McCarthy Faces Tough Questions From City Council, Gets Backing From Emanuel
UPDATED: 10:39 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A day after most black aldermen called on him to be fired, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy went before the City Council and faced some tough questions during budget hearings Tuesday afternoon.
McCarthy appeared before the City Council's Budget Committee to discuss the mayor's spending plan for the Police Department in 2016. The hearing was chaired by Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), who was among the aldermen calling for McCarthy's ouster, despite her frequent allegiance with Emanuel.
West Side Alderman Jason Ervin is one of those calling for McCarthy to be fired, and told the superintendent that promises to do something different about drugs haven't been kept.
"Folks sell dope like it's candy," Ervin said. "Folks sell cigarettes like it's candy, but yet we're still talking about the same thing."
But McCarthy says there are new efforts.
"We took one of our best narcotics investigators, we promoted him to captain and we put him in charge of all of those resources on the West Side," McCarthy said.
Ninth Ward Ald. Anthony Beale was especially critical, if not personal: "Not once have you walked in my community since you've been superintendent."
"Not once have you taken my phone call to listen to the concerns that I'm trying to bring before you.
"Superintendent you have been extremely disrespectful to every member of this body."
Lakeview Alderman Tom Tunney proved it's more than black aldermen with concerns. He says numbers of patrols are down in his ward. McCarthy admits some areas do have fewer cops.
Roughly two thirds of the council still support the superintendent, who patiently answered questions.
But the battle lines have been drawn. Even though the hearing ended Alderman Austin saying, "I have seen a different Garry because the one thing that I have seen that I have not seen in the past, and that is compassion."
Afterward, McCarthy told reporters, ""That's one of the biggest surprises that I got today was her statement about a different Garry. I try to be very consistent."
McCarthy was in the hot seat for nearly five hours.
Earlier in the day, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was standing by the city's top cop, and said police are not the only ones responsible for reducing crime.
McCarthy says eventually he'll be out of this job but for now, there's still a lot of work he has to do.
Emanuel said he stands by McCarthy, despite calls from members of the City Council Black Caucus that the superintendent be replaced; but the mayor said he understands the aldermen's frustrations, and empathizes with them.
"You have communities and families whose lives are affected by gun violence, and I understand the frustration that builds up in that effort. My focus – and I would want everybody's focus – is on gangs and guns, not on Garry," he said.
The mayor said the issue of violent crime is a complicated one, also involving the courts, culture, and even values in communities; and to put everything on the police would be wrong.
"I stand by the superintendent, but I also stand by the police department, and the men and women we just recognized and honored, because every day they're doing a very difficult task; dealing with a series of issues and challenges," he said.
McCarthy himself put off any verbal response to calls for his ouster before he faced aldermen at the budget hearing. As he entered the City Council chamber Tuesday morning, McCarthy would not talk about the Black Caucus' call for him to go, or the aldermen's feelings about him.
"I'll talk about that later on. Let's concentrate on what we're going to do now," he said. "You guys are going to have to hang, that's all there is to it."
The superintendent was focusing on the Carter Harrison and Lambert Tree Awards ceremony at City Hall, where the mayor, McCarthy, and Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago will honor police officers and firefighters for bravery.
"This event? This is great. People ask me why I do my job, and when you hear the stories that these men and women do, that's exactly the reason," he said.
The vast majority of the 18-member City Council Black Caucus have called on the mayor to fire McCarthy, saying street violence continues to be too high after more than four years with McCarthy at the helm of the Police Department.
Caucus Chairman and 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer said residents are fed up with violence, drugs and other crimes on their streets and he says McCarthy hasn't kept the promises he's made.
The news comes after an especially violent September. In two weekends alone, more than 100 people were shot in rampant street gang attacks.
Compared to the first nine months of last year, murders were up 21 percent through the end of September. Shooting incidents were up 19 percent, and the number of shooting victims was up 14 percent.
Overall crime – including robberies, burglaries, and thefts – was down 7 percent.