Eleventh-hour compromise reached on civilian police review over Lightfoot’s objectionsFran Spielmanon June 18, 2021 at 2:54 pm

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th).
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) | Sun-Times file

The mayor was poised to suffer another bitter political defeat after a compromise was hammered out without her input that would give a civilian oversight panel the final say in disputes over police policy.

A City Council committee was poised Friday to hand Mayor Lori Lightfoot a bitter political defeat after hammering out a compromise that would give a civilian oversight panel the final say on police policy disputes.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) said the votes to approve the stronger oversight ordinance over Lightfoot’s strenuous objections in the Committee on Public Safety and in the full City Council were secured after proponents agreed to “split out” a binding referendum that, if passed, would give the civilian panel even broader powers.

“We know we don’t have the votes in the Public Safety Committee to pass that referendum. But we do have enough votes to pass the portions of the ordinance that do not include the referendum,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

“So, we agreed this morning to remove the referendum from the ordinance being voted on today. And that should secure us more than a majority in the committee to pass this.”

Lightfoot finally has delivered her own plan for civilian police oversight, but it did not include the sweeping policymaking, budgeting and hiring and firing powers she promised during the mayoral campaign.

Instead of allowing the seven-member commission she offered to create to choose Chicago’s police superintendent, Lightfoot would retain that coveted power for herself and future mayors.

Ramirez-Rosa championed the more extreme version of civilian oversight proposed by the Civilian Police Accountability Council before helping to forge the compromise with the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability.

The new compromise — minus the referendum — was hammered out without Lightfoot’s input, Ramirez-Rosa said. It would give the civilian oversight commission the final say in disputes over police policy.

The panel would also be empowered to take a vote of no-confidence in Chicago’s police superintendent that could set the stage for the top cop’s removal if the City Council agrees by a two-thirds vote, he said.

“The mayor was not part of these conversations. She had her opportunity to work with the coalition on meaningful civilian oversight. The ordinance that she introduced was not a serious proposal for civilian oversight,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

“Her staff reached out to us earlier this week and put nothing on the table. All they said was, ‘Will you postpone the vote?’ The vote’s been postponed how many times? How many years? It’s time to pass this ordinance.”

Public Safety Committee Chairman Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former Chicago Police officer, could not be reached for comment.

Like Lightfoot, he has argued that the mayor “wears the jacket” for public safety and needs to have the final say on police policy disputes and the fate of the police superintendent.

“It should be within the authority of the mayor to hire and fire the superintendent, the Police Board and the COPA administrator. If she’s gonna wear the hat for any good or bad that happens within the police department, she needs to be able to hire and fire the chief executive of those offices,” Taliaferro told the Sun-Times last month.

“I can’t imagine being the mayor of a municipality and you have no say-so in the direction of the police department.”

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to empower a civilian oversight panel to hire and fire the police superintendent and have the final word in disputes over police policy.

Civilian oversight was a pivotal recommendation by the Task Force on Police Accountability she co-chaired in the furor that followed the court-ordered release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.

But, after the election, Lightfoot changed her tune, just as she has on her support for an elected school board bill approved by the Illinois House this week over her strenuous objections.

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