In a Chicago Sun-Times column today, Neil Steinberg reported that Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline may be tapped to be head planner in charge of drawing up the Chicago 2016 security plans.
Steinberg writes:
I’m all for that. Cline is only 57, with plenty of good years left in him. Why bring in some perfumed security analyst from France who’ll have us all prisoners in our own city, squatting in the sun, our fingers laced behind our necks? A Chicago Olympics should be protected by a Chicago cop, and Phil Cline, for good and ill, is exactly that.
Isn’t this the same guy who just resigned as superintendent? (Cline is serving in the post only until a replacement is found.) In a department where corruption and brutality are almost a welcome part of the work environment (cough, Anthony Abbate) Cline was the great enabler, turning a deaf ear to what went on.
While Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley doesn’t believe the video hurt the city’s chances of getting the Olympics, bringing him on the Chicago 2016 campaign would. Phil Cline doesn’t belong in the mix.