Election 2007: Show me the money, part two

Donna Doty-Michalka, who's running for the Ward Five city council seat in Riverside has raised the most money, according to the Press Enterprise.



But the $19,667 she pulled in during May and June just bested her rival, Chris MacArthur by a slim $67.



The six remaining candidates on Riverside's own version of Survivor Island have all been shopping around and preparing to hold parties to replenish coffers drained dry by the extremely competitive and contentious first round of Election 2007.



Donating the most dollars were not surprisingly, development firms and the city's labor unions most notably the Riverside Police Officers Association which dumped thousands of dollars into the campaigns of Ward One incumbent, Dom Betro and Michalka. But with the fundraisers set for July and August, a lot of money still remains to be counted and then spent on campaigns up until the polls open the first Tuesday in November.



Developers were kind to the three incumbents including Ward Seven Councilman Steve Adams, who received $4,000 from the individual who owns the Rancho La Sierra project, a huge bone of contention for many residents in his ward who don't support the high-density housing project and $1,000 from both the manager of the Riverside Plaza and K&K developers.

Adams is having a bit more trouble finding favor with the city's labor unions, especially the RPOA which was greatly upset by letters he circulated against it earlier this year which included things that were not true about the union. Several city residents were also asking questions about a woman who worked for the city who allegedly complained about Adams and then took a job with Riverside County but inquiries into that issue have elicited so far, no further information about that alleged situation.

Councilman Art Gage running to retain his seat in the third ward also did quite well with receiving funding from development firms. His rival, William "Rusty" Bailey did not collect many donations during this time period, but was set to hold a fundraiser in July.

This latest update on the fundraising done by the different candidates doesn't include several major fundraisers that are coming up or were held during the month of July.


The three highest fundraisers who remain in the race for Election 2007 are the following.


1) William "Rusty" Bailey, $126,458.

2) Dom Betro, $98,475.

3) Chris MacArthur, $94,570.




All three of these individuals finished first in their first rounds. Pretty sobering thought, isn't it? Money does indeed talk. So unfortunately, does mudslinging as complaints about those tactics were raised against Bailey, MacArthur and Adams by various parties. These three all led the results of the first rounds in their respective wards.





Campaign contribution disclosure statements are available at the city clerk's office at City Hall in hard copy form. You can also have them emailed to you for free from that same office if you ask. They are useful at finding out more information on political candidates during election cycles. So check them out.






There was an officer-involved shooting involving the Riverside Police Department which left two individuals wounded.

Information provided by the Press Enterprise site is as follows.


(excerpt)


Riverside police are continuing to investigate a shooting by an officer that occurred Friday morning.

Dominique Thompson, 19, suffered non-life threatening injuries when he was shot. According to police, he threatened a crowd of people with a gun later determined to be a replica.

Between 400 and 500 people had congregated in the parking lot at University Village after area bars closed, said Sgt. Leon Phillips.

A skirmish broke out and Thompson displayed the weapon, Phillips said.

An officer fired three rounds. Thompson and a car were hit. A bystander suffered a minor shoulder wound but it is unclear exactly how that happened, Phillips said.
Police are not releasing the name of the bystander.

Police originally arrested Thompson on suspicion of a felony charge of brandishing a firearm in the presence of police officers. That has since been changed to a misdemeanor charge and Thompson is out of custody.

-Sonja Bjelland
sbjelland@PE.com



An update on the shooting of Thompson by Officer Michael Paul Stucker is here. Stucker was involved in the fatal shooting of Lee Deante Brown last year but didn't fire his gun in that incident.

Sgt. Leon Phillips who formerly conducted investigations of officer-involved deaths said this shooting was justified.



(excerpt)


Thompson's aunt, Kim Thompson, said her nephew was out celebrating his cousin's birthday at Denny's. She got an early-morning call about the shooting and went to the hospital.

"I'm just sick to my stomach because it could have went in so many different scenarios," she said, adding that her nephew was unavailable to comment.

Phillips said police get tactical training that teaches them to consider what's behind a target before opening fire, but they are also taught to use their gun when a gun is used or about to be used against them.

"If you have a firearm you're confronted with, you have to respond," Phillips said.

In this case, he said the officers showed restraint by one officer firing three rounds while the other officer held fire.




Still, officially the department will investigate the shooting both through its officer-involved shooting team and its administrative review conducted by its internal affairs division but it appears to be more of a formality at this point. Comments like this kind of show that the department's mind does appear to be made up quite early in terms of its onduty shootings, when its investigators could potentially be faced with evidence that refutes the earlier versions of events as happened recently with fatal onduty shootings by officers in New York City and New Orleans.


Is that likely to happen in this case? Probably not, and it most likely is as Phillips called it, but statements like these should be made in public after an investigation is completed not in its earliest days.




The University of California, Los Angeles has issued a press release in response to the independent review of a controversial incident where one of its students was repeatedly tased by one of its police officers.





