Transparency in City Hall

Last week, I suggested that Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Police Chief Rosie Sizer should work together more publicly to help promote a competent government. This week, Mayor Adams fired them for it.

To clarify, Sizer was fired with two months left before retirement and Commissioner Saltzman had the police bureau stripped from his purview one week before re-election. The mayor’s motivations are obviously in retaliation for the pair’s recent public opposition to the mayor’s budget and spending plan.

Sizer, who has been criticized for staying out of the public eye, held a large press conference last Monday to express her disgust with Adams’ proposed budget. The cuts to her department amount to about $5 million—exactly the amount Adams wrongly accused the police bureau of overspending in the coming fiscal year. When that occurred, Saltzman and Sizer sat down with an analyst and came to the conclusion that the number was a gross overstatement and would reflect an absolute worst-case scenario.

When Adams’ new budget was made public, Sizer felt the need to speak out—that it would mean 25 officers and staff members would have to be let go. Adams explained that the 4 percent budget cut would apply to other agencies. Cutting officers is not like trimming the budgets of other bureaus. Every lost dollar amounts to a direct loss to public safety. Adams claims he found $20 million in sewer contract savings and wants to spend it on bioswales and more bike pathways. I think we can find a better use for that money.

Commissioner Saltzman agrees and believes that his public opposition to Adams’ budget tinkering is one of the primary reasons the mayor took the police bureau off his hands a week before he would be up for reelection. He called the move a “vindictive act.” Saltzman recounts an altercation between Adams and one of his staff members after Saltzman questioned the mayor’s spending on green bike paths. The mayor confronted a member of Saltzman’s staff and said something to the effect of “I’m going to embarrass your boss,” according to Saltzman. The commissioner wasn’t sure what that would mean until last week.

Adams also seemed upset that Saltzman was aware of Sizer’s press conference and neglected to alert him. Maybe it’s because Saltzman was wrapping up the James Chasse, Jr., case, finally closing a dark chapter in the bureau’s history after three inexcusable years of investigation. The settlement came out to $1.6 million—the same amount it took to train the 25 officers Adams’ new budget would let go.

Perhaps the Chasse Jr. tragedy and the resulting fiasco were grounds for firing. The investigation took over three years—why wait until the day after a public press conference to oust Sizer? It’s the same situation with Saltzman. Portlanders have criticized Adams decision to pass off his duty as Police Commissioner for months. Why take it back now?

Sizer and Saltzman were ousted because they chose to speak out against the mayor. It’s as simple as that. If the mayor had cited Sizer’s intense protection of her officers to the point that it hurt public trust in the bureau or Saltman’s ineffectiveness, this move wouldn’t have been so bad. But the fact that it was done out of spite shows the immaturity of a mayor who has been accused of bullying in the past. The mayor blames his irascibility on sleep apnea. Frankly, I don’t trust a leader who makes retaliatory decisions that affect my safety because he didn’t get enough sleep the night before. The mere fact that he can’t even own up to his temper is a sign that he has a lot of growing to do.

Adams has named Mike Reese as the new chief and put him to work right away overseeing the Lloyd District shooting last week, which left one officer shot and the suspect dead. Reese is a close friend of the fiery Commissioner Randy Leonard, whom Adams considered for the role of police commissioner. Reese’s most notable move previous to appointment was transferring central precinct officer Tom Brennan to the property evidence warehouse after he complained in an e-mail about the tactics of Sgt. Kyle Nice, one of the officers who killed James Chasse, Jr. It looks like Reese’s response to insubordination is right in line with Mayor Adams’.

New boss, same as the old boss.