Local leaders divided on McCarthy firing

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - In recent days, some city and county politicians had called for CPD’s Garry McCarthy to lose his job. Others, though, claimed McCarthy was being blamed for problems he didn't create.

“I think the mayor's entitled to take whatever steps he thinks are appropriate to address the challenges he faces,” County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said.

Preckwinkle says she told Mayor Rahm Emanuel several days ago that Garry McCarthy must go. Tuesday, she declined to step further into the controversy, refusing to endorse the mayor's task force or a particular candidate to replace McCarthy. 

“I think he'll get the superintendent he wants,” Preckwinkle said Tuesday.
“This is something that occurred over many, many months,” Ald. Roderick Sawyer told FOX 32 News.

On the day after the Laquan McDonald video surfaced, Alderman Roderick Sawyer - the leader of the City Council's Black Caucus - held a press conference demanding that McCarthy step down. But Sawyer says McCarthy's failures were evident long before last week, including his attempts to connect with community leaders over the summer.

“I won’t' say it's a sham, but I think the community meetings went horribly wrong because only certain people were invited to attend. They were not open community meetings, and people were upset about that.”

But Northwest Side Alderman Nicholas Sposato, whose constituents include hundreds of police officers, says McCarthy should not have been dumped.

“I think he's a scapegoat. Yes, undeserved. Maybe change needed to be made, but I think it could have been done a little different, It happened due to pressures from all over the place calling for his firing. So I just don't think it's right.”

Forty Ninth Ward Alderman Joe Moore, however, suggested the Mayor has no alternative.

“I'm afraid, he really had no choice. Perhaps it wasn't fair to Superintendent McCarthy, but as all of us who have been around for a while know, life isn't always fair,” he told FOX 32 News Tuesday.

None of the officials FOX 32 News spoke with suggested that Mayor Emanuel himself has lost the public's trust. Although Alderman Moore said nobody will know for sure until - and if – Mayor Rahm Emanuel runs for re-election in 2019.