Our Great Mayor

By Kevin Robinson in News on Jul 20, 2007 1:00PM

That Mayor Daley. What a guy! When he isn't busy saving us from being the next Detroit, he's addressing the media with frustration and consternation.

After a 48 - 0 vote in the council yesterday, Daley's plan to divorce the Office of Professional Standards from the Police Department was approved. As part of his new plan to "restore public confidence", Da Mare will be bringing Los Angeles attorney Ilana B.R. Rosenzweig in to be the chief administrator of the new OPS. Two Chicagoans who were recommended to the mayor were passed over to bring Rosenzweig in to run the show. In her capacity as attorney for the Office of Independent Review, she was part of an organization that provided oversight of internal investigations of alleged misconduct, internal review of shootings and other uses of force by officers, as well as developing intervention programs for at-risk officers on the 15,000 person force.

In light of recent scandals in the Chicago Police Department, there is no question that something needs to be done. Bringing in someone with experience overseeing a police department (especially one with as a bad reputation as Los Angeles) certainly lends a great deal of credibility to the changes. The real challenge for Daley and his minions, of course, isn't appointing Rosenzweig to this post. It's how long she will stay, and how effective she will be in her new position. Will the mayor give her his full backing, and let her oversee the department while keeping his hands off her office? Or will she leave in frustration after a few years of beating her head against the Daley administration's wall? Only time will tell.

Speaking of credibility in the mayor's office, Nicholas Calabrese's testimony Tuesday in the Family Secrets mob trial didn't help Daley much. Discussing mob bombings at two suburban restaurants in the early 1980s, Calabrese indicated that Fred Barbara, a Daley friend from Bridgeport and nephew of the late 1st Ward Ald. Fred Roti, was involved in the bombings. Daley was, of course, pissed off. "I say it is ridiculous to place me in that position. That is how you [the media] do it, so I understand that," Daley told a Sun Times reporter that raised the issue.

It seems like corruption and crookedness is a public secret in this town. We're wondering how much longer it will be before US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald can make something stick to the mayor, and he finds himself under indictment as well.

Only time will tell.