Top cop McCarthy big topic of discussion in aldermen’s closed door meetings
MICHAEL SNEED sneed@suntimes.com February 21, 2013 9:44PM
While attending the University of Illinois Alumni Association luncheon in Beijing- China is home to 50,000 former Illini - Quinn dined on two Asian Carp dishes. The carp were caught in Illinois, transported to China and prepared by a local chef.
Updated: February 22, 2013 11:17AM
The McCarthy File…
It’s no secret Police Supt. Garry McCarthy is sitting on a hot seat.
♦ The big question: Is the Bronx bulldog, a respected top cop gleaned from (gasp!) New York, going to survive the nightmare of Chicago’s killing fields.
♦ Meeting No. 1: On Monday, Sneed is told, five members of the City Council’s Black Caucus met privately to discuss how to stop the killing spree.
♦ The upshot: “Let’s just say the meeting was held on a holiday and there was a lot of dead air and, well, McCarthy is not popular with some aldermen, who feel he is arrogant,” said a source who attended the meeting. “It wasn’t a dump McCarthy meeting, but McCarthy got dumped on,” the source added.
♦ The flipshot: A top source tells Sneed Ald. Willie Cochran, a former cop who has been critical of McCarthy and was present at the Monday meeting, seemed to be posturing for McCarthy’s job.
♦ The clipshot: “They want to know they are being heard,” the source said. “Yes, they expressed frustration dealing with McCarthy. Some feel better about McCarthy than others. But they didn’t call for his head. They are frustrated generally about what’s happening, period. For the most part they know it’s not McCarthy’s fault. They just want to feel they are being heard and they want to see results.”
♦ Support ‘em: State Sen Kwame Raoul, who is pushing for stiffer gun control legislation and is a big supporter of McCarthy, tells Sneed: This is not a police problem alone. This is a criminal justice systems problem.”
♦ Endorse ‘em: The Rev. Jimmy Daniels, who heads the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. tells Sneed: ‘I’m 100% behind the superintendent. The problems are the parents … absent parents. The caucus and the ministers need to stop blaming the mayor and the police superintendent. The gun alone doesn’t shoot people. People shoot people.”
Stay tuned.
The Peterson File….
It’s a classic case of the turn of the screw: Attorney Joel Brodsky, who was accused of misrepresenting convicted wife murderer Drew Peterson in Peterson’s unsuccessful appeal Thursday for a new trial, tells Sneed he and his wife have a dinner date Saturday night with an unlikely couple.
♦ Translation: The Brodskys are dining with the Rev. and Mrs. Neil Schiori, the pastor who testified Peterson’s missing wife, Stacy, told him she feared for her life and that Peterson had killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio .
The Jackson File…
Sneed hears the $43,000 gold-plated Rolex men’s watch purchased by former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson with campaign funds was actually bought for himself ... and not — as originally speculated — for a female acquaintance.
♦ To wit: “He wore it,” said a top source. “It’s just not clear whether he sold it for the cash — or just what happened to it.”
The Jackson File II…
Sneed is told attorneys for former Ald. Sandi Jackson will plead for no jail time for their client, but will argue for staggered jail sentences for the Jacksons so one parent can be home with their two children — if the judge orders jail time for both parents.
Obamarama…
Aloha! President Barack Obama told the Hawaiian press recently he still hasn’t made up his mind about where his presidential library will be located (yeah, right…it’s Chicago) and plans to spend a lot more time in Hawaii, his birthplace, after he retires from office. No kidding.
