Rahm Emanuel is facing a new challenger. Fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy threw a wrench in the mayor’s reelection plans Wednesday.
Emanuel dismissed McCarthy in 2015. Public pressure after a high-profile police shooting left Emanuel feeling as though he had to appease his constituents’ thirst for revenge. Now his decision is coming back to haunt him.
“This administration has brought us our failed education system, the overwhelming tax burden on hard-working people, and the violent crime that plagues the entire city,” McCarthy said in his campaign announcement.
“Over the past year, thousands of Chicagoans have approached and encouraged me to run for mayor to fix these problems.”
McCarthy has had a long, respectable career in law enforcement. He headed the Newark, New Jersey police department before transferring to Chicago. McCarthy was doing a good job getting the city in order when police officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.
People were outraged. Someone had to take the fall, and Emanuel decided it should be McCarthy.
Chicago’s crime rate hasn’t gotten any better since McCarthy was ousted.
“Between the taxes, our economy, the schools and the crime rate here, we’re a laughingstock in America,” McCarthy said.
“The prevailing thought about Chicago is we’re on our way down in all those areas, and they all infect each other, and nobody seems to get that. It’s almost like a ‘Wake up, Chicago’ moment.”
Emanuel’s reelection is far from certain. Tempers have cooled and Chicagoans no longer blame McCarthy for McDonald’s death. The former police chief said that he plans to make the shooting, and Emanuel’s poor response to it, a central part of his campaign.
“The simple fact is, I was allowed by law to take one action in the Van Dyke case, and that was to put him on paid desk duty,” McCarthy said.
(Source: New York Post)