Bill, the Bitter Loser

HUGE post - set aside some time for this one.

If you haven't gotten this in the mail yet, you will shortly. Aside from the fact that this is poorly written, full of half-truths and lies and mostly incoherent, it's an article written by someone who is supposed to be dealing with FOP business and communicating it to the membership via a newsletter paid for by all of us, active and retired members. The newsletter isn't a soapbox for Bill's whining, but that's what this is. We're going to have to spank him:

• Second City Cop - A Cancer to Our Membership

Well thanks for the plug Bill. We don't recall seeing the blog on a list of cancer-causing materials put out by the CDC, but we assume you have inside info on that, just like you had inside info on the letter that never got sent, right? Oh wait, you didn't know shit...you said that a number of times.

• Second City Cop has been in existence for a while now, and even though many officers don't like to admit that they read it, we know that many of our members do. In fact, I think many of you would be shocked to learn that FOP receives several phone calls per day from our members asking if something they saw on the blog is true. I doubt many of you would believe that is a good use of our resources, but that’s probably another topic for another day.

Nine years Bill. Almost as long as you were in office. We don't think anyone would be shocked at the number of calls FOP received, but keeping the members informed to the point that they don't have to call seems to have been a failing of your last few years. As for another day, your day has passed by a vote of 5021 - 4548.

• Who runs this site? It could be anyone. A patrolmen, supervisor, exempt rank or a civilian? We don't know. We also don’t know who comments on the posts. Hundreds of anonymous comments are put up every day. Yet, it could be the same five people posting, or hundreds of different people. We have no idea.

We're cops Bill. We've said as much. The rest is by design. You know exactly what would happen if we were widely known, along with our commentators. It's isn't five people Bill. It's thousands who read it, hundreds who comment.

• Comments are only posted after approval. Yet, there isn't a day that goes by without comments being posted that have no factual basis to them. Whoever runs this blog has the power to decide what they want our members to believe is popular opinion on a particular topic, just by deciding what posts they will put up. Part of this article is certainly personal for me. I have been lied about on the blog over and over again. I understand that comes with the territory as an elected official. But in the past few months lies have been posted about my wife and children, and there is nothing I can do about it. Comments trying to refute those lies don’t get posted.

Oh Bill, we could say the same thing about your website. Comments aren't even permitted there, are they? It's great being able to control the message when dissent isn't even allowed to be spoken, isn't it? And as we've stated numerous times, 95-to-97% of comments go through as long as they follow the rules in the right hand column - even yours. As for the lies, you have a computer. Refute them. You have a website. Confront them. Don't just sit there and whine about how it's part of the "territory as an elected official." No shit Sherlock. But as a leader, you are supposed to confront it, address it, rise above it. You don't ignore it and hope it will go away. You're representing 10,000 people - act like it.

We notice that even in this screed against us, you don't address a single "untruth" about anything. You've had months to address allegations that you've found/created/"clouted" relatives into jobs with organizations affiliated with the FOP, and you say nothing at all about it? What's up with that? You haven't e-mailed us except for that one incident about the military vet running for your old spot...and that turned out to be 100% true.

• That said, my concerns about the blog are much bigger than the lies that have been told about me and my family. The blog gets 16,858 hits per day on average. It is not just the police reading the blog. I have worked at FOP for the past twelve years. I have sat in countless meetings with the City at the negotiating table. I have met with members of the press numerous times. They all read the blog.
  
  “Who cares,” you might be thinking, which brings me to my point. You should. Like it or not, public perception of the Police, and Unions in general, has not been good lately. The press has not been kind to us, and neither has this Mayor. Our pensions are under fire constantly, and the average citizen in Chicago could care less if we get the money we were promised.

But Phil Cline banned us from Department computers. Jody Weis said we were insignificant. McCarthy has ignored us, laughed at us, dismissed us out of hand. Now suddenly, we're next to the seat of power? In your dreams...or nightmares.

And we're to blame for the bad press? We didn't set hiring standards that let people like Abbate slip through. We aren't running investigations of the former mayor's nephew. We're not out there getting drunk, raping women, picking up suicidal headcases, sticking up dope dealers,etc etc etc. Rahm is our fault? We spoke up for Chico - Shields gave Rahm cufflinks. And we're sounding the alarm on pensions every time we get a handle on something - you were endorsing politicians who voted to fuck us, gave them our PAC money, supported Machine candidates over cops. And you're going to blame the blog?

