Daley responds to Sharpton

Uh-oh, I'm curious as to know what Mayor Daley has to say about the new man in town. From today's Sun-Times...

Without mentioning the Rev. Al Sharpton by name, Mayor Daley today ridiculed the New York civil rights leader’s suggestion that Daley is “getting a pass” on the issue of police abuse.

Sharpton is setting up shop in Chicago this week — by opening a local chapter of his National Action Network, a New York-based civil rights organization — because he believes police abuse is a chronic problem here and that local leaders have failed to hold the mayor’s feet to the fire.

Daley considers the suggestion ludicrous — especially after enduring years of negative headlines tied to the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals, and the controversy over police torture allegations against former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge.

“All the headlines you ran against me for two years — I did nothing right in Chicago under your headlines. You know. You wrote the articles. Look at every headline. You wrote articles about everything [negative] about Mayor Daley,” the mayor told a Chicago Sun-Times reporter.

Still seething about what he considers the newspaper’s guilt-by-association attempts to link him to a Bridgeport trucker implicated in the mob-related bombing of a suburban restaurant, the mayor said, “I take responsibility for everything and people judged me last February [with a landslide re-election to a sixth term.] And whether it’s police abuse or . . . citizen abuse in law enforcement, it is serious.”

Pressed on whether he “takes exception” to Sharpton’s claim, Daley said, “I didn’t take exception. I just said that you wrote every major headline against me. So, that’s your gig. We understand that. Police understand that, too. One minute you hit ‘em. And the next day, you’re gonna be nice to ‘em.”

Asked point-blank what he thinks of Sharpton setting up a Chicago outpost, the mayor said, “No comment.”

Police Committee Chairman Isaac Carothers (29th) was equally reluctant to engage or antagonize Sharpton. In fact, the alderman said Sharpton has “done some good work” in New York City, which has some “some real difficult problems regarding policing.”

But Carothers argued that it’s patently absurd to suggest that Daley is indifferent to police abuse.

“We just passed a brand new ordinance regarding [the police department’s Office of Professional Standards, which investigates police misconduct allegations.] The mayor just appointed a brand new administrator, an outsider, an independent person [to run] OPS. I don’t really think that’s a pass. I think that’s a step in the right direction,” Carothers said.

This'll shake things up, I think.