That's a quarter-million #RahmResign sigs with a Q

A coalition of activists demanding Mayor Rahm Emanuel's resignation marched to City Hall Monday, carrying 250,000 petition signatures. That's a quarter million with a capital Q. 

With Rahm off with the family, vacationing in Cuba ("Never let a crisis happen while I'm in town"), his over-sized spin team is left to make happy face. They're downplaying the significance of the petitions, claiming that most of the #RahmResign signers were from out of state. That's all true. But if it were me, I wouldn't feel good about a quarter-million sigs calling for my head on a plate, no matter where they came from. 

Writes Natasha Korecki at Politico:

I took it as a sign that the storm over McDonald's death and the wider issue of police abuse has a long, long way to run before it abates ... The signatures were obtained by a coalition of local and national groups, including ... SEIU Healthcare Illinois ... a big backer of Cook County Commissioner Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia in his race against Emanuel for mayor earlier this year."

I agree. It's actually more an indication of the national implications of the Chicago events. The mayor's cover-up role in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald murder is now part of the national consciousness, and might even impact a national election campaign, considering Rahm's strong ties to the Clintons. That is if he's still mayor by then.

A quarter million is an appropriate number. It's the same as the number of black community stop-and-frisks without an arrest by Chicago's finest, in a three-month period last year. It's also the number of African-Americans who have been part of the great exodus from Chicago in the past two decades. 

More pressure on Rahm to resign comes from the Latino Coalition for Change. That group is expected to announce that they're joining the "Black Christmas" march downtown on Dec. 24. They've taken up "Fuera Rahm!" as their rallying cry.