A Rebuttal
The other day, I wrote a post about how Steve Fanady is being held in Cook County Jail. His constitutional rights are being violated, and he is being treated no differently than a political prisoner in a communist country.
A few people reached out to me who know Sheriff Tom Dart. They took exception to the things that were alleged about him by other people that I know. In fairness, I said I would write a rebuttal for them. They are extremely credible people and not just Dart flunkies.
I don’t know if either side is correct. I do know that it would be nice if Dart let Steve go. It would also be a good idea for enterprising reporters in Chicago to investigate.
Here are some questions they asked, and some points that they made. There is more than one person pinging me which is why I am writing this. Again, I think Steve should be let out of prison. What they are doing to him is bullshit.
Does Dart even know Fanady exists inside his system?
They categorically deny that he is a wife-beater.
They categorically deny that he is having multiple affairs, let alone any affairs.
He hasn't had a drink in 25 years. It is a sensitive topic for him since he has alcoholism in his family.
Kickbacks to get promoted are a laughable charge. People point out there are paper trails to prevent any employee of paying more than $100 a year to his political campaigns.
Why would Dart risk his political career looking the other way while officers sexually assaulted inmates? This is said to be a complete and utter lie.
It is true that Dart is not well-liked by some career police people. They have spread lies like these and Dart has created some political enemies over the years. One is Paul Vallas. Vallas lost the last mayoral election in Chicago and did not run a good campaign at all. How bad was Vallas campaign? Brandon Johnson beat him.
There are inefficiencies in the ankle monitoring program. The blame for this doesn’t fall specifically on Dart, but on the whole system.
Dart has a very cool relationship with Preckwinkle. She is Boss Toni. She runs the Chicago Democratic and largely Illinois Democratic political machine. Ask John Kass.
Again, the corruption in Chicago and Illinois is deeper than the snow and ice in either of the two geographic poles on earth. No Chicago reporters get out in front of the corruption and expose it. They always report on it ex-ante, but in breathless words as if they are uncovering something.
It would be good for the people of Chicago for reporters to do what they supposedly learned in journalism school and dig.
Fair piece. I've met the Sheriff a couple of times. He's was professional and cordial. Coincidentally, he and I have a close mutual friend. That said, Dart's made some unusual political choices, some bold & some meh. I would like to hear specifically about whether he knows about this seemingly outrageous incarceration-- yes or no? If no, why not & more importantly, will it be addressed?
I stand by my previous comments about the long-standing proven accusations of bribery in the Sheriff's Department and it does not take a genius to figure out how to bribe somebody without a written trail of accountability. Granted, it had existed for more than a half century and probably a century before Tom Dart ever took over.
The bottom line is the gentleman you wrote about is being mistreated and it needs to be addressed.