PORTLAND, OR. JoAnn Hardesty is no stranger to politics. During her term as a city commissioner, especially the past few months, Portland politics has become far stranger with her there. Politics are stranger than bulimic Barbie dolls, three-legged chairs in a jury box, or methane-powered traffic lights. All of those things work, just not very well. Now, Hardesty wants to become Portland’s police commissioner. She is not pro-law enforcement. The opposite is true, in fact, as LET has reported.
One of Hardesty’s recent forays into Portland municipal reality is her abiding demand that Mayor Ted Wheeler and Portland Police Chuck Lovell take steps to…what? Un-deputize officers? De-deputize them? Whatever. Hardesty believes the federal government is trying to take control of Portland’s municipal police force. She believes the federally-deputized officers will “undermine local governance of police.”
US Marshals were dispatched to Portland after many weeks of violence, protests, looting and anarchy, including assaults on members of the Portland Police and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department. The protests began in late May, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while he was being restrained by police. As more encounters between police and black Americans occurred, the protests in Portland turned ugly. And nightly.
The US Marshals were called in by Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who joined the state police and county sheriff deputies to initiate a Joint Incident Command. The JIC’s mandate was to keep order and ensure public safety, in particular, during a demonstration by the ultra-Right Proud Boys in Portland’s Delta Park, and another demonstration march at the same time by the allegedly Marxist Black Lives Matter and Antifa groups at another Portland park.
The deputation of the local, county, and state “boots on the ground” meant
that any arrests they made, along with any assaults against them, would be regarded as federal offenses. As such, those offenses would be prosecuted in federal courts, not municipal, county or state courts.
Deputizing the local officers was not a “king’s X” action. After the demonstrations by the two groups took place in relative peace, Hardesty and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler wanted the “king’s X” to just disappear, like a “do-over,” or “I had my fingers crossed so it’s not true,” action.
Hardesty has well-established herself as anti-police so her position regarding federally deputized officers is not surprising. She stated the deputation of local law enforcement personnel was a move to “undermine local governance of police,” KOIN reported. Hardesty is not saying she opposes local police; she’s saying she wants local control of the police to resume. Mayor Wheeler, who is police commissioner, and Police Chief Lovell are under the gun, to regain their respective oversight powers. The US Marshals, however, are in Portland to stay, at least until the end of the year.
And Hardesty believes her experience as a black female over the past 30 years, and during her time in the US Navy, have been more than ample training for her to head the Portland Police Department. In November, Portland voters will be able to approve or disapprove diverting $15 million from their police department to other municipal issues and projects. They also will be able to decide for of they are for or against a police oversight system that would be led by a civilian. Both of those issues are on the ballot because Hardesty spearheaded their creation.
Voters may or may not recall Hardesty’s claim she was “at the height of [her]emotions” back in June when she alleged the police had set fires during recent protests in Portland. Police also may have brought in outside agitators to flick their lighters. Hardesty apparently was easily able to believe her own strange reality. If not, and perhaps in the future, she can chalk it all up to the height of her emotions.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/portland-commissioner-discriminates-against-conservative-group/
https://www.kptv.com/news/hardesty-apologizes-for-claim-that-police-incite-chaos-during-recent-protests-says-she-was-in/article_94ecde4a-cd41-11ea-bb9f-3b70cca8af7e.html
