How is it possible that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara can share headline-grabbing comments regarding the COVID-19 vaccination by Chicago cops, and we hear absolutely nothing from Chicago’s top cop?
Leadership starts at the top. And here’s what my training as a U.S. Marine and 33 years of being a Chicago cop tell me: If clearer heads did not prevail, the mayor’s vaccine mandate could have left Chicago with maybe 50% of an already depleted force to police a city that needs all the help it can get.
SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be approximately 350 words or less.
Several Chicago aldermen are on record with input, news sources have weighed in editorially with their opinion, and yet one of the most prominent voices who should be heard from is silent — Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown.
Chicago cannot afford a leader who is just a rubber stamp for the mayor. He or she is hired for expertise in policing matters, and to not have that input is a glaring insult to not only citizens of Chicago, but also for the rank and file members of the department who look to their leaders for an opinion one way or another.
Another thing the Marine Corps taught me is that during tough times leaders should lead, follow or get out of the way.
Silence is unacceptable.
Bob Angone, retired Chicago Police lieutenant
We need a national charging network
I am definitely not opposed to electric cars, but trying to sell them to the public before a national charging network is in place is like trying to sell ice cubes in Alaska. Electric cars were among the first self-propelled vehicles in early 1900s, but there was no way to charge on the road, and Americans love the road.
A standardized national charging system has to be built BEFORE electric cars become the norm. Besides, most new electric vehicles are not even being delivered yet because the industry just isn’t ready.
Mike Zaczek, Orland Park
Lobbyists over people
As a lifelong Democrat, I feel compelled to point out the obvious corruption of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema regarding President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.
Manchin is in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry, and Sinema, likewise, is funded by big pharma. No coincidence then, that Manchen opposes renewable energy funding and Sinema opposes provisions that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies.
Sinema enraged progressive Democrats when she killed the minimum wage increase, and Manchin’s talk of preserving bipartisanship and not wanting to have an “entitlemen”’ society isn’t fooling anyone.
Richard Keslinke, Algonquin
Some familiar advice
I have some advice for all the members of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine, and it is advice they can understand — “Stop Resisting.”
Don Anderson, Oak Park
