Mayor Johnson's comm team owes the City a refund
Brandon's continuing political naivety was in full force after the River North shooting
If Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to have a decent showing, much less a win, in his upcoming election to retain his seat, he’ll need to completely overhaul what is currently being called his communications team.
We know that 14 people were shot-four of them fatally-outside of a River North nightclub known as Artis last Wednesday. It was the most horrific shooting in Johnson’s two years in office. Overall, 50 individuals were shot in the city over the Fourth of July weekend
And instead of immediately handling it immediately like the horrific situation it was Johnson didn’t address the matter for hours. A mass shooting is something that whenever it occurs is supposed to get the mayor’s full attention right away and presence right away- whether he is in a meeting with dignitaries or snug in his bed getting a night’s sleep.
As soon as CPD confirms such an incident, the cops on duty at the mayor’s house should alert him, and his communications team. The next step is for Johnson to videotape his reaction to incident through either a studio at his house or at city hall. Immediacy is the key.
His comms team then alerts the news desks at television stations the video is available. Simultaneously the video and its transcript need to be delivered post haste to the area’s daily newspapers. Crisis communication is not a 9-5 job.
We really can’t expect Johnson to know these things because crisis communications is supposed to be a basic tenet of a comms team. That team also wants the mayor to be viewed as truly empathetic and caring. A two- or three-minute videotape immediately after such an incident does that.
And there was no benefit in having most of the administrators of the city’s first responders stand behind him at a news conference. All of the nice words and feigned outrage about the shooting rang hollow when Johnson presented them hours after the shootings.
The move came off as someone who cared more about political expediency rather than compassion for the victims’ families. And to say “we will not rest . . .” is a message that should have been delivered in person by the mayor-otherwise his comments came across as wholly disingenuous.
Who the “we” is is not clear. At least one recent article quoting a former CPD officer pegged the department’s morale as exceptionally low. Former officer Charles Walters described the department as being in “crisis mode.” He also said the rank-and-file feel as neither the mayor nor police superintendent have their back. He termed the mayor’s decision to end ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system as wrong.
Making amends with CPD will be vitally important to Johnson’s re-election bid. Cops and their families vote-they influence others on how to vote. They are certain to recall Johnson slammed the door in their collective face when the Fraternal Order of Police requested the same additional paternity leave benefits that Johnson unilaterally doled out to his benefactors at the Chicago Teachers Union.
Johnson has no shortage of agenda items when he has his Come to Jesus meeting with his comms team.
It’s time to get real mayor
On more than a couple of occasions, we have heard Johnson talk about the anti-violence workers his team has assembled. In conveying what those workers do one would be right to assume it some sort of Brandon strategy he brought to city hall when nothing could be further from the truth.
At least two decades before anyone heard of Brandon Johnson running for anything there were organizations, such as CeaseFire on Chicago streets doing violence interruption work. CeaseFire went through many iterations before expanding globally; however, they spawned organizations with a similar mission such as Target Area Development Corp.;Acclivus; Englewood Heroes, CRED, and the Insitute for Nonviolence to name a few.
The men and women who work at these places know the shooters, would-be victims, as well as would-be shooters. They are called credible messengers and amass data by being in the streets interacting what is called “high risk” individuals. They track which cliques have “beefs” with one another. Of course, they can’t prevent every shooting; but when it comes to prevention no one is more effective than these women and men. Many of them know the streets so well because they work in neighborhoods they know and are respected
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