WHILE PROTESTORS took to Portland’s streets in recent weeks to demand police reform, Michael Meo has carried out his own campaign.

A three-time congressional candidate and retired high school teacher, 67-year-old Meo has been sitting in the antechamber of Mayor Charlie Hales’ offices on and off since December 1. He doesn’t speak much—an agreement he reached with staffers the first day of his vigil. More importantly, he doesn’t eat.

While Meo has steadfastly avoided much contact with the mayor, he says he’ll hunger strike until Hales performs a “substantive act” on police reform. Just what that constitutes is something of a moving target. Meo initially called on the mayor to follow a series of recommendations from the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, which has asked, in part, for an independent citizen commission to oversee the police. Meo’s since said he’ll end the fast if Portland pulls out of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a move city council will consider next month.

The sit-ins have rankled the mayor’s office, which has had Meo arrested twice after he refused to leave. He’s facing three trespassing charges as a result, and a judge has ordered him to stay out of the office (Meo returned to his perch on the third floor of city hall directly after that ruling).

Hales’ chief spokesman, Dana Haynes, acknowledges Meo mostly sits quietly, but says he’s also been “disruptive” at times. “He’s not been terribly polite,” Haynes says. “We asked him at some point: ‘Could you not sit here?’ He said, ‘No.'”

The Mercury accompanied Meo to his arraignment on two of the trespassing charges on December 11. This is part of our conversation.

MERCURY: Why do this?

MICHAEL MEO: It is a long time coming. The mayor lies about everything. He has run on a platform that he is going to pull in and restrain the police. That was his signature issue. So what does he do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing.  

What would you call his efforts around shepherding the city’s settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ)?

The department of justice suit comes in, and 30 members of the community say that the DOJ agreement is insufficient for real police accountability. And the judge—in answer to these 30 members of the public, who are pretty persuasive—says, ‘Once a year, I’m going to just see whether you’re really carrying out the agreement,’ which is just, you know, the minimum. In any case, it’s a reasonable thing. And the city council unanimously objects. Really? That’s how you’re going to shake up the police department? By unanimously getting the city council to refuse the judge’s order?

That was a while ago. Was there a sequence of events that led you to start this now?

The appeal is the kicker. A lying politician saying he’s going to approve police accountability, and then acting in such a manner to do exactly the opposite. The Albina Ministerial Alliance for years has been tugging their forelock. Their instincts are all to collaborate and cooperate. These guys are doing everything they can to work within the system, and what do they get? They get kicked in the teeth repeatedly. So I’m sorry. I’m no longer going to go within the system.

How long have you been fasting?

December 1 was my first day.

And it’s been just liquids?

It’s coffee with cream and sugar, fruit juice ad libitum, a little bit of milk, but no more than a shot glass.

How do you feel? 

I’m vertical. I managed to get here by bicycle. 

You have sat in the mayor’s antechamber for how many days?

Well, not every single day. There are some days I have to have, you know, a dental appointment. But I’ve sat in for the better part of two weeks. I still haven’t eaten as of 9 am on the first of December. I have been sitting in the mayor’s office maybe seven of those 11 days. And not a short time. We’re talking all afternoon.

Notice the contrast between what Teressa Raiford [an organizer of the police accountability protest group Don’t Shoot Portland] gets as action from the mayor. They can sit in front of the office and shout and scream, and then he’ll cycle them in.

Part of this is that you don’t want to talk to the mayor, but you want action from him.

That’s correct. You give me a substantive act, and I can start eating. 

What led to your arrest? 

On the third or fourth day of sitting, Charlie Hales made the decision not to have me there. He was in conversation with the arresting officer. 

And at that point you were just sitting? 

I have acted as I agreed on the first day. I do not disrupt the office. Most all the time I sit there mute. I have lots of reading. Do you want me to show you? [Brandishes a copy of the New Testament in Latin, which he can read.]

You’ve now been arrested twice. Is there a pattern to what leads them to call the police? 

They made the effort to discourage me from being a concerned citizen. I was arrested yesterday at 11:37 am and I was back in my seat by 3:15 pm.

Do you have any confidence that the mayor will make your changes, or do you plan on dying?

I think we should wait for Christmas. Let’s see what happens after the New Year when I am at 30 days. I won’t be dying until around Lincoln’s birthday [February 12].

I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters...

28 replies on “The Visitor”

  2. With idiots like this teaching the kids here, it’s no wonder we have such a high rate of teacher absenteeism and very low graduation rates of our students.

  3. Good for Meo. Someone has to force Hales to do something. Meo is absolutely correct that Hales ran on a police accountability platform; it seems obvious now that he was only looking to try and take credit for changes which he knew were bound to happen with the Department of Justice lawsuit looming during his candidacy.

  4. This is what democracy looks like. Mr. Meo is correct, this mayor is a poster child for a petty dictator. We should all stop by the mayor’s office and ask to speak with Mr. Meo, maybe buy him coffee, or juice, that is what I will do on Monday; If I am well.

  6. “He’s not been terribly polite,” Haynes says. “We asked him at some point: ‘Could you not sit here?’ He said, ‘No.'”

    wow that is so impolite. Sounds horrible. Why subject a mayor in charge of a battalion of people with guns who he uses as enforcers of his agenda to such impoliteness? Why not leave us alone to our privatized public office so we can support ourselves and profit off of tax dollars without the interference of the public we don’t want to hear from?

    Mr. Meo, you are so impolite….Thank you for that, but if you do need food nobody holds it against you. This douche-bag really enjoys killing people so long as he does not have to stab them himself. He gets away with it too, he caused the death of a person under the Burnside bridge by sweeping the streets and herding people like cattle and turning what used to be a peaceful situation into a violent one. Which raises the question; is it legal to use police tape a year after the case is closed?

