Is CPD superintendent leaving this week? ‘We’re not there yet,’ mayor says

Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Wednesday to honor the legally-mandated process for choosing Chicago’s next police superintendent, but insisted she hasn’t had “that conversation” yet with soon-to-be-retiring Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

With Inspector General Joe Ferguson investigating Johnson and controversy swirling around the superintendent, Johnson’s decision to jump before being pushed comes as no surprise.

Clearly, the mayor’s office has been anticipating his impending departure and preparing for it by at least beginning to scope out possible replacements — both on an interim and permanent basis.

But sources said Lightfoot and her staff were in no hurry to make that move and, therefore, taken aback by Johnson’s decision to talk openly about retirement during a break in his testimony at Monday’s City Council budget hearing.

Since then, a Police Department that is always rumor-central has been buzzing with speculation about when Johnson will make it official and whom his replacement may be.

On Wednesday, Lightfoot refused to engage in that conversation until Johnson makes it official.

“I want to make sure we’re doing honor and respect to him and to the Police Department because that announcement hasn’t come yet,” the mayor said.

Lightfoot wasn’t a whole lot more revealing — and pretty much stuck to her tight-lipped script — when asked when Johnson told her he was thinking about retiring.

“When we talk about what is needed to really build on the successes for next year, the conversation is always around, `Where do you see yourself? Do you, in effect, have enough … gas in the tank to be able to take on the challenges for next year, which are gonna be significant because I want to see a significant decrease in all of our violent crime statistics for next year,’” Lightfoot said.

“He’s still here. We haven’t had that conversation yet. When we have that conversation, then there’ll be something to say.”

Why, then, would Lightfoot schedule a Friday meeting with retired Los Angeles Police chief Charlie Beck to talk to Beck about replacing Johnson on an interim basis?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about about a meeting with Charlie Beck. I mean — I’ve seen a lot of speculation about different names, some of which are wildly off base,” the mayor said.

“We have a superintendent who is in place. And when the time comes to make an announcement, we’ll make that announcement.”

The mayor continued the game of cat-and-mouse when asked what she is looking for in Chicago’s next, $260,044-a-year superintendent and whether she believes the job needs to go to an outsider.

“We only have one superintendent — and he’s still here. I know that he started the conversation the other day about the possible retirement,” the mayor said.

“When the time comes that he is gone, then it’s appropriate for me to have that conversation. But we’re not there yet.”

Fran Spielman/Sun-Times

Nearly four years ago, an end-run around the Police Board’s nationwide search for a replacement for fired Police Supt. Garry McCarthy allowed then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel to pluck Johnson out of obscurity, even though Johnson didn’t seek the job. Johnson at the time was the department’s chief of patrol.

Emanuel pulled it off by rejecting all three finalists chosen by the Police Board after a first nationwide search and by persuading the City Council to cancel the charade of a second nationwide search required by law.

At the time, the Police Board president was Lori Lightfoot. She was offended that the search she and the board had so painstakingly conducted was discarded in favor of the one man Emanuel thought could rebuild public trust and police morale shattered by the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot.

Lightfoot is the mayor charged with choosing the superintendent. And she is determined to honor the process that Emanuel trampled.

“The Police Board process is mandated by law. I’m not gonna violate the law. Having led the last search for a superintendent, I believe in respecting the law and the Police Board process. So, when and if we get to that point, of course, I will follow the law and follow the Police Board process,” she said.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson is investigating an embarrassing incident that occurred last month when Johnson was found slumped over in his police SUV around 12:30 a.m. near the 3400 block of South Aberdeen — after dismissing his driver and attempting to drive himself home.

Johnson initially blamed a change in his blood pressure medication and his failure to fill the replacement prescription.

Lightfoot subsequently disclosed to the Sun-Times that the superintendent told her he had a “couple of drinks with dinner.”

Ferguson is investigating the circumstances surrounding that incident, including whether Johnson should have been driving, why he was not given a sobriety test and whether the rules were bent to protect the boss.

Freedom of Information requests for bodycam video of the incident have been denied pending the outcome of Ferguson’s investigation.

Johnson has insisted that his impending retirement has everything to do with the toll the job he never sought has taken on his health and his family. It has nothing to do with the inspector general’s investigation. Nor is he concerned about making it to April, when he will be fully-vested in his superintendent’s pension.

“I love this job. I love this city. I have given 31 years now to this city and almost four as superintendent. But, I recognize also that, at some point, it’s time to create a different chapter in your life,” Johnson told reporters during a break at his third—and probably final—City Council budget hearing.

“Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel probably said it best when he said, `These are jobs of a lifetime. But, they’re not jobs for a lifetime.’”