The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Ticket sales were just announced for Andrew Dice Clay, who is scheduled to appear at the Copernicus Center on June 18. Which gives me a good reason to re-up Andrew Dice Trump . . .

I don’t have Photoshop anymore. Can someone insert Trump’s face into that image for me?
–
Top Kop
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s newly appointed interim top cop Eddie Johnson’s fiancee is a Chicago Police lieutenant named in an investigation into alleged cheating on the department’s lieutenant’s exam, DNAinfo Chicago has learned.”
“It’s the same cheating probe that sources said helped derail Deputy Chief Eugene Williams’ chances of being promoted to police superintendent. Now the allegations are part of a separate probe, this one by the city’s Inspector General Joe Ferguson, sources said.”
I don’t know that Williams was going to get the job anyway, but let’s take a look at the most interesting parts of this report.
* “[Lt. Nakia] Fenner . . . declined in an interview with DNAinfo Chicago to characterize her relationship with Johnson.”
Johnson, however, confirmed they are engaged. Why wouldn’t Fenner just say, “Yeah, I’m engaged to Eddie.” It can’t be a secret, can it? And should it be?
(I searched for a registry but didn’t find one; maybe the date hasn’t been set yet.)
* “Right now all I know is it to be rumor. I don’t know if there is an actual official investigation,” Johnson said. “Whether or not it’s an actual subject of investigation I really can’t tell you right now.”
I don’t doubt DNA’s reporting that the IG has opened a probe, but I’m always uncomfortable with reporting about investigations; at this point it really isn’t much beyond a rumor as far as we know.
* “I can tell you that Internal Affairs for CPD, we don’t routinely handle anonymous complaints,” Johnson said.
That’s a problem. No investigative unit is a serious one if it doesn’t handle anonymous complaints – even more so for a police department where members are all but told to keep their mouths shut. And told! Put that on the list of needed reforms.
* “Johnson said he was aware that his fiancee belonged to multiple study groups, which he said is customary when people prepare for promotional exams.
“Fenner, however, told DNAinfo Chicago she ‘did not participate in any study groups.'”
Maybe that’s just where she told Eddie she was going every Tuesday night. Also, she doesn’t want anyone to know they’re engaged. Internal Affairs indeed!
* “Chicago’s new interim police boss told reporters that broken trust and ‘the few examples of excessive force’ have overshadowed ‘incidents of courage and professionalism’ and ‘undermine our department and our relationship with the community . . . ‘One of the byproducts of that is one bad cop makes it difficult for all the good cops on this job. One bad act will paint us all in that broad brush.'”
Johnson is clearly of the mind that the department’s problems are merely the result of the proverbial bad apples – after all this time and everything the city has been through with the CPD. That is not the mind of a reformer. He is not the change we sought or need. The mayor needs to be asked about this more squarely.
* “Misconduct just simply can’t be tolerated,” he said.
This from the man who says he’s never seen misconduct in his 27 years in the department.
Johnson needs to be asked about this more squarely.
* “Johnson’s personal connection a subject of the cheating allegations also casts a shadow on Emanuel’s decision to circumvent the Police Board selection process and install Johnson.”
What casts a shadow on Emanuel’s decision to circumvent the Police Board selection process is Emanuel’s decision to circumvent the Police Board selection process. It doesn’t appear to be legal, which is probably why Emanuel named “precedent” as a justifier. The media seems relatively uninterested in this part of the story.
* “[T]he mayor publicly has said he has great confidence in [Johnson] as the department works to reduce violent crime and boost morale among the rank and file.”
Every new police chief is tasked with reducing violent crime and boosting morale among the rank-and-file. This was a particular moment in Chicago policing, however, that followed the firing of Garry McCarthy amidst the fallout of the Laquan McDonald video and the ensuing U.S. Department of Justice investigation, which was instigated by the broad sweep of misconduct here that has constituted a systemic problem noted in the phrase “patterns and practices.” This was a time as much as any other that demanded a police chief pick who would begin the difficult work of changing the culture of the CPD. This was a time when the citizens needed their morale boosted. Instead, Rahm gave us Eddie Johnson, who is, as sports pundits would say about an easily replaceable player, just a guy. (And one “who has no immediate plans to change any crime-fighting strategies,” so tell us again then what attributes he has that make him special?)
*
Related: Rahm Runs From Laquan McDonald, CTU Action Questions.

*
This was at LaGuardia airport; Rahm and his wife and daughter were in New York City, as I understand it, to see Hamilton.
And I get it: The man is with his family, on personal time.
But you know what? When you are a public official in a public place, you are fair game. The questions may have been loaded – but no less than the reverse loading of the media who ask their subjects to tell them how great they are – but they were not in any way inappropriate. If Rahm was a better human, he would have answered. He could have easily taken a few minutes to say something like, “Look, no one feels as bad for the McDonald family as I do, and I made a big mistake that I’ve acknowledged and even gave a speech about. I was wrong and Laquan McDonald should never have been shot – even once – and I made a huge mistake when it came to releasing the videotape. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong. I feel the burden of that every day, and I will for the rest of my days – that my actions only compounded that family’s grief. Now it’s up to me to make that mistake mean something in terms of reforming my practices and, more importantly, reforming the police department so things like this don’t happen again.”
Would that have been so hard?
The fact that he didn’t do that speaks volumes about how he doesn’t feel that way in the slightest.
He could have even added, “I’m glad you asked me, it’s fair to ask me, and I ask for your help going forward.”
But that never occurred to him. He had no time to think so he simply acted on instinct, and what we saw was his immediate ugly truth.
–
The Panama Papers: Prosecutors Open Probes
“Governments across the world began investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful on Monday after a leak of four decades of documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialized in setting up offshore companies,” Reuters reports, with added value provided by the Beachwood.
“The ‘Panama Papers’ revealed financial arrangements of politicians and public figures including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain, Iceland and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine.
“While holding money in offshore companies is not illegal, journalists who received the leaked documents said they could provide evidence of wealth hidden for tax evasion, money laundering, sanctions busting, drug deals or other crimes.”
–
Villanova Makes Michael Jordan Really Cry
Wild finish by Wildcats takes us to Meme Town.
–
BeachBook
Bruce Rauner has spent a lot of time talking about his Turnaround Agenda to local Chambers of Commerce, but how well do they really represent businesses? Not well at all, it appears. Journalists should also take note that what chambers say doesn’t necessarily represent “the business community.” In other words, let’s not grant them an authority they haven’t earned.

–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Chambered.

Permalink

Posted on April 5, 2016