"Reprehensible and Wrong": Mayor Answers Vitriolic Article on Frashour Firing

Portland Mercury:

A day after Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner took to the internet and smacked the Portland Police Bureau and Mayor Sam Adams' office over their decision to fire the cop who shot and killed Aaron Campbell, the mayor hit back with strong words of his own. He calls Turner a bully and says his "rant"—especially its accusations that former training Lieutenant Robert King was mendacious and incompetent—was "reprehensible and wrong." The Portland Police union's personal attack on Portland Police Lt. Robert King is reprehensible and wrong. The union's latest attempt at character assassination is part of a pattern of behavior that must stop. Too often, instead of discussing the facts of a matter, the union tries to discredit or bully those who disagree with them. In this case, it appears the Portland Police union also is trying to sway the members of the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB). Enough is enough. The Portland Police union's rant should be disregarded as the City seeks to have the Oregon ERB carefully consider and overturn the Arbitrator's decision to reinstate Ron Frashour. The Mercury first wrote about Turner's Rap Sheet article Tuesday afternoon. By this morning, other media outlets in town had picked up on it, and finally the mayor's office and Chief Mike Reese's office decided they would have to respond. When first approached for a comment during this morning's city council meeting, Adams said he hadn't read Turner's screed. But by the afternoon, his deputy chief of staff, Amy Ruiz, was huddling with him while the council was hearing testimony on the fire bureau's plans to build a new boat launch on the Willamette. Later, during a coincidentally timed hearing on a high-profile outside study on police shootings, Ruiz returned to the chambers to get Reese's thoughts on the statement. The union and the city are still dueling over Adams' refusal to reinstate Frashour. The O, this morning, when it wrote about Turner's article, included some new details about the PPA's demands in that fight. [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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