MOBILE
Doug Clark: Hopefully, Condon won’t stop the insanity
January 5, 2012 - Updated: 4:13 a.m.
First real day on the job and Mayor David Condon makes noises about fulfilling his campaign promise to restore the public’s faith in the Spokane Police Department.
Folks, I’m worried.
We might have elected a lunatic.
True, the mayor’s office has housed more nuts than a PayDay bar wrapper.
Paranoid. Perverted. Narcissistic. …
And that’s just the one kook we had to recall.
But no mayor in my near-elephantine memory has been so unhinged as to call a press conference right out of the chute and start keeping promises.
Come on. A promise to a campaigning politician is like a wristwatch on a sermonizing preacher.
Don’t mean a thing.
I realized Spokane’s 44th mayor might be unhinged last Friday morning. Condon and I exchanged pleasantries outside the Riverfront Park Clocktower, the site Condon picked to take his oath of office.
Now I ask you: Who in his right mind schedules an outdoor social gathering in this burg during the dregs of winter?
Factor in that Condon, like me, is a Spokane lad.
That means he knows how fickle the winter weather around here can be.
One second we’re all trying to make it through an ice storm.
Next second we’re all out raking the yard.
Factor in also that the town’s TV weathercasters had unanimously predicted a blizzard-free Friday.
So odds were even we’d be digging out of an avalanche before the Condon Coronation had reached the swearing-in stage.
Planning an outdoor Spokane wedding in summertime will turn most brides into neurotic wrecks.
All along the Clocktower, however, Condon was as upbeat as an Avista exec with a new rate increase.
The mayor even agreed to play tambourine with me next June during Spokane Street Music Week.
Yep. Must be insane.
The only other alternative is that our new mayor is actually bent on keeping the promises he uttered while huffing and puffing on the campaign trail.
I know. The concept’s almost too weird to comprehend.
But if that’s the case, he couldn’t have picked a better promise to make good on.
I won’t rehash all the police stuff that has caused the citizenry to think of local enforcement as loco law enfarcement.
You know, the Karl Thompson conviction, the saluting court cops, the neutering of our so-called police ombudsman …
The point is that the police department is in a scurvy-ridden state.
Poor morale and internal divisions are just symptoms that have been exacerbated by inadequate leadership.
I liked Anne Kirkpatrick a lot. The outgoing police chief has a good heart and plenty of good ideas.
But she wasn’t up to changing the element of cowboy culture that has caused the SPD to be far less than it should be.
In his press conference, Condon named Maj. Scott Stephens to step in as interim police chief. The mayor also gave the green light to reviewing the police department’s policies and training regarding use of force.
Good start.
I don’t know much about Stephens, but I’m willing to give the man a chance.
And I’m actually excited by Condon’s eagerness to get cracking on the promises he made to get elected.
Like giving Assistant City Attorney Rocky Treppiedi the boot.
A lot of us can’t wait for that shoe to drop.
Maybe he can take care of that one on Friday.
And who knows?
Keeping your word just might turn out to be the recipe for re-election in Condon’s hometown, the birthplace of mayoral term limits.
Doug Clark is a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or by email at dougc@spokesman.com.
you two may need to get a room.
Sorry Ozzie! Looks like Doug has a new man-crush!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!
wow…please let’s further the fantasy that the average street cop out there sluggin out his guts so you won’t be another victim of your own rose colored ignorance is at fault….ummm…I think Kirkpatrick was in charge for the last 5 + years….when was the last time anyone can remember a sitting Chief with 3 pending multi million dollar lawsuits…AND a restraining order against her…..typical administrater….wasn’t my fault! just like you Doug….wasn’t me that spoon fed the bloggers their stupidity!
Great review! Perhaps Sir Clark, we have turned the proverbial corner in Spokane and now walk on a new street called “Integrity”. I am eager to watch the “changes” that are now taking place…hopefully for the better. We’ll see.
Saying again.
Stephens said he “liked” the guild when asked about them at the press release. I do not expect any good to come of that relationship in fact I beleive it is the recipe for failure.
I have my reservations with Stephens. A man who was raised in the SPD isn’t likely to make any major changes. Especially since, as has been pointed out, “He likes the Guild.”
The one officer Kirkpatrick publicly backed was indicted and convicted of two felonies. The people she fired are getting million dollar settlements(from us taxpayers) and their jobs back. And Doug Clark likes her?! Says a lot about his judgement….
Once again…Clark deceiving his sheep….Treppiedi may not represent the city….BUT he is still gainfully employed….by the SAME employer….as he should be… .he just doesn’t represent the city….moved to representing other clients….so hasn’t REALLY been given the “boot” as Clark claims…..keep feeding your sheep Clark…they hang on all your deceitful articles….
I don’t hag on anything from Clark. One needn’t read a single column from Doug to understand Spokane is rotten to the core. Only people like generallyspeaking, who have a vested interest in seeing it remain that way will paint it differently.
I believe in Karma. Rocco will get his, someday.
Well it appears things worked out, despite what you might think… glad to see it!
GOOD news on Kxly…..who woulda thought the FBI’s video might not have been accurate….First of GOOD things to come for Karl….ROCK ON!!!!
generallyspeaking dont matter your buddy is still going to see time in fed prison where i hear he will be in the genera population cause every inmate wants a crack at the cop in cell block H.
47 frames. That is the number of video frames that elapse from the time Otto first sees Thompson and the first blow is delivered from the ironwood baton. 47 frames.
The frame rate on the cameras at the Zip Trip were set to the NTSC standard of 29.97 frames per second.
I’ll just about guarantee I possess the most expertise regarding the Zip Trip videos. I have gone over them frame by frame for years now, literally hundreds of times. I have enhanced (by enlarging and centering certain sections of the video so that a viewer can more easily discern what is actually occurring. The testimony presented by the prosecution in regards to the video tape evidence was accurate, I believe, but not complete because from my knowledge they didn’t undertake some of the forensics tasks associated with the video that I have. Even though the tapes are without audio it doesn’t take a genius to understand there is no way there was enough time for Thompson’s version of the confrontation to unfold. No way. They (his defense) can try all they want, but they won’t be able to dance around that issue. And that is the crux of this case, was Zehm provided an opportunity to comply and did Thompson fabricate a report of the incident that doesn’t conform with reality?
No and yes. Case closed. On to sentencing. Again.
I am afraid that Condon might be a right-wing ideologue, but if he can clean up the Spokane Police department, which has been corrupt and above the law for 100 years, maybe I can live with him. I too m disappointed though that Trappedi has a job at all.