Sweet: Obama's push for criminal justice reform comes to Chicago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is bringing his criminal justice reform crusade to Chicago on Tuesday, as top advisor Valerie Jarrett disagreed with FBI Director James Comey’s suggestion that the so-called “Ferguson effect” is a factor in a spike in violent crimes.

“There is no available evidence that supports the notion that law enforcement officers are shying away from doing their jobs,” Jarrett said in a phone interview previewing Obama’s visit back home.

On Tuesday, after Air Force One lands at O’Hare Airport, Obama heads to McCormick Place to deliver a speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police 122nd Annual IACP Conference and Exposition.

After that, Obama headlines two fundraisers: A roundtable for about 16 or 20 to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hosted by PowerReviews, Inc. CEO Matt Moog and his wife Lucy at his company’s Loop headquarters. The tab for the event is $33,400.

Following the roundtable, Obama is the draw at a dinner to raise money for the Democratic National Committee and to retire debt from his Obama for America presidential campaign fund. The cost ranges from $10,000 per guest to $33,400 per couple for the dinner at the Near North Side Public Hotel hosted by D’Rita and Robbie Robinson, an executive at BDT Capital Partners.

Obama’s ongoing push for criminal justice reform – a legacy issue for the first African American president – has stepped up in recent weeks and “is a top priority of the president, an effort that we will be giving a lot of time and attention to for the duration of his term in office,” Jarrett said.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch will also be speaking at the police convention – where the Obama administration has flooded the zone with about 75 officials in all coming in for the massive meeting of 14,000 law professionals and 700 companies that sell to the law enforcement industry.

Obama is expected in his speech, Jarrett said, to highlight additional resources law enforcement officials need; push for “common sense” gun laws to “reduce the risk” to officers while increasing public safety and urge reforms to make criminal justice “fairer and smarter.”

Obama and his Justice Department, under Lynch and her predecessor Eric Holder have been addressing systemic fixes after police shootings sparked unrest in Ferguson, Mo. – and other places.

One issue in this portfolio the Obama administration is dealing with is mass incarcerations, with a focus on non-violent drug offenses. A statistic Obama cites is that the U.S. “is home to 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.”

Last Friday, speaking at the University of Chicago Law School, FBI Chief Comey said, “I don’t know whether this explains it entirely, but I do have a strong sense that some part of the explanation is a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement over the last year, and that wind is surely changing behavior,” Comey said.

And earlier this month, while in Washington to discuss law enforcement issues at a Justice Department meeting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the police have gone “fetal,” because they don’t want to become the news story.

Jarrett was asked about the comments of Comey and Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff. And in each case she said the same thing: There was “no available evidence” to support “the notion” that “law enforcement officials are shying away from doing their job.”

Obama’s criminal justice reform push comes in this context: The extensive use of video – shot by civilians and police – has allowed disturbing scenes of police force to go viral, while for the first time in years there is a bi-partisan willingness in Congress to deal with at least some aspects of criminal justice reform.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that Jarrett noted had the most unlikely of allies. The billionaire conservative Koch Brothers, who spend millions of dollars to defeat Democrats, have been “active and engaged” partners on White House efforts to spur criminal justice reform.

Said Obama in his regular Saturday address, “In recent years, more of our eyes have been opened to this truth. We can’t close them anymore. And good people, of all political persuasions, are eager to do something about it.”

Obama will overnight in Chicago.