As Chicago is convulsed over video of Officer James McDonald emptying his gun into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald with 16 shots, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is so far escaping scrutiny over the city’s successful effort to suppress the shooting as an issue in his re-election campaign.  The shooting took place on October 20, 2014, and Mayor Emanuel was facing a nonpartisan election four months later, on February 24, 2015.  Since no one received a majority of the vote (Emanuel received 46% to runner-up Democratic Cook County Commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García’s 34%), a run-off election was held on April 7, with Emanuel winning 55.7% of the vote and a second term. It is rather remarkable that the shooting was not a major issue in the election.  No campaigning by the family of young McDonald, no indictment, and no release of the video.  Perhaps this had something to do with it, as reported by DNAinfo Chicago: The city has already paid a...(Read Full Post)