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News & ArtsFriday, June 25, 2010
Crime More Fallout From McGinn's Poor Pick for Chief
Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 11:49 AM
Three members of the committee tasked with searching for a new police chief have resigned, KIRO reports:
“It was a waste of our taxpayers’ money,” said [search committee member Liz] Ali.Ali’s sentiment was shared by those at the meeting who said to develop a strategy to prevent violent encounters, they need new leadership.
They said the mayor’s choice of Diaz was a disappointment. “You know, the mayor just went on and hired him. Right now, I feel like there’s nothing else we can do except try to get to the Seattle City Council before they make their ruling in August,” said Wanda Saunders.
Let's have some real talk for a second. It's a little late to drop out of the selection committee after the selection committee finished its work, really. The mayor made his pick, and now John Diaz is off to the city council for an all-but-predetermined confirmation. Moreover, the selection committee did pick Diaz as one of the three finalists, so it's not like McGinn completely ignored their work or flushed the taxpayers' money (it was a volunteer committee).
But all that said, three people dropping out is a real gesture that McGinn actually made a terrible—and ironic—choice here. He is principled in his transit goals, despite all risk of controversy. But when it came to accountability and transparency of the police department—issues that McGinn holds as a dear value in other fields of government—McGinn picked a candidate who was as unsuited as he is uncontroversial.
Call me cynical, but I think McGinn made this pick as a political bone thrown to city institutions. He's pissed off employees who worked under Nickels when he issued an order to lay off staff, irked the city council by meddling in business that they started, and now can't afford another huge department undermining him. So he made a choice that this pick would appease the rank and file. Avoid another internal controversy. But he does it at the expense of support from constituents who are strong on the issue of responsible policing, who—even if they see that Diaz is a nice guy—know that Diaz lacks the strength to overcome a culture of opacity, get those rank-and-file officers in line, and censure officers who step out of line.
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If they looked different, you got duped. Sign the correct one and de-sign the other one.
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In other news, the mayor shows his support for the gay community by declining to attend the first ever raising of the rainbow flag at the Space Needle.
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If the disgruntled members of the search committee are disappointed with McGinn's choice, why the fuck did they put Diaz in the top 3 of their recommendations in the first place?!? If he is such a shitty candidate, they had their chance to drop him before. Or at least put him lower on the list than the top 3. It's a little late now to be bitching about what a shitty choice he is.
Please cease your tired, contrarian diatribes about a topic you have no knowledge of. You are not an authority on anything other than being a bucktoothed, ex-stoner high school drop out.
Davis would have been a disaster. He was completely unqualified to run the department. It's like taking the manager at a McDonalds and promoting them to corporate CEO. You work your way up. You don't go from a force of fifty to a department of 1400.
The learning curve would've been too steep.
Now please stop. All your tantrum-throwing accomplishes nothing, and just makes you look foolish and uninformed. Not that it takes much.
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Don't be so hard on @10, you guys. He knows from first-hand experience that I'm "a bucktoothed, ex-stoner high school drop out." He's just leaving out the bad stuff.
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Dominic,
Please cease your tired, contrarian diatribes about a topic you have no knowledge of.
;)
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
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So sorry to hear you and Mike have broken up!
OMG, he dumped for you another man!! Asshole!!
Go out and get drunk tonight!!
Don't worry, you will find another chubby to love - we hope (jk!!).
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I mean, from his place you can see it.
Kind of obvious, it's a giant rainbow flag ...
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The 3 finalists were not the 3 best candidates. They were a way of stretching as far as possible and coming up with 3 faces that represent as large a cross-section of the rainbow as possible. Which might have almost worked if the collective 26-part-brain of the committee had been smart enough to detect who was going to withdraw once they got a little raise back home.
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