Bits o’ news!
Gary Blackmer
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Hall Monitor
Charter Disagreement
Auditor Gary Blackmer tries to amend the city charter—and runs into Commissioner Dan Saltzman.
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Hall Monitor
Elected Representatives
Elected Representatives: Aren’t these guys supposed to represent us?
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Behind Closed Doors
Cop Review Group Plots Future in Secret
Last Thursday, April 17, the city auditor’s office held a closed-door meeting with members of the cops’ Citizen Review Committee (CRC) to discuss the group’s future. The CRC is part of the city’s Independent Police Review (IPR) division, which was criticized in a consultant’s report recently for conducting too much of its business behind closed […]
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Mixed Reviews
Cop Review Report Divides City Leadership
ARIZONA CONSULTANT Eileen Luna-Firebaugh finally presented her critical report on the city’s Independent Police Review (IPR) to council last Wednesday, March 19—but it appears to have done little to bridge the divide between critics and proponents of the way police oversight is conducted in Portland. The IPR currently dismisses 68 percent of the roughly 700 […]
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Polling Weight
Will Dozono Lose Public Financing?
A POLL CONDUCTED last December—one that Sho Dozono got a peek at before he jumped into the city’s public financing program on January 7—is like a can of Diet Pepsi, attorney Christy Monson (representing the city auditor) argued during an all-day hearing in Tualatin on Monday, March 17. Using the empty soda can as a […]
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Twice as Bad
Is Cop Review Doubling Police Accountability Payouts?
NEW FINANCIAL ANALYSIS of police accountability settlements paid out by the city from 1993 to 2005 shows the creation of the Independent Police Review (IPR) may have, in fact, led to a 197 percent rise in cop-related payouts. City Auditor Gary Blackmer, who ran the IPR until the mayor moved to seize control of it […]
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Hall Monitor
“I just believe in fairness, and fair is fair. It is exceedingly unfair to change the rules for an election during the election.” That was City Commissioner Randy Leonard during a January 9 city council meeting, when the council was discussing a special election to replace outgoing Commissioner Erik Sten. At issue? Whether to craft […]
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In Other News
POTTER SEIZES COP REVIEW Mayor Tom Potter took control of the Independent Police Review (IPR) back from City Auditor Gary Blackmer last Friday, February 29. Blackmer, along with his colleague, former IPR Director Leslie Stevens—who recently took a job with the police bureau—is now absolved from responsibility for fixing problems cited in an independent consultant’s […]
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Here We Poll Again
After two weeks of devoting this space to Sho Dozono’s $27,295 poll problem, I’d hoped to turn my attention to what the current city council has been up to. Not a whole lot, it turns out. Commissioner Sam Adams is bringing a resolution to the council on Wednesday, February 27, buying his staff more time […]
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Reviewing the Review
Leonard Pushes Mayor on Cop Review Report
City Commissioner Randy Leonard is throwing stones at Mayor Tom Potter over the credibility of an independent consultant’s report released last month, which said the community doesn’t trust the city’s Independent Police Review (IPR). The report, by Arizona-based consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh, came back to the mayor’s office on January 24 and will be presented to […]