Daley's Flawless Logic

Shortshanks speaks:

• Mayor Daley said Monday he does not share his police superintendent's extreme case of nerves about a wave of police retirements next year because the economy stinks and there are "no jobs out there."

  "Retirement is very questionable because of the economy outside. You can't get jobs," the mayor told reporters at an unrelated event.

  "Usually when people retire, they'll be able to get a second job. That's very, very difficult today. Very difficult. ... There's no jobs out there."

Usually, when people retire, they don't want a second job. The point of retirement is to retire and move away, hopefully somewhere warmer and with less crime.

Granted, they might need to get a job to make ends meet. They might just like to keep busy. But we've noticed when cops need to get a retirement job, it isn't that difficult, and a poor economy makes a security gig that much more available. Many cops get away from the "hired gun" mentality all together and go into something that was just a hobby for them in years past.

The article, aided and abetted by Fran Spielman, continues a couple of Daley's more recent lies:

• "Sure everybody's concerned about any type [of mass exodus]. We just had a huge retirement in the Fire Department. So, you start putting in classes right away. ... You start replacing them," the mayor said.

  Daley was reminded that his 2010 budget uses federal stimulus money to add just 86 officers, 30 of them for the CTA, after hiring only 46 police officers this year.

  "That's why we're going through arbitration on the whole increase [for police officers]. There was 16 percent on the table over five years. They said it wasn't enough. They want 25 or 30 [percent]. That's a lot of money. Taxpayers have to pay it," he said.

What the heck are these 30 "CTA" police? They don't have their own police force, do they? This isn't Special Employment money all of the sudden, is it? And the 16% over five years was pulled by Daley - 16% over four years would have gone over like gangbusters and we wouldn't be in this arbitration right now, but Daley pulled it off the table and the FOP never demanded, asked or inquired about 25% or 30%. That's an out-and-out lie and now it's out there as "greedy police" thanks to Fran.