The ongoing fight between the Portland Police Association and Mayor Sam Adams and the Portland Police Bureau over the city's refusal to reinstate Ron Frashour—the officer who fatally shot Aaron Campbell in 2010—has taken yet another turn.

Adams announced tonight that he's asking the city's auditor, LaVonne Griffin-Valade, to get involved. He wants her to review testimony given during an arbitration hearing over Frashour's fate—testimony that PPA President Daryl Turner, as the Mercury first reported Tuesday, pointed to as evidence that the decision to fire Frashour was politically motivated.

After Turner laid out his claims on the PPA's newsletter, Reese and Adams responded yesterday with punchy statements of their own.

Update 8:30 PM: The Mercury has also obtained a transcript of some of the testimony cited by Turner in his article. It's from then-training Lieutenant Robert King, an eight-year PPA president who was involved in two shootings himself. King is now the bureau's top spokesman. Read the whole thing here (PDF) (but be warned the formatting is a little ugly). King's testimony is just a fraction of what an arbitrator heard over several months before deciding the city erred in firing Frashour.

Tonight, I asked the City's independently elected auditor to review the testimony in the Frashour arbitration matter. This request is in light of the very serious accusations the Portland Police Union president made against members of the PPB command staff—as well as the Chief and me—in an attempt to discredit them. My letter:

Auditor Griffin-Valade:

As you know, a recent article in the Rap Sheet written by PPA President Daryl Turner called into question the involvement, decision making and ethics of myself, Chief of Police Mike Reese, and various members of Police command staff in the Ronald Frashour arbitration matter. On behalf of Chief Reese and myself, I am writing to request that you complete an independent review of the testimony of all Bureau members who were involved—from the initial interviews through arbitration hearings.

Thank you, and I appreciate your willingness to accept this request.

Sam Adams
Mayor