Several months before Laquan McDonald was shot dead, before a multi-million dollar settlement was paid to his estate, the chief co-sponsor for the “Recall Rahm” bill raised the issue of police accountability with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and then-police superintendent Garry McCarthy. But they stonewalled her efforts.
“I never got a one-on-one with the mayor,” Flowers says. “No returned call, no returned letter, and not even a form letter acknowledging the office received my letter.”
After delivering a brief, in-kind response that mirrored McCarthy’s act of intimidation-noting that she “has the whole state’s problems to address”-Flowers and her staffer exchanged no further words with McCarthy or his first deputy. They gathered their belongings and left.
In the many months that followed, Flowers says Emanuel remained silent, as he had before. She also heard nothing from the Chicago Police Department. That silence has persisted in the days since state representative La Shawn Ford filed House Bill 4356 , which Flowers backed in short order.
“This is an issue I saw coming and I wanted to get ahead of it,” Flowers noted. “I wasn’t even given an opportunity to have that conversation.”
