Is Ex-Top Cop Garry McCarthy Plotting A Mayoral Run? There's Now An Exploratory Committee

By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 14, 2017 10:46PM

Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson / November 2015

Is the former top cop that Mayor Rahm Emanuel canned in the wake of the Laquan McDonald planning a mayoral run, to topple his former boss? Former Supt. Garry McCarthy has not confirmed a run, but paperwork was filed on Wednesday with the state Board of Elections that establishes a committee "to explore the prospect of the candidacy of Garry McCarthy for Mayor of Chicago."

Neither the committee's chairman nor the treasurer have commented publicly about the filing, but it represent the most formal step forward we've seen yet. A mayoral run by McCarthy has been speculated for months, with campaign buttons even popping up mysteriously over the summer.

Despite the filing, a run is still nothing certain. As the Tribune points out, he told the paper in July a campaign was "probably unlikely."

McCarthy was fired as the police department's top cop in December of 2015 as anger swirled and demonstrations mounted in the wake of the (delayed) release of video that showed the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

McCarthy said last year of his firing, "Somebody had to take the fall." He was fairly prominent in the national media spotlight for a short stretch late last year and early in 2017 (including telling a New York radio station in January that anti-police brutality protests fuel crime), but has largely kept out of the media focus since that time.

One thing's for sure: Whatever he does say next will be very much of note.