Actually, it's only one of Chicago's continuing scandals. This one is the scandal of the ring of police torturers run by John Burge decades ago. The city of Chicago is defendant in a series of lawsuits brought by people who were tortured by the Burge ring. The city, which has a law department to handle it's legal affairs, is paying several private law firms big bucks to handle these cases. They agreed to a settlement before the last municipal election; then they went back on the agreement.
John Conroy has the story about these negotiations in the Chicago Reader.
The mayor's people are trying to keep a lid on this, but some of the scandalous details are after the jump. Conroy has much more.
- The offered settlement included the city paying millions to the defendants and the defendants agreeing not to pursue their cases against Daley from before the time he was mayor.
- The mayor told reporters before the election that he would be willing to be deposed. We know now that the city's attorneys in these cases were requiring right then that he not be deposed as part of the settlement.
- The legal firms, which officially have the city for their client, are running up bills delaying hearings which can't possibly end in anything else than the city paying big bucks.
- The taxpayers are funding an attempt to keep the taxpayers in the dark.