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Weis is white, and now that he’s winning praise for surrounding himself with a diverse group of experienced cops, it’s almost hard to recall that plenty of black leaders were dismayed last fall when Mayor Daley picked him for the top job. Daley, these leaders believed, should have named an African-American as Phil Cline’s successor—if only to show he understood police relations were at a crisis point in some of their communities. Others were doubly upset because it seemed Daley had made the choice out of his zeal to host the 2016 Olympics—as an FBI man, Weis would appear to have better terrorism-fighting credentials and thus impress the selection committee more than a regular old police officer who’d built a career in Austin or Englewood.
Of course, the City Council had to approve the appointment before it became official. While that was never in doubt, several aldermen did raise a a bit of a stink by complaining that Weis was evasive and unimpressive during a police and fire committee hearing. Then a few threatened to vote against him in the full council meeting a couple days later. But Daley’s council lobbyists went to work, huddling with the reluctant in the lounge behind council chambers up until minutes before the vote. In the end, only the Third Ward’s Pat Dowell opposed him.
And most of the late converts gave other accounts of their decisions. “I had to think about it,” said 20th Ward alderman Willie Cochran, a former cop. “I found myself in dual roles. As a police officer, I struggled with someone else [outside the department] doing the job. But I supported the idea of bringing in a new dynamic. So I decided to support Mr. Weis for being the professional he is.”
