Division Street

It’s not just who you know, but who you campaign for.

* “More than 90 Chicago Police employees - including a recently promoted district commander - have received payouts from a $12 million fund created to compensate victims of City Hall’s rigged hiring system,” the Sun-Times reports.

The Chicago Police Department: To protect and serve your mayor.

* “A real estate agent Cook County Board President Todd Stroger hired for a high-level Health Department job apparently created just for him in January has been demoted and had his salary cut after the Tribune questioned his qualifications,” the Tribune reports.

“Donald Burleson, a South Side Realtor who worked at Stroger’s health club, is one of at least three people county officials hired before they had the legal authority to do so.”

It’s not who you know, it’s where you work out.

* “Cook County Public Defender Edwin Burnette on Tuesday tried to delay County Board President Todd Stroger’s attempt to fire him until his pending lawsuit over control of the office is resolved.”

It’s not who you defend, it’s who you sue.

Who is running the Chicago Police Department?

Why it’s Mayor Daley, of course.

Despite the rhetoric that incoming chief Jody Weis would have a free hand, it’s become increasingly - and unsurprisingly - clear that Daley is pulling the strings.

This nugget, for example, was buried in a Tribune story about police response to escalating gang violence. “Daley last week sent a City Hall employee, Michael Masters, to police headquarters to replace Weis’ chief of staff, a former FBI agent.”

I’m not in the habit of quoting the undependable Michael Sneed, but in this case she had the story right - and then some.

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Maybe there’s a simple explanation I haven’t thought of, but do you find it strange that Chicago police officers have to pay for their guns? I mean, do baseball players have to buy their own bats? (Actually, I think they do . . . but still.)

At any rate, this nugget caught my eye in a Sun-Times story over the weekend about the mayor’s plan to arm cops with assault rifles: “Timing and logistics of the change in firepower have not yet been ironed out. First, the weapons must be purchased - and it’s not yet clear who is going to pay. Officers currently choose from a list of authorized handguns and pay out of their own pockets.”

Meanwhile, the paper also notes that officers will have to be trained to use the new assault weapons, saying that it would be a “logistical nightmare” to send large numbers of the force back to the academy. And who would get the guns and under what circumstances would they be approved for use? This proposal may have a long way to go. Or maybe it’s more of a scare tactic than a policing strategy.