Rewrite Chicago Police union contract to better oust rogue cops

In reaction to constituent pressure, the City Council’s black caucus has sought Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s head on a plate as the fall guy for all the gang-on-gang shootings in the black communities. That lame effort to save face crumbled under its own weight.

The McDonald dashcam video release now prompts Aldermen Roderick Sawyer and Howard Brookins to bemoan the 400-day delay by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to prosecute the cop who shot him and the possibility of street unrest in response to the video. Yet they were complicit in approving the $5 million preemptive settlement with the McDonald family back on April 13, when no lawsuit had been filed or threatened. If they are supposedly disturbed by the prosecution timeline today, why didn’t they hold a press conference seven months ago when asked to approve the payout and question the entire case back then?

It’s hard to know who is most guilty of political hypocrisy in this foul case, the mayor’s office, the attorney general’s office, or the Chicago aldermen, starting with Brookins and Sawyer. McCarthy serves with the mayor’s approval, so the superintendent does not make a logical scapegoat, although his timing in firing cop Dante Servin now — months after backing him despite his having irresponsibly shot into a crowd killing an innocent woman — does raise eyebrows.

Better they should all form a united front in rewriting the police contract that seems to preempt the prosecution of cops gone wrong. Chicago’s civil society is at stake. Rogue police actions undermine the entire city.

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park

Unexplained silence on Ted Cruz

According to the Sun-Times/ USA TODAY, Sen. Ted Cruz is rising in the Republican polls. This can’t be the same Ted Cruz who was born in Canada and held dual citizenship in both Canada and the USA for most of his life. If it were, wouldn’t The Donald, followed by the tea party and the religious right, be calling for his birth certificate?

If it is that Canadian-born Ted Cruz, why are these people silent on his foreign birth? After all, these are the same people who led the charge that President Barack Obama was foreign-born even though his birth certificate came from Hawaii.

Bob Barth, Edgewater

Mayoral disgrace

Neil Steinberg nailed it perfectly with his analysis of the press conference surrounding the murder of Laquan McDonald. This mayor cares only about how he is impacted when police misconduct surfaces. Steinberg is also correct in his listing of the examples of Mayor Rahm Emanuel failures on multiple levels. The mayor is a disgrace to this city and has made Chicago a sad punch line to the nation.

Edward Juillard, Morgan Park

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