Date: August 1, 2007
Contact: Office of Media Relations ( media@support. ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-825-2585

Statement Regarding Report of Independent Investigation of Taser
Incident at UCLA

(The following statement regarding the report of the independent
investigation was authorized for release by then Acting Chancellor
Norman Abrams on July 31, 2007, while still serving in that position;
his term expired at midnight on July 31, 2007. Because it was not
feasible to release the report and the Abrams statement on July 31, it
is being released today, with my approval. ene Block, Chancellor)

In November 2006, I pledged that an independent investigation would be
conducted of the incident at Powell Library during which a UCLA police
officer used a Taser in the course of removing a student who declined to
identify himself.

In normal course, after such an event, the UCLA Police Department
conducts an investigation of the incident. In addition, at my direction,
the university also brought in an outside person to conduct an
independent investigation of the event, retaining Merrick Bobb, widely
recognized as a leading authority on investigating allegations of police
misconduct. He was asked to examine all available evidence related to
the incident and to provide recommendations concerning the university's
police policies applicable to the use of Tasers. His report is now
concluded and is available to the public at
www.newsroom. ucla.edu/ taserreport
(PDF, 6 MB).

After reviewing and analyzing selected Taser and use-of-force policies
that were more restrictive than those of the UCLA Police Department, Mr.
Bobb made a series of recommendations. Among them are:

Clarifying the definitions of violent subjects and those
displaying aggression and resistance.

Limiting the use of Tasers to aggressive or violent
subjects.

Prohibiting the use of Tasers on passively resistant
subjects and on handcuffed suspects.

Clarifying the circumstances under which a Taser should be
brandished.

I firmly believe that it is important for officers to be provided with
carefully drawn, concise policies so that they can respond to incidents
appropriately and in a manner that minimizes the use of force. For that
reason, I have advised UCLA Police Chief Karl Ross that I support many
of the recommended policy changes. Chief Ross is fast-tracking a review
of the policy recommendations and has already indicated that he will be
making revisions in the four areas outlined above.

As mentioned, at the same time Mr. Bobb was conducting his review, the
UCLA Police Department, as part of an established internal affairs
procedure for investigating the conduct of its police officers, also
retained an outside investigator experienced in law enforcement issues
to lead its investigation of the circumstances under which the Taser was
used. By law, the internal investigation report must remain
confidential, but I can tell you that the report thoroughly reviewed the
primary facts of the incident and concluded that there were no policy
violations.

The Bobb report reached a contrary conclusion regarding policy
violations. I believe that Mr. Bobb's report is also a thorough review
of the primary facts of the incident based on the information available
to him. I also agree with his policy recommendations.

Having two fact-finders reach different conclusions regarding the same
incident is not unusual in the legal system. Reasonable people may
disagree regarding the inferences to be drawn from the same set of
facts, and the facts may differ if some witnesses testify in one
investigation and not in the other.

I want to thank Merrick Bobb for taking on this sensitive task and for
producing a report that will be of great help to us. His work has been
an important step in the process of reaching a fair, appropriate and
just conclusion in this matter and in aiding us on the next steps that
should be taken for the benefit of the entire UCLA community.

Norman Abrams

-UCLA-





Daily Southtown has posted an article which provides more information on the $150,000 verdict handed down by a federal jury which heard the case of a female Chicago Police Department officer who was subjected to sexual harassment after she became the first female officer to serve in the department's undercover gang unit.

All told, the city is accountable for paying out over $600,000 including Ann McDermott's attorneys' fees.


(excerpt)


McDermott went back to work Tuesday night feeling like a pariah among fellow officers for breaking what she called the police "code of silence," but she felt a measure of vindication.

"I told the jury exactly what happened, and the Chicago Police Department, including one commander, one captain, two lieutenants and seven sergeants, all tried to say I wasn't telling the truth, and the jury saw through it," she said.

Based on the verdict, the Internal Affairs Department, which had dismissed most of McDermott's complaints, will take a second look, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

When McDermott first started making complaints, a former boyfriend on the force told her that he took a call from someone who said, "You better get your girlfriend in check before someone gets hurt."

"I was so scared I put my condo on the market to sell," McDermott testified.




Once again, sexism costs. In this case, sexual harassment and retaliation by a city's male police officers who feel they have the right to keep a special unit all male at any cost have cost the city's taxpayers a lot of money.

Maybe Chicago Police Department's management should read the following primer on the importance of having a sexual harassment policy that actually has some teeth to it and making sure it's safe for officers to report sexual harassment without receiving more harassment, being ostracized, being fired and having their lives and safety threatened.

Things aren't looking any better in the Los Angeles Fire Department after allegations of racism and sexism in its ranks have led to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doing an investigation of that agency, according to the Associated Press.

The Los Angeles Times has more information about the federal probe here.


(excerpt)


The probe by the EEOC, which is charged with enforcing federal antidiscrimination laws, has been going on for at least several weeks, according to sources familiar with the action.

It was unclear whether federal officials were focusing on specific cases or conducting a broader inquiry, but investigators from the commission's Los Angeles office were seeking to interview several Fire Department employees and review internal records, said the sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.


"They're real serious about it," one source said of the EEOC probe.

About 60 miles away from the city of angels, the EEOC is allegedly visiting another city or two.

Update: I received some notification about a possible incustody death in Riverside involving a Black man who was tased today, Aug. 4 at about 1:30pm. I haven't received any further information on any alleged incident.