Page 36 - May 2017 Newsletter

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“I think a lot of our guys are er o re fr i o p.”
Second Vice President Martin Preib
“Everyone up here comes from different backgrounds, and we will be able to do a good job for the membership because of that,” Murray reasons. “I believe we were elect- ed and brought up here because we worked the street and we have more in common with the average police officer who drives a beat car today.”
Taking the lead
If members caught wind of Graham’s first official news conference the day after being sworn in as president, they saw that it is was direct and to the point. That has proven to be a key indicator of the objectives and goals for the ad- ministration, and to the point, the new president is very direct about the agenda.
“We intend to keep every single promise we made when we were campaigning,” Graham assures.
They have already delivered on a few. The new lead-
ership team proffers the objective to bring in field reps who are elected board members and unify the Lodge 7 Board of Directors. They have already realized benefits from having Preib as a full-time media specialist to make sure members will no longer be victimized by anti-police media.
“We’re going to call out the media when we don’t think they are telling the whole story,” Preib confirms. “We will work with whoever in the media is willing to tell the story based on the facts and the evidence.”
Characteristic of its leadership philosophy, the new leadership team articulates three primary objectives for the immediate future:
1. Negotiating a good contract.
2. Fair representation in how the City treats members.
3. Getting out the message that Chicago Police Offi-
cers are the good guys. “That we’re here to help the people of the City of Chicago and put criminals in jail,” Graham details.
Beyond that, the new administration also has its sights set on ratcheting up accountability for the City to meet its responsibility to fund the pension, improve the ISR pol- icy and promote fair promotional testing that diminish- es merit promotions. They want to achieve all this with transparency, honesty and integrity so it can lead to mak- ing good on the ultimate campaign promise.
“I think if we address these issues, members will feel better about the job,” Murray maintains. “When they go out there, they need to know that somebody is supporting them through all situations.” d
36 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2017