*The Spokesman-Review is reporting that the mayor of Spokane, Wash. Has asked Rachel Dolezal to step down form her position on a police oversight panel for conduct he calls unacceptable.
A city investigation found that the actions of former NAACP chairman Dolezal and two other members of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission threatened that group’s impartiality and effectiveness.
In response Spokane Mayor David Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart have called on all three members to resign. (The other two commissioners investigated are Adrian Dominguez and Kevin Berkompas.)
In a news conference today, Condon and Stuckart said the three leaked sensitive information about police misconduct investigations.
Other findings included in an investigation launched after a whistleblower complaint filed earlier this year were:
— The trio tried to overstep the commission’s authority and perform investigative duties after the city’s ombudsman Tim Burns resigned and left in January despite warnings from other commissioners.
— The commissioners sought to conceal vote counts to give the false impression that the panel unanimously backed certain issues despite some commissioners wanting their votes listed.
— Meeting minutes were altered to exclude references to comments and activities that had occurred.
The investigation concluded that the three commissioners also mistreated city staff.
If all three commissioners named in the investigative findings were to be removed, it would leave the new commission unable to function because it wouldn’t have enough members to approve anything.
Even before today’s news conference, pressure was mounting on Dolezal to resign her post as chairwoman of the ombudsman commission. The city’s Human Rights Commission formally called Tuesday night for her to step down.
Dolezal, who is white but has been portraying herself as a black woman for years, resigned Monday as head of the Spokane NAACP chapter.
One of the commissioners, Scott Richter, told two city council members months ago that he felt Dolezal was unable to separate her advocacy role as head of the NAACP and the need to provide impartial police oversight as head of the Ombudsman Commission.
According to the report’s findings, “Comm’r Richter communicated his concerns about Comm’r Dolezal’s inability to put her biases aside to Council members (Amber) Waldref and (Mike) Fagan on several occasions. Comm’r Richter opined that any real or perceived bias by OPOC commissioners placed the mission of the OPO at risk because citizens or police may come to believe that they would not be treated fairly.”
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