CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The bad blood continues between the current and former presidents of the Chicago police union. Now, the former union leader has been suspended from the organization.
Former Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham has been suspended from the union for three years after the current president found a hidden camera left behind in the president’s office.
Graham said his suspension is political.
“This is politics, and Mr. Catanzara and I do not see eye to eye on a lot of things,” Graham said Wednesday night.
Graham told the Sun-Times the camera had been placed in the office, because things started going missing from his desk, and he said it was rigged to the rest of the building’s security, and that he never had access to the recordings during or after his time in office.
“I never had any control over it, never had access to it,” Graham said. “[Catanzara] knew it; he doesn’t care.”
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But current president John Catanzara told CBS 2, "The issue was when I took over, he had an obligation to tell me, and he didn’t. It’s really that simple. We’re talking about a past president of this lodge. This isn’t just an average policeman doing something silly and facing charges for this lodge. You’d expect someone who’s been and member of this department and lodge for so long to act above reproach.”
According to CBS 2, the FOP said there was originally a 30-day recommended suspension, but the board opted for a stiffer suspension. Graham can appeal to the state FOP lodge.
Graham served as head of the Chicago police union for three years. Catanzara ousted Graham as head of the FOP after beating him in a runoff in May.