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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2014)
Opinion DOJ Appeal Won’t Hurt Reforms “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor J ERRY F OSTER Advertising Manager L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor P ATRICIA I RVIN D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established T he Portland City Council voted 4-0 in October to appeal a slim slice of a judge’s ruling regarding the U.S. Department of Justice and the Portland Police Bureau. Since then, I’ve heard members of the community ask: Why? And what impact will this have on the settlement between the DOJ and the City? Zero. There will be no impact on the reforms we have wholeheart- edly embraced. The Portland City Council and the attorneys who represent us seek clarity regarding the hear- ings, and the judge’s role. Nothing more. As a public servant, I wholly embrace the letter and spirit of the DOJ settlement. I recently appointed Assistant Chief Larry O’Dea to become the new chief of police, and much of my decision was based on Larry’s unwavering commitment to these reforms. The city began implementing changes long before the judge’s much-delayed ruling. In areas of promoting, training and disciplin- ing officers, the changes are under way. We’ve changed our policies on use of force and use of Tasers. We have increased the Behavioral Health Unit. We’ve adopted wide- ranging policies on de-escalation that already are having a positive effect. Every week, I read reports P ORTLAND M AYOR Charlie Hales of police using the power of their words to bring a peaceful end to crises. This week, we will enter into contract negotiations for a Com- pliance Officer and Community Liaison. The team we selected includes nationally acknowledged a judge tells us we must, but because they are the right things to do. We are committed to reporting our progress to the community, to the Department of Justice, and to the Court. We appealed none of that. What we appealed was ambigui- ty in the judge’s role. We had asked for clarity on how we report, and when we report. The judge’s ruling was ambigu- ously worded. The community needs clarity and accountability in police reform. Portlanders deserve no less. Our police officers deserve no less. So we are asking an appellate What we appealed was ambiguity in the judge’s role. We had asked for clarity on how we report, and when we report experts in the fields of police inter- actions with the community, and with people in mental health crises. Joining the team is former Oregon Supreme Court Chief Jus- tice Paul De Muniz. In December, we will begin seeking members for a Communi- ty Oversight Advisory Board. This is another body designed to make sure the residents are heard. We do these things, not because court to help us find the clarity we need. What we heard from groups like the Albina Ministerial Alliance for Justice and Police Reform is this: We do not trust the city. Fair enough. But moving forward, here’s what I say to the alliance: We trust you. You’ll be there, every step of the way, along with allies such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters. You’ll be watching us. You’ll have my ear. And you’ll have the ears of every member of the council. You’ll have access to the Compliance Officer and Com- munity Liaison. You’ll have access to the Community Over- sight Advisory Board. Nothing will change, in regards to the Inde- pendent Police Review within the City Auditor’s Office. You’ll be able to report your findings to the United States Department of Jus- tice. And you’ll be able to speak before the judge. We hope to get clarity on the judge’s role and his hearings. But whether we get that clarity or not, none of those oversight mecha- nisms will be affected. Your city’s elected leaders are committed to police reform and to the DOJ settlement. That hasn’t wavered, and it won’t. Police reform is one of the rea- sons I ran for mayor. I expect to be held accountable for making it real. And I would humbly submit that a mayor who wakes up every day thinking about the Police Bureau is most likely to succeed at leading it. Charlie Hales is Mayor of Port- land and serves as Police Commissioner. in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2014 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Democrats: Losses Show Party Out of Sync I f there was one lesson to be learned on Election Day it was this: Until President Obama is gone and the Democratic Party leadership changes, Democrats will continue to lose. Under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership over the past four years House Democrats have lost 74 seats. In 2010 alone, Democrats lost 63 seats. This week they dropped another 12. For the 2014 campaign it was as if leaders of the party never talked to one another on strategy. Obviously, there was none. President Obama was out brag- ging about his record week after week while Democrats were cam- paigning against it. In a speech on September 28, President Obama said, “There’s almost no economic measure by which we are not better off than when I took office. Unemploy- ment down. Deficits down. Uninsured down. Poverty down. Energy production up. Manufac- turing back.” That’s what the president was saying this cam- paign season. “Make no mistake: These poli- cies are on the ballot. Every single one of them,” Obama said at Northwestern University on Octo- ber 10. Those words were then immediately used by Republicans to beat Democrats all over the country. It’s one thing to say that Democ- rats should have run on the things they’ve gotten done. It’s another to pretend you don’t see that the overriding message of the 2014 campaign is an anti-Obama NNPA C OLUMNIST Lauren Victoria Burke one. That’s what President Obama did. He pretended not to notice this entire campaign was a refer- endum on him. When you consider that race mixed with American people right now, the resounding message not just of this election, but basically the last several is: Get stuff done,” the president said at a news confer- ence after election day. No, that wasn’t the message. The message was a complete and full repudiation of President Obama. No one voting for candi- dates like Tom Cotton, Thom Tillis, Joni Ernst, Dan Sullivan or Mitch McConnell was voting to “get stuff done.” That cast of can- didates has committed to nothing Voters were casting a vote against the president. Yet, he still doesn’t get it “stopping Obama” was a driver for some of what happened on election day that conclusion should have been easy to come to. President Obama should have known that saying,”These policies are on the ballot” would not help Democrats at the polls and was bad strategy for this election cycle. On Oct. 20, the president said so many of the Democrats avoiding him on the campaign trail were “strong allies and supporters who “supported my agenda in Con- gress.” Of course, that’s true and of course that message ran counter to what 95 percent of the Democ- rats running were saying. Within all this you see a complete strate- gic disconnect between the president and his party. “What’s most important to the Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner November 12, 2014 after they take office. Voters were casting a vote against the presi- dent. Yet, he still doesn’t get it. This week, President Obama and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi have chosen to pretend that the election never happened. Pelosi is already calling members of the House asking for support to again lead the Democratic Caucus – an idea that should be laughable. After the president ignored the Democratic National Committee and instead created Obama for America and erased Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, there is no strategic party apparatus. Obama, as leader of the Demo- cratic Party, has been non-existent in building party infrastructure. That will be a big part of the Obama legacy as he leaves office. That is, that the Democratic Party as a whole is much weaker now than it was in 2008. Why? Because Barack Obama is the RGIII of American politics: It’s all about him. And no team can win a team sport when it’s all about one player all the time. Additionally, no team can score and win on defense. The Democ- rats have been on defense since 2010 after the Affordable Care Act was signed in to law, even after 11 million Americans have signed up. The Democratic Party keeps bragging that Georgia is the next state that will turn purple. That talk will end, at least for now. Just as in Texas, where the Democratic Party invested nothing to build its power in 2008, Georgia is now an example of how Democrats have failed. Even after the party spent $60 million to register and get out voters this year in states like Geor- gia, North Carolina and Arkansas, Democrats still lost. In Georgia, there were five African Americans running statewide and a race for governor and Senate. But the state did not come close to turning blue. Geor- gia is just one example of how Democrats need to get their policy message in line with their cam- paign strategy. That Michelle Nunn only received 25 percent of White votes should be impossible. But until the party’s leadership changes and is replaced with lead- ers focused on investing in state and local strategies, the same los- ing trends will continue.
