What do 34 aldermen know that Mayor Brandon Johnson apparently doesn’t?
The arguments for and against ShotSpotter, the gunshot-detection technology in place in parts of Chicago afflicted with violent crime, are familiar by now. Opponents — and they seem to be dwindling in number by the week — keep trotting out rhetoric about how ShotSpotter doesn’t prevent gun violence or do much to help solve crimes. They conveniently ignore that the debate, though, long ago moved past those issues and now is centered on how ShotSpotter enables quicker police and emergency response times when people are shot. As we’ve said several times on this page, ShotSpotter can help save lives that otherwise would be lost, and potentially prevent retaliatory attacks.
The time for debating is over.
Now the future of ShotSpotter really is all about politics and the will of the majority. In the face of an overwhelming City Council revolt, Johnson continues to insist he will end the contract with the company that owns ShotSpotter in late November when the deal expires. This after the council voted 34-14 — a veto-proof majority — to preserve the right to keep the technology in wards of aldermen who want it. We don’t recall such a lopsided rebuke to any Chicago mayor, even hearkening back to the darkest days of Council Wars in the 1980s.
“This passage, whatever it was, has no bearing on my executive authority,” Johnson told reporters afterwards.
“Whatever it was.” Please. What it was, of course, was democracy in action.
It’s fair to say most if not all of Chicago’s 50 aldermen are better tuned into the desires of their constituents than the mayor, given the nature of his responsibilities. If 34 of them are willing to incur the mayor’s wrath over something he’s said is a done deal, it’s fair to conclude the majority of residents in their wards feel the same way. In other words, Mr. Mayor, there now is considerable evidence that the city wants to keep ShotSpotter.
A more adept and pragmatic leader than Johnson would acknowledge this political reality and figure out a deft way to escape from the trick box in which he finds himself. Johnson apparently believes that would be seen as a sign of weakness. To some degree, he’s right given how he’s left himself no wiggle room on ShotSpotter. But it’s not too late for him to take his lumps, move on and pick bigger battles to wage — ones for which he can win a majority of council support.
Here’s what truly does expose how politically weak this mayor is: Enduring City Council vote after vote on the same issue, even as the technology in question continues to be deployed.
The people have spoken, through their elected representatives. Mayors who do the opposite of what Chicagoans want don’t typically succeed while in office. Or win second terms.
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