Marathon Pundit: Rahm defends cop critic alderman who is defense lawyer for gangbangers

How low can a Chicago alderman go? Pretty darn low. After all, 29 members of Chicago's City Council have been convicted of crimes since 1972.

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. is not one of them, but the South Sider is carving a unique niche for himself as a lawyer.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended Ald. Howard Brookins’ simultaneous right to be a defense attorney representing gang members and an alderman turning up the heat on Police Supt. Garry McCarthy to reduce gang violence.

Emanuel washed his hands of what Brookins (21st) considers a blistering and unfair attempt to dirty up and shut up the chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus by portraying him as a political hypocrite.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported Sunday that Brookins was "undermining police action” against the gang violence triggering Chicago's homicide rate by “talking out of both sides of his mouth."

Sneed reported that Brookins recently got 2010 gun charges dismissed against Kerry Stinson, 46, described in police reports as a member of the Gangster Disciples/Black P Stone nation with a lengthy arrest record.