    Probably not. He’s up for reelection next year though….If you can wait for that.

  7. I don’t recall Hales running on Police Reform.
    I do recall his nickname though : “Streetcar Charlie”.
    You idiots are blaming Hales for much more than he deserves.

  9. I find it interesting, if not encouraging, that after all the citations, they keep letting him back in the office at City Hall. I suppose if he keels over there, they can quickly administer a fruit juice enema. Seriously, this man is courageous above and beyond the call. Pearls before swine. He really ought to eat. Just hanging out so much is protest enough.

  11. This reminds me of when former mayoral candidate Cameron Whitten staged a hunger strike in front of City Hall in support of the homeless. I am tempted to join this brave professor in some solidarity fasting and perhaps join his sit-in by staging a rally outside City Hall when I get back from holiday travel.
    I support good cops by demanding reform and a PPB budget reduction. Get rid of the horses, the flash bangs, and cops who cost us money in lawsuits.
    Our incompetent mayor didn’t read Kruger’s settlement agreement and I doubt he reviewed the union contract before he signed it either, as we saw zero improvement or reigning-in of that frat house. We need to revise the City Charter to provide for INDEPENDENT Police Review with actual teeth, fire the current police psychiatrist who approved the current good squad members, revise our hiring practices to stop screening out intelligence & compassion, rescind the 48-hour waiting period before cops are interrogated on their misbehavior, get rid of the horses we can’t afford & that are mis-used in crowd control, and listen to Judge Simon.
    And we most certainly need to recall this incompetent mayor and get out of the JTTF agreement. We cannot in good conscience collude with torturers or continue to tolerate empty reports, disrespect and denial of security clearance to any elected city official.

  13. Mayor Hales’ is accountable to deescalate the confrontation created by the police violating the civil rights of civilians. His disingenuous request for the Feds to investigate Portland to see if Portland has a HISTORY of police abuse of civil rights is a canard. This militarization of police is a RECENT nation wide trend, started by President Bill Clinton, who began the current ongoing process of funding cities and providing them with military weapons, in exchange for cooperation with the Federal Government. The Fascist goal of the globalist Oligarchy is to transform the United States into a totalitarian regime similar to what has evolved in Communist China, which has recently become heavily influenced by commercial Fascist interests. This won’t work, but it will result in a civil war with total destruction of the American way of life and standard of living. While the police in Japan are unarmed, the Yakuza there, are not. Chuck ought to visit Portland’s sister city, Sapporo, to see what’s up.

  14. I hereby call for the criminal prosecution at Common Law of Portland Mayor Charles Hales for conspiracy in violating the Posse Comitatus Act.

  15. The conspiracy is by and between the City of Portland and the US Department of Defense. Hales dares the Feds to investigate because they are his partners in crime, and he bets that they aren’t about to expose themselves. It’s an extortion tactic. If this were to be tried in court, the DoD would argue that supplying the City with money and arms does not violate the Posse Comitatus Act, because the intent is for the capitol to be used in the supposed, War Against Terror, and the City is still in charge of it’s own law enforcement. However, the City uses the funding and military grade weapons against civilians suspected of infractions, misdemeanors and felonies; crimes not covered by the Insurrection Acts. Homeless are being persecuted with sit-lie bans, all across the country. This is a concerted mission. Military training of civilian police, is resulting in defacto Martial Rule, where the DoD controls through the purse strings.

  16. The campaign against the homeless and other minorities, is just the first step; a test to see if the people stand up in defense of the victims or not.

    Martin Niemöller wrote:

    First They Came

    First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Socialist.

    Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

  17. It’s not about race, it’s about income. The Fascist Oligarchy want’s to eliminate the poor, who don’t contribute significantly enough to the economy or development of advanced technology, and they want a work force smart enough to produce, but not ask questions or seek to understand the purpose. College classes most all require teamwork, because Fascist corporations require teamwork. Teamwork is desired by corporations so that no one individual can control a project or keep all the secrets. This devalues the worker as no one is allowed to become indispensable. Everyone is dispensable; not just the poor.

  18. Hales is dirty. So is Sam Adams. Don’t let either of these weasels off the hook. The jury is still out on you, Euphonius.

  19. Immigration, legal or otherwise, is about diluting the American adherence to Rights. Get enough voters from Third World dictatorships where nobody expects, values, or even understands, Rights, and then the majority will think nothing of taking orders from abusive police.

  20. People have and will continue to sit back and do nothing as the Fascist police brutalize the poor, but the Middle Class is still the majority and the majority of the Middle Class all have guns; and lots of them. There are not enough cops to go door to door and confiscate even a tiny fraction of them. The US armed forces are being cut, and troops are spread wide and thin all over the globe. The Middle Class will not sit back in their easy chairs a let the police kick down their doors and try to take peoples guns away. Of course, society will end up in ruins, and when the economy has been decimated and the people are weak, that’s when the Oligarchy brings in foreign soldiers of fortune. Good thing Portland is over due for the 9.2.

  21. Even the US Postal Service is now buying ammunition and guns, as is the IRS, Social Security, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Veterans who used to get preference points to be hired as mail men, have sued in class action for discrimination, as Red Chinese nationals who speak barely discernible pigeon English get the jobs. While a US Veteran might hesitate to shoot Americans, do you really think that a Communist Chinese soldier immigrant would?

  22. Just like the honored undocumented guest job seeker from South of the border who stripped bare ass naked in front of a lesbian police officer the other day. She orders him to put his pants back on and when he refuses, she tries to shoot him with her stun gun. He committed no crime; merely a victimless infraction. It was the contempt of cop offense that pissed her off. This is no way to deal with civilians. There was no emergency. There was plenty of time for back up to arrive with a net to toss over him, butt nudity ought to be tolerated anyway.

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