Mayor Rahm Emanuel was deposed behind closed doors Thursday by lawyers for the families of two Chicagoans shot dead by cop Robert Rialmo.
It wasn’t only the doors to the courtroom that were closed to the public — Emanuel, who fought efforts to be deposed in the civil lawsuit against the city, got a special ride to the upper floors of the Daley Center in a private elevator normally reserved for judges.
Whether you consider that a run-of-the-mill security precaution, or a flagrant example of special treatment designed to protect Emanuel from contact with the unwashed masses who pay his salary, may depend on your politics.
Emanuel’s spokesman Matt McGrath asserted it was the former, telling Chicago Inc. that “we don’t comment on the Mayor’s security or security procedures.”
For those of you keeping score, former President Barack Obama was allowed, at the request of the Secret Service, to use the judges’ elevator when he reported for jury service at the downtown Chicago courthouse in November.
More Top Picks Best Airbrush Kits For Models
But lesser officials and celebrities alike are typically granted no such privileges. So Cook County Judge John H. Ehrlich found it necessary to this week issue a written order telling Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart to allow Emanuel into the elevator his officers protect.
“Absent a judge’s order or significant security concerns we expect everyone to come through the same elevators as the public,” Dart’s spokeswoman Cara Smith crisply told Inc.
The sheriff is a stickler for paperwork, it seems.
Twitter @kimjnews