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Political Hit Jobs: Police Seek to Undermine Commissioner, District Attorney

In a bizarre turn of events in March, a Portland motorist mis-identified Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty as the driver of a car who struck her vehicle in a hit-and-run. The incident was reported to the Portland Police and leaked to a conservative, pro-police group. Days later, Portland Police Association (PPA) President Brian Hunzeker resigned. A March 16 statement from the PPA indicates Hunzeker "made a serious, isolated mistake" but did not elaborate, leaving people to speculate whether it was Hunzeker who released the initial police report. The "mistake" might have referred to his social media post on the matter. Hardesty was also the target of negative remarks made by East Precinct Commander Erica Hurley at a community meeting, where, while in uniform, she also encouraged people to vote new District Attorney Mike Schmidt out of office. Schmidt, in turn, had his home address released by a police officer who took a screen capture and shared it with a civilian (Oregonian, January 31). While it's possible some of the negative words about Hardesty are based in racism (Hardesty is African American), these stories combined show a trend of political hit jobs.

It is not clear who leaked the police report which incorrectly labeled Hardesty as a suspect. To their credit, the Portland Police investigated and within a day found that the car involved belonged to a woman in Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland. While Hunzeker may or may not have been the one who leaked the report, he certainly made a post to the PPA's Facebook page on March 6, calling Hardesty a hypocrite for thanking a news channel which corrected the false allegations against her. Hardesty had accused the PPB of setting the fires at its precincts and buildings to frame protestors last summer-- but she also apologized for doing so. Hunzeker felt the attention paid to the hit-and-run should instead have been used to investigate shootings, pointing out that a 12 year old had been recently hit by a bullet. Linking Hardesty's accusations against the cops to the hit-and-run victim as both being "detached from reality," Hunzeker wrote: "Sadly, this kind of bombastic rhetoric isn't surprising anymore." The post was not removed from the social media site, and garnered over 200 comments.

Hurley's negative remarks about Hardesty and Schmidt were made to a rogue group called the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association (LNLA). The LNLA is one of several "shadow" groups which are more supportive of expanded police presence--in particular to remove houseless people-- than official City Neighborhood Associations, which mostly have similar but more nuanced positions. A YouTube video shows Hurley in uniform with her gun telling the LNLA that if they don't like the criminal behavior, they can blame Hardesty for her policies of defunding police, and they can un-elect Schmidt. A Bureau Directive prohibits officers from political activity while in uniform, but "Independent" Police Review Director Ross Caldwell dismissed Hurley's actions as "typical" and said that since the election had been two months prior, there was nothing to investigate. However, the state is investigating whether Hurley committed an act of official misconduct. (Willamette Week online, March 23).

The information about Schmidt being "doxxed" by the police was revealed in a six-month check-in interview the Oregonian ran, focusing on his efforts toward reform and criticisms of not prosecuting minor civilian criminal conduct alleged by police during protests (January 31). The picture of Schmidt's address "ended up on a website operated by a Florida police captain [which] 'unapologetically supports those who hold the "Thin Blue Line."'" Apparently, some people already knew Schmidt's address because the screen capture was in relation to protestors who went to Schmidt's house to yell "all lives matter" into a bullhorn.

What is the City doing about the hit jobs? In addition to hiring the consultants at OIR Group to investigate who leaked the Hardesty police report, the City is also paying them to launch an investigation into political and racial bias. The PPB did not comment about the leaked image of Schmidt's address. As a reminder, the IPR cleared now-retired Lt. Jeff Niiya of wrongdoing when he showed apparent favoritism to alt-right leader Joey Gibson during protests in 2017-18. So let's hope outside investigations lead to rooting out police who are misusing their authority to enable themselves to continue misusing their authority.

May, 2021
Also in PPR #83

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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