Thomas
folds; Council says voters can't consider police oversight
They did it to us again. Though polling shows 87% of
Austinites support independent police oversight, Tuesday the Austin City Council
failed to approve an independent police monitor and oversight board on a 3-4
vote, with only Raul Alvarez, Beverly Griffith, and Jackie Goodman in support.
No vote was taken on the open records amendment, which had drawn most of the
public fire from the police union and had even less council support.
Ex-police officer and Councilmember Danny Thomas told
oversight supporters and the newspaper he supported an amendment installing an
independent monitor in the City Charter right up until the day before the vote.
But the police union's high-intensity lobbying campaign clearly affected him.
As a half-dozen police lobbyists stared him down, one could watch Thomas almost
visibly change his mind, first declaring he'd supported a charter amendment
since last year, then by the end of a rambling, disjointed commentary voting
against the proposal for no clearly articulated reason.
The other three who voted against the amendment were
Daryl Slusher -- who consistently over the years has
been the most vocal council opponent of police oversight -- Will Wynn, and
Mayor Gus Garcia. Of these, Garcia is the biggest disappointment. He protested
APD on police oversight issues in the '70s, but he voted against oversight
yesterday.
The next time you see Councilmembers Thomas, Slusher, Wynn or Mayor Garcia around town, remember to step
up to them and personally say how disappointed you are that they opposed police
oversight. And don't forget to thank councilmembers who voted for us --
especially Raul Alvarez and Beverly Griffith who have both consistently and
strongly supported our cause over the years. Councilmember Jackie Goodman added
last-minute language we didn't like that would have dramatically weakened
the amendment, but she did cast the first vote of her career in favor of
oversight over police union opposition -- for her a major milestone in our
direction.
If you want to contact a councilmember to either
thank them or to express disappointment at their vote, see http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/contacts.htm.
The ACLU group email to the
Thank you to the more than 300 people who emailed or faxed city council over the
last couple of weeks. I cannot describe how grateful we are for your support.
Your voices are being heard, even if the going is slow. In 1998 when we
started, no councilmember supported requiring oversight at APD. By 2001 we got
watered down oversight, and two councilmembers supported stronger measures.
Yesterday we got three votes. The voters may have to throw a few of the bums
out between now and then, but I believe in the next few years we can
convince the city to enact real oversight.
ACLU will have more to say later on this topic, but
until then thanks again to all who made phone calls, distributed fliers or
contacted city council. We were within a hair's breadth of letting voters
establish independent police oversight in
Best,
Scott Henson
ACLU of