Update: Our thanks to "Wombat." If you missed this rare appearance by Alderman Shiller, you can catch it again at 12:30am and 4:30am on WTTW Channel 11. Set your DVR's.Update #2: A link to the video clip is here.
Alert, alert! If you hurry, you can catch (@ 7pm) Ald. Shiller on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight." She is on to discuss Cmdr. Burge's police brutality charge as well as the mayor's budget with 2 other aldermen. Check it out now! We will link to the video of the broadcast once it's made available if you miss it.
She sounded scripted and a bit obtuse.
ReplyDeleteI think the host, Elizabeth, was frustrated with Helen's answers. She would never answer anything directly and would speak in circles. Nothing new.
ReplyDeleteEncore showings at 12:30 am and 4:30 in the AM.
ReplyDeleteSo if U missed it like Mua you can tape it or watch it later.
Isn't the larger story here the fact that John Burge has finally been arrested, and on some infintesimally smaller level, finally be held accountable?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to understand why so many Chicagoans still harbor mistrust of the police, it's because of John Burge.
Kenny,
ReplyDeleteIt's "Jon" Burge and citizens always mistrust cops going back to Romans and centurions.
As for Burge he is a major league scumbag, but using civil rights laws to go after him 20+ years later MAY be problematic. There is a reason for a Statute of Limitations. I'll have to read some more before I offer the definitive pirate opinion.
I'm wary of a government that is powerful enough to get someone so many years later.
It would have been so much easier if he had just fallen off his boat in Florida and got eaten by some gators. Of course the gators might die of food poisoning, but they would have died in a heroic effort eating his ample body.
And some people write "Schiller."
ReplyDeletemea culpa.
And I'm not talking about Romans, I'm talking about some Chicagoans, you know, the ones you like to slam on this blog for filming police officers here in Chicago. I'm just telling you that Jon Burge and his legacy has contributed to that mistrust here in Chicago.
and last I checked, there is no statute of limitations for murder, war crimes, or crimes against humanity. I'm more wary of a government who considers itself above the law in those respects, including torture.
Have a nice evening.
Kenny,
ReplyDeletethey are not charging Burge with torture. He is being charged with lying under oath. The statute of limitations on the torture charges ran out years ago. That may be not be "right", but it is the law.
That kind of "do anything" to get justice mentality is similar to how Burge and his UnMerry men would justify their actions.
The law matters. Rules matter. Procedure matter. We are a nation of laws and not men. If you are looking for justice in this life you ain't gonna find it.
Now you have a lovely evening.
I'm sorry, but this is what gets her to finally comment publicly?
ReplyDeleteNot the murder of Francis Oduro right outside her office.
Not the murder of Timothy Pittman across from a Boys & Girls Club and a school.
Not the unprecedented cost overruns and equipment shutdowns at Wilson Yard.
Not the roar of her constituents about gunshots fired across our retail corridors on summer afternoons when families are taking walks.
Not the many, many questions about what's going on at the McJunkin Building, where her office and that of her son are.
But -- a 20-year-old lying-under-oath accusation involving a really bad police commander who had NOTHING to do with Uptown... THAT's what she'll break her public silence about.
The woman is a nutjob.
Kenny you are comparing one extreme to the other.
ReplyDeleteSo a couple of idiot cops who took things to far should create a group of idiot citizens chasing around a whole police force with cameras and disrupt community events?
Im sorry, but my mother always told me two wrongs don't make a right.
But thanks for playing Kenny from Helens office.
Please stop maligning me, Chip. Once again, I'll remind you that I am in no way affiliated with Helen Shiller, nor have I ever voted for her in the ten years I've lived here.
ReplyDeleteCrikey! Is it really possible that a condo owner could have an opinion that doesn't agree with "the majority" of condo-owners? Why, I bet you think I have un-American ideas, too!
Perhaps I'll just refer to you as "Chip the Ditto-head."
What's REALLY interesting about the Jon Burge affair is the deer-in-the-headlights reaction of our esteemed emperor...er, mayor-for-life. Check out John Kass' column in today's Trib and you'll get the picture.
ReplyDeletethe 1st question was on Burge, but the main point of the panel was to check in with our elected official's efforts to balance Our Fair City's budget
ReplyDeleteShiller claimed she had a long list of creative ideas to get us out of our little half bil deficit
of course these 3 bright lights were 3 of the 50 who approved the last budget that got us in this mess
put this in your Politicians Notebook:
ReplyDeletenever utter a complete sentence, noun-verb-predicate, that might actually make a statement that you might be held to
spew a maelstrom of high-sounding sentence fragments
should you accidentally find yourself approaching the end of a sentence, quickly veer off in a new direction
the human brain is such that your listeners will involuntarily fill in the ellipses and you will sound smart without saying anything
Shiller explained that what we are hearing about police cuts is not necessarily a problem. She might support cuts in police if she can be convinced that they can be replaced with technology.
ReplyDelete"She might support cuts in police if she can be convinced that they can be replaced with technology."
ReplyDeleteYou mean, like robots?
That would be cool.
technology?
ReplyDeleteThis coming from a woman who you have to beg to get a police camera in an area.
I do like the robot idea, but why not Robocop? I havn't seen him in anything since 93'. I am sure he is available.
It was surprising how she tried to dominate the conversation. In the City's budget crisis, I'd really like to see the City focus on basics (police, fire, streets, garbage and water)and cut out all of the extra services. Make the CTA, the Schools and the Park District all seperate governmental agencies that can be held to more accountability. Finally, we don't need all of the extras like new flowers in all of the medians of the major streets every year, we don't need the Olympics (studies show that cities lose money) etc. Its a shame how the City just wastes money.
ReplyDelete