Has the Dam Broken?

Fractures form and the DSA begins nibbling at the edges.

I took a week off. It wasn’t planned but I really struggled with the news out of Israel last week. I didn’t have the patience to sit here and write about local politics, knowing that I would have to address our DSA council members. My anger finally reached a point where I couldn’t comment in a rational or productive way. Today we’ll do a bit of a catch up session. We’re going to cover the DSA because they’ve been up to the most shenanigans.

I’m calling it. The days of Portland Nice are over for our new City Council. Battle lines are finally being drawn and what’s emerging only has a few small surprises.

The DSA and the Police Part 1: The JTTF

Last Wednesday the Portland City Council received the annual Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) report from The Portland Police Bureau (PPB). This is part of a 2019 decision to greatly reduce our participation in the JTTF. There are strict rules around what our officers can do with the JTTF and every instance of assistance must be approved by the Chief of Police.

I cut together some of the silliest moments here:

Pay special attention to Councillor Steve Novick’s hypothetical.

The FBI asked for the PPB’s help with a handful of cases involving white adults sending threats to political figures and private citizens. You might bet that our very progressive council would be happy to learn this. They understand that white supremacist hate groups are a threat, even if some of them don’t recognize any others. However, when it comes to the most “progressive” members, you would lose that bet.

The DSA councilors are worried the PPB will be used as a combination ICE/Stasi by the Trump Administration. Even though that would be a violation of state law, city ordinance, and bureau policy. We have unwilling officers, an unwilling chief, and safeguards preventing it, alongside a promise to not do it… but still some councilors worry - likely because they will never trust police. ACAB after all. “No cops. No prisons. Total abolition.”

The council spent an hour virtue signaling about immigrants and indigenous activists to a Chief of Police who has already been in conversation with those groups and had to spend his time assuring everyone in the room that we are all on the same page re: protecting immigrants and freedom of speech. I haven’t always been a big fan of the PPB, but this latest incarnation is impressive. They are trying to be exactly what we asked for. Unless you asked for them to not exist…

The DSA and the Police Part 2: The Chief

The second major item was the decision to reappoint Chief Bob Day. Chief Day is a very popular Chief of Police. He has support from the union, numerous communities of color, and (it turns out) the entire City Council (sort of). They still grilled him two hours before a unanimous vote to reappoint him.

The most telling moment was Councilor Sameer Kanal dropping the pretense that he isn’t anti-police with Councilor Angelita Morillo echoing him. Chief Day had attempted to reassure the council that extremism of any kind would be filtered out of the recruitment process. Kanal referred to this as “concerning,” “both sidesism,” and “comparing the axe to the tree trunk” when it comes to white nationalism.

“Comparing the axe to the tree trunk” would be comparing an avowed white supremacist to an immigrant family or a black business owner. Comparing that same racist skinhead to a militant communist is like comparing oranges to tangerines. No politically violent authoritarians on the police force sounds pretty sane to me. Kanal’s and Morillo’s feigned concern should be much more worrisome.

Here’s an easy test: if the candidate for PPB thinks the US government is controlled by Jewish Money… let’s give them a pass no matter what kind of banner they wave. Fair?

Kanal and Morillo both sit on the Public Safety Subcommittee, which is a bit like China sitting on the UN Human Rights Council… Don’t worry, this will come back up.

My favorite sound bites:

I know it’s over twenty minutes but I cut it down from two hours so show a little mercy. You can’t imagine how long I’ve spent listening to these people.

The DSA and the Police Part 3: Bias

That brings us to the February 25th Public Safety Committee Session, when Councilor Kanal (formerly of The Portland Police Accountability Commission) brought his “minor” proposed tweaks to the new Community Police Oversight Board, which is connected to the settlement agreement with the Department of Justice and was authorized by voters in 2020. That section of the session begins at 1hr 20min.

This whole issue is a complicated mess, but essentially, Kanal wants to make some tweaks to the agreement:

1. Changes to the number of initial nominating committee numbers.

2. Changes to the language around “bias” disqualifications to serving on the board.

3. Allow the Council to tweak how it chooses the members of the board.

It’s a bad idea and the logic behind it is deeply suspect. Let’s find out why.

Kanal’s friend Charlie Michelle-Westley (another former Portland Police Accountability Commission regular) has been giving testimony for weeks about how unfair the bias policy is. Charlie wants on this board but she’s anti-cop (not to mention a kook) and is disqualified as a result. I’ve mentioned her group before. They would really like the Oversight Board to be a mirror of the former Accountability Commission but it isn’t 2020 anymore and they haven’t been getting their way.

The evening was a fiasco! Open Signal (our city’s broadcast partner), couldn’t run the microphones past a certain time, so public testimony got cut short. Then the number of Portlanders allowed to testify got cut even shorter.

Here’s Police Union President, Sgt. Aaron Schmautz giving comment before they cut him off. The gist?

That matters because of this clarification question from Councillor Loretta Smith:

“What I understand is that… the bargaining contract would have to be opened up again? Because it was already settled last year, correct?”

Heidi Brown, Chief Deputy City Attorney confirmed that if the union doesn’t agree to bargain this change, the conversation is over. Councillor Smith then drops one of those sound bites where I remember why I like her.

Smith: “They could actually say ‘no’ and this would all be over?”

Brown: “That’s right.”

Smith: “Okay. There it is right there.”

The rest of the public comments were awkward, broken off early and in an increasingly heated room.

I want to pause in my irreverence to highlight the public comment of Loretta Guzman, owner of Bison Coffeehouse. She spoke publicly about the murder of her 22 year old nephew late last year. It’s a hard listen, especially because she is forced to read quickly and gets cut off mid sentence. The silence that follows is impactful.

Loretta Guzman is a pillar in her community and she has my respect. She echoed many of the things community leaders of color testifying in support of Chief Bob Day said. Not the empty contributions of (largely white, middle class) activists who got pepper sprayed once. Not professional shit-stirrers looking for another paying gig as a consultant or board member. Regular people who champion the changes PPB has been making, not as a stopgap on the way to “total abolition,” but as lasting reform.

I’ll end with Councillor Eric Zimmerman’s comments. This moment was my “shot heard round the world.” Portland Nice is over. The adults in the room are tired of the games. It only took two months. I could kiss Eric on his handsome face.

“I’m left to wonder why language that encourages additional bias is being touted as more fair.”

-Eric Zimmerman

Liberal Democracy and Her Detractors

All we’re asking for is a free and safe society where everyone is welcome and our government fulfills its obligations so that we can thrive and lift each other up.

The PPB isn’t going to spy on us for ICE, and if they did, we have every tool we need to hold their asses accountable. Chief Bob Day is an excellent choice for the next era of Portland policing. The Police Oversight Committee is a done deal and it should proceed as negotiated with the union.

Last Wednesday’s session was six items, voted on unanimously, and it took over four hours. The Safety Committee session was a disaster, and Kanal overplayed his hand.

The DSA Councillors are a joke. Their values represent what less than 20% of Portlanders want. That number is far too high for my liking, but we play the hand we’re dealt.

Jamie Dunphy and Steve Novick have been disappointments. We’re going to have to clean house in District 3 in 2026. Novick is far too cozy with his new BFFs in the DSA. At least President EPG has been a bit of a relief.