• What does the blog have to do with this? Well, I certainly don’t like the blog targeting me and my family. How do you think the Superintendent feels about being called “McStreetlight, McBarstool, McDummy, McFartNoise, McBudweiser, McStupid, McWrong-Choice, and McLookAtMe?” The Chicago Police Department is a paramilitary organization.
  
  We should be better than that. Like him or not, the Superintendent is our boss, and our most direct link to City Hall. Do you think he is going to be inclined to fight for wage increases for us when we are constantly posting anonymous insults about him on a blog that thousands of people read every day? I doubt it

First up, we are NOT a para-military organization. Stop with that bullshit. We are a QUASI-military organization that has a delineated rank structure. Para-military organizations would put the CPD to shame.

And....hold on....you actually think that McCarthy is "our most direct link to City Hall"? Are you claiming that the FOP had anything to do with the selection of the Superintendent of Police? The FOP held interviews? The FOP reviewed applications? Rahm asked for the FOP input?

You think that McCarthy is going to go to bat for a raise for us????

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh lord, are you fucking delusional. Here's a clue Billy - McCarthy is Rahm's Creation. Rahm calls him at 2 AM and McCarthy answers on the first ring. Rahm orders out for cream cheese blintzes and McCarthy has them delivered fresh from a New York deli. Rahm farts and McCarthy's nose twitches.

..."fight for wage increases for us..." Are you kidding?? No Bill, that was your fucking job and Shields and everyone else down at Washington Street. And your crew blew it and now you're paying the price at the ballot box.

• Do you think the press is going to be inclined to be fair to the police, when our blog is constantly referring to people on the South and West side as “savages,” among other unprintable things (in this non-anonymous newsletter)? Once again, I doubt it. Again, you might be wondering why we should care what the press writes about us? Well, if public perception doesn’t start to turn around, it is going to become nearly impossible to protect our pensions. Why would our legislature fight to protect us if the voters don’t like the police? And the average voter does not like stories about the police abusing “savages,” per their own blog

Whoa whoa whoa. Now it's "...our blog..."? You're taking possession of what you've been denying your whole article? An article written on our dime by the way.We've stated here time and time again, "savage" refers to the behavior of individuals engaged in criminal activities. Any "racist dog whistles" you're hearing are of your own making. Don't pin that crap on us. You're more than welcome to start a blog and run it the way you want. We'd welcome someone of your immense talent to contribute to informing the readers.

As for the press, once again, pardon our laughter - BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You think they're going to print anything that Rahm doesn't tell them to? You think they printed anything Daley wanted kept quiet? We remember some of your compatriots complaining long and loud after General Meetings about how they call the press, set up press conferences, beg for a reporter, any reporter to come out and cover something the FOP wants covered, yet somehow they can't even spare a cub reporter, a free-lance writer or a pool cameraman to swing by most days. The press is bought and paid for Bill, and the FOP wasn't anywhere near the bidding when it happened. You probably should have been getting Joravsky to sit in on things.

• The blog is a cancer to our membership and to the police in general. The lying and the character assassination have got to stop.

And again with the "cancer"? Geez dude, we had this website up and running long before you guys had anything up on the internet. We were interactive while your site is still propaganda press releases. We were promoting CPD events long before your site and we started notifying people about court appearances for murdered officers long before you stole it from us. We don't mind - you should have been doing it anyway as the official voice of the rank-and-file, but you can't even keep up on death notices nowadays.

When we posted pictures of leaking sewage in locker rooms, we got results long before your safety grievances. When a commander threatened Officers' careers over his son's gun arrest, we got him removed. We've done far more good than you give us credit for and done a better job of keeping everyone in the loop on stuff. We didn't campaign against you, but we told everyone exactly why we weren't going to waste a vote on anyone who was listed on the inside cover of the FOP Book. That's our Right as an FOP member. And just because we're better at a hobby entertaining 16,000 people a day for free than you were at what used to be your job, we're the bad ones? Go fuck yourself.

Welcome back to Patrol Bill. Let us know if you need to learn your way around a PDT - we'll put in for FTO pay.