A committee of the hole
I’d really like to blame this latest development on our infamous Elgin city council Gang of Four (Dixon, Steffen, Powell, Rauschenberger), but while they certainly started this stupidity, they needed a little help from their more sensible council compatriots to pull it off.
So, yes! That halcyon body just moved to install a citizens review board for the police with the ostensible authority to make the final call on EPD disciplinary matters. And they’re going to do that despite this columnist warning them that:
- Applying racial and gender quotas to said board is patently illegal
- Barring law enforcement officers and veterans from serving the board is patently illegal
- The EPD’s union contract stipulates that, if an officer files a grievance, only an independent arbitrator can make a final determination.
Then corporation counsel Bill Cogley warned the council that:
- Applying racial and gender quotas to said board is patently illegal
- Barring law enforcement officers and veterans from serving the board is patently illegal
- The EPD’s union contract stipulates that, if an officer files a grievance, only an independent arbitrator can make a final determination.
But that didn’t stop them either!
At least they dropped the first two board stacking contentions before their semi-final vote, but we both know that won’t stop the Gang from making the same kind of biased political appointments that turned the citizens task force on policing into a running joke.
But the real clothes-less emperor conundrum is, once this brand-new board is up and running, aside from wasting even more time and taxpayer dollars, exactly what are they going to do? The only way they’ll ever gain any leverage over the disciplinary process is if the EPD contractually grants them that power, and the odds of that happening are significantly less than the Grand Cheeto pleading guilty to his 30-count indictment.
Why not just go ahead and set up a citizens board to oversee the weather? It would be just about as effective.
To be fair, this oversight board prospect passed 6 to 3 with Rose Martinez, Toby Shaw, and Steve Thoren voting against it, so it ain’t just the Gang of Four this round. Not to mention that police oversight boards are typically the result of a court order which bestows an implicit questionable reputation on the municipality involved.
Let’s make it even more difficult for the EPD to attract quality candidates, right?
Just don’t do it!
Despite almost 17 keyboard years covering all manner of law enforcement issues, I cannot, for the life of me, fathom the new “here’s what we’re not going to do” police public announcement dynamic. First, isn’t it kind of pointless to hold a press conference to explain what won’t be happening? It’s a lot like me issuing a press release covering that I won’t be jumping off the roof today.
Does it really have to be said?
And second, whenever you inform the knee-jerk loons on the ends of the political spectrum about what you’re not gonna do, it never turns out too well. Cases in point!
The process commenced with Republican DuPage County sheriff James Mendrick boldly proclaiming his office wouldn’t enforce the new Illinois assault gun ban. This, of course, was an even more pointless proposition than the new Elgin police board because the Illinois Supreme Court had already put it on hold pending their determination of its constitutionality.
But because he had to open his big mouth, the mostly Democratic DuPage county board threatened to censure him, and six separate congresspersons and with a horde of state legislators descended upon our hapless sheriff to the point where he finally had “clarify” his position to their satisfaction.
BTW, in this case, the word “clarify” means to “back down.”
All Mendrick had to do was quietly tell his deputies not to enforce the ban and keep his mouth shut and his snarling and growling critics would’ve been none the wiser.
Failing to learn from that stupid mistake, for some strange reason Kane County sheriff Ron Hain felt the need to issue a similar declaration indicating he “won’t proactively enforce the law.” The only thing that saved him from a DuPage-esque fate was the “D” beside his name and the local Dem’s fears of alienating their top 2022 vote getter.
But ironically, Hain managed to get in all kinds of hot water for correctly noting that Illinois Democrats couldn’t come up with a constitutional statute if you spotted them 563 words.
We’ve already discussed, at length, how Illinois sheriffs have neither the money nor the manpower to actively prosecute an assault gun ban rendering any public proclamation in that regard patently pointless.
Feeling a desperate need to get in on the “we’re not gonna do it act,” the Evanston Police Department, always a questionable proposition, just announced that they will not cooperate with any out-of-state agency seeking to prosecute a resident for getting an Illinois abortion.
Again, what’s the point? We’re already well aware that no department is under any obligation to work with any outside law enforcement entity, and to make that kind of public pronouncement only serves to create interstate animosities which puts the necessary multi-state efforts like human trafficking investigations at risk.
I don’t understand why, in an era when it’s incredibly difficult to be a police officer, some sheriffs/chiefs insist on making it worse. Reasonable people already know that no police department can possibly enforce every law on the books, so what’s the point in pointing it out to the nitwits who don’t get it and never will.
Just shut up and don’t do it!
Another prediction adjustment
Was it me who said Paul Vallas would destroy Brandon Johnson by 20 points in today’s Windy City mayoral duel? In light of the latest 538 blog research, I’m adjusting that number down to a far more likely 6-to-8-point Vallas victory.
My first silly mistake was assuming the pique directed at outgoing Mayor Lightfoot was part of a larger disappointment with her failed progressive policies. When you consider that Johnson sits two standard deviations to the left of Lightfoot, I thought he had absolutely no shot.
My second one was believing those politically savvy Second Citizens were smart enough to make that policy connection when they clearly aren’t. So, despite Johnson’s public safety and increased taxation policies being the stuff of nightmares, he’s still managed to convince 47 percent of Chicago voters that he’s their man.
Thankfully, he won’t get the chance to prove me right because, whether it’s by 20 or 6 percent, Vallas will still come out on top.
The more things change…
First it was WNBA star Brittney Griner and now it’s American Wall Street journalist Evan Gershkovic, who was arrested and is being illegally detained in Moscow on spying charges.
As despicable as that act is, considering Vladimir Putin’s utter disdain for anything approaching a reasonable morality, does this move really surprise anyone? For all the obvious reasons I abhor having to watch a reporter being used as a political pawn, but any American who willingly stays in Russia is simply playing a game of the roulette named for that country.
So, I’ll say it again! Any foreign national who doesn’t blatantly support that war criminal needs to leave Russia, NOW! And shame on the Wall Street Journal for putting any journalist at that unconscionable risk.
