Begin the Charade

Here's the veneer of legitimacy to Chicago hiring:

• The Chicago Police Board said today it has begun accepting applications for a permanent successor to former police Superintendent Jody Weis.

  Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has said he hopes to name a new superintendent when he takes office on May 16.

  The applications are being accepted on the police board’s web site, ChicagoPoliceBoard.org, until April 11, Demetrius Carney, the board’s president, said in a statement. The police board is responsible for nominating three candidates for superintendent.

  The application requires candidates to describe their qualifications, “address important challenges facing the police department” and reveal if they have ever taken the 5th Amendment in a court proceeding.

  Among the four essay questions, applicants must explain how they would improve the morale of the department, a sore point for Weis, a former FBI agent seen as an outsider during his three-year term. Applicants are also asked how they would build on the department’s success in fighting violent crime. Last year murders were at their lowest since 1965.

And here's the link to the actual application. As stated above, the deadline is 11 April. Rahm already has his pick, so unless you have received the call, don't bother filling out the application. We did hear that at least three applications have been filled out in SCC's name, one of them by J-Fled himself who scrawled at the bottom, "If these bastards think they can do a better job...."

We don't know about better, but we couldn't do it worse. And we could do it cheaper, too.