those aldermen was Emanuel. Let’s just say that Rahm’s name most definitely was taken in vain.

WHAT IRRITATED THOSE suburban municipal officials? Gas prices.

For it was on Tuesday that Emanuel suggested an increase in the gasoline tax – possibly 20 to 30 cents more per gallon, to help raise money for mass transit and road improvements.

By the way, the mayor isn’t talking about having Chicago raise its gas taxes. He’s talking about having the entirety of Illinois do so.

Which makes sense, in one way. If this were merely a Chicago city gas tax hike, it would balloon the price of gasoline at Chicago-based fueling stations so high that no one would ever buy gasoline again in the city.

MAKE IT A statewide thing, and you wouldn’t have such a drastic gas price differential that motorists would find it worth their while to drive out to suburban gas stations in order to load up their tanks on the petrol that enables them to function.

But while Emanuel has some suburban municipal officials on his side, there are others grossly offended. Mainly because they know their local voters will hate the idea of anything that makes gasoline prices go higher.

Usually, the local politicos can make outlandish claims about Arab oil sheikhs enriching themselves. They certainly don’t want anybody doing anything that would make it appear as though blame should be placed locally for rising gas prices.

Particularly since it isn’t just Chicago that has municipal elections come February and April of 2019 – just about every suburb has a mayoral post up for grabs. I don’t doubt many local political people will want to see this suggested gas tax hike fail.

IT ISN’T JUST gas that gets Emanuel worked up. He followed up that idea with suggestions that marijuana be legalized (and taxed, appropriately) and a casino opened in the city. All to try to raise money to pay off a public pension debt that has risen into the billions of dollars.

Those are both issues that will stir up a stink amongst some people in good times. They’d be a test of one’s political strength.

Yet Emanuel is trying to do them at a time when he’s on his way out the door and most people would rather he just pipe down! Does Rahm have the political skill to get any of these goals accomplished? Can he overcome those people who would consider it their own political goal to see Emanuel leave office a failure?

Or perhaps we should consider one other outcome – some of these issues eventually get enacted, but not quickly enough for a “Mayor Emanuel” to be able to take credit. How many might support a Chicago casino, for example, if it means Emanuel’s mayoral successor gets to take credit?

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