CITY HALL — Two powerful voting blocs in the City Council are pulling Mayor Rahm Emanuel in different directions over the next police superintendent.
The Council's Black Caucus issued a call Thursday for a chance to interview the three finalists in the process to replace former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, fired in December shortly after the release of the Laquan McDonald video.
The Latino Caucus joined that call Friday, sending a letter to Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th), chairman of the Public Safety Committee, to request a hearing Thursday on the selection process — including Police Board President Lori Lightfoot and the three final candidates her panel submitted to the mayor.
Yet Latino aldermen had their own separate reasons for taking action.
"This process has been backwards and insulting to citizens from the beginning," said Ald. George Cardenas (12th), chairman of the Latino Caucus. "No information was given to the council about candidates, not a single Latino candidate was chosen to be a finalist, and the Police Board has repeatedly said they refuse to start the process over. This is simply unacceptable."
That came a day after the Black Caucus took much the same position — from an African-American perspective.
"The next [Police Department] superintendent must demonstrate a commitment to transparency, accountability and an end to the culture that has led to the use of excessive force and the ‘Blue Wall’ of silence,” said Black Caucus Chairman Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th). “But we cannot determine which candidate will be most dedicated to these priorities without the opportunity to meet with all the candidates face to face and ask them the questions all of our constituents want answered."
At the same time, the Black Caucus demanded that Emanuel select an African-American from within the Chicago Police Department — without actually naming Deputy Police Chief Eugene Williams, the only finalist to fit that description.
The other two finalists presented to Emanuel by the Police Board are former Spokane, Wash., chief Anne Kirkpatrick and former Rochester, N.Y., chief Cedric Alexander.
Yet the Council's Latino Caucus already has gone on record stating that interim Police Supt. John Escalante should not only be considered as a finalist, but should be promoted to the position.
"We are tired of Latinos being used for interims," Ald. Milly Santiago (31st) said last week.
She pointedly added, "The African-American community has had their chance to have a black superintendent."
Santiago expanded on that Friday, saying, "Time and time again, Latinos have shown that they are good enough to step in during a crisis, but not good enough to take the official reins. This needs to stop and we need to know what the Police Board process is."
That's left Emanuel between a rock and a hard place.
"The mayor is looking for the best-qualified candidate to provide the level of safety all residents deserve, rebuild the trust that’s essential for community policing, continue the work that’s been done to reform the Police Department and earn the trust of Chicago’s police officers to lead them," mayoral spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said Friday. "This is a step-by-step process that includes a public hearing and vote in City Council."
The Emanuel administration says the mayor remains in close contact with former Police Supt. Terry Hillard and former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey as a way of seeking out both African-American and police support for his ultimate selection.
Yet that does not address the demands of the Latino Caucus.
"We keep getting ignored," Cardenas said Friday.
Cardenas pointed to the lack of big-city experience of both Kirkpatrick and Alexander, saying their posts in Spokane and Rochester were "not comparable at all with the issues that we have here, and the culture of violence we have had here for many decades."
He referred to the city's street violence as "combat" and said experience in dealing with that sort of environment was "critical."
He insisted "the search was flawed" in that it endorsed one Chicago Police candidate, Williams, without making Escalante a finalist.
So later Friday the Latino Caucus formally requested that Reboyras hold a hearing on the selection process. Reboyras agreed, scheduling the meeting for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
"Our city is suffering a crisis of confidence," the caucus said in a letter to Reboyras signed by nine aldermen. "The only fair and just process is one that is transparent and open to the public and City Council. We therefore urge that Police Board President Lori Lightfoot be present along with the currently nominated candidates."
Cardenas said Emanuel had given no indication he is considering Escalante as a finalist, but that it's only common sense, as the mayor already appointed him to the position on an interim basis.
Cardenas, like the Black Caucus, pointed out the public hearing Emanuel intends would not involve aldermen.
"The mayor makes these decisions. This is why he's mayor," Cardenas said. "I'm not going to usurp his authority and what he needs to do, because he's gonna own those decisions.
"All of us want the best option for the city," he added. "We really need to find the right person."
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