Police & Fire Committee

A new aldercreature in charge since Ike went to jail:

• Mayor Richard Daley has named Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, to the influential post of City Council Police and Fire Committee chairman.
  
  “He’s very good,” Daley said today when asked why he picked Beale. “Anthony has a good career. He works very hard for his community. Up and coming political leader. He’s very good. Good government official. He works very hard in the community.”

And of course, Beale hates the police, so it's a win-win for Shortshanks:

• ...Anthony Beale (9th) — who has infuriated rank-and-file-police officers by targeting their supplemental pay and proposing more power for “rent-a-cops”...

It's not supplemental pay - it's contractual agreements whereby the police accepted lower salaries (which are pensionable) in return for increases in allowances granted for uniforms or availability for callback on days off. We did our part and saved the city millions of dollars a year by taking lower salaries than we could have demanded.

Of course, since the pension is now funded at something like 30% of obligations, we seem to have lost on all counts.