Bad apple blossom time
Yesterday was Groundhog Day, a day that thanks to Bill Murray, has become sysnonymous with things repeating themselves uncontrollably.
And so it was fitting that it was the day they broke the news that Brian Hunzeker, the Portland cop who slandered city council member Jo Ann Hardesty, is being reinstated to the police force. According to one of the faceless arbitrators who effectively run police bureau discipline at this pop stand, Hunzeker, who was president of the police union at the time he blatantly violated his duty, should have only been suspended for a week instead of fired.
I predicted this. Any idiot could have. This is how it always goes in Portland. No matter what the cops do wrong, they more or less get away with it.
Remember that spiffy new police review system we Portlanders voted into law more than two years ago? By a 4 to 1 margin? Ha ha, what a joke. They're still dithering about it. When it finally gets seated, the union will get it thrown out. Probably by an arbitrator.
Where the heck do these people get all this power from? Why, from the union contract, of course. The contract that Mayor Dud Wheeler and the gang couldn't wait to sign, despite the clear desire of the population for something better.
Oh well. Bad Boy Brian rides again. Actually, we could use a traffic cop. Portland hasn't had any for years. But he's probably also in for a big fat check for doing nothing. It's the Portland City Hall way: Nothing succeds like failure.
Reinstating Brian makes it easier for JoAnn to archive her financial future
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this would have been the case of things were different these days, as if the city’s crime rate was as low as say ten years ago. Maybe the mayor wouldn’t have been so eager to sign the contract if things weren’t out of control in Portland? Not to say it’s right that the police union has so much power, but it sounds to me like they know they hold all the cards right now.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the black-bloc-heads and J.A. With the Bullhorn. As counter-productive as they come.
DeleteJust leaving this here -- "Meet the Company that Writes the Policies that Protect the Police"
ReplyDeletehttps://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/08/lexipol-police-policy-company/
I think I read that he gets his lostpay for the year on the sidelines. 200,000
ReplyDeleteOf course he does
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