The “Show” starts Thursday at the West Central Community Center between 6-8 PM.

 

The “Show” is of course the roll out of Mayor Condon’s choice for Chief of Police Craig Meidl, supposedly it is going to be a NO HOLDS BARRED AFFAIR, and the public will be able to ask any question of Meidl and get some answers. However, the rules of engagement have not yet been made public, if it is in fact No Holds Barred then myself as well as the public will have an opportunity to ask Meidl questions regarding the Zehm case and the “Infamous Salute” my assumption is that negotiations are going on regarding the ground rules as I type and a part of those negotiations includes Meidl NOT answering questions regarding the Zehm case. Keep in mind that when myself Mitch Ryals, and Rachel Alexander were able to interview Craig Meidl he refused to answer any questions regarding the Zehm case or the Salute, according to him at the direction of Jim McDevitt, so we shall see.

 

It is important to remember that Mayor Condon put together an eight member “Police Leadership Advisory Committee” to establish criterion for picking the next City of Spokane Chief of Police, and it is also important to remember that he completely ignored their criterion with his choice of Meidl who never even applied for the position. That PLAC also took public input at the West Central and East Central Community centers just as this “Show” will. We all also have to remember that this roll out of Craig Meidl is exactly the same as the roll out of the Tentative Contract Agreement of the Guild and Lieutenant and Captains Association that completely gutted OPO Powers and placed power for Body Camera issues entirely in the hands of the Unions. The City Council caved on that and ultimately signed off on the Contract. The big question is, are they going to do the same with Meidl?

 

Somehow lost in this entire discussion is that the City of Spokane is currently in negotiations with the Unions on the next contract, and if Meidl ends up being the new Chief of Police he will continue to be involved in those negotiations supposedly representing the Citizen’s interests, so when I see stories like these I have to laugh.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/aug/03/police-association-supports-chief-appointment/

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/aug/05/spokane-police-guild-gives-chief-nominee-craig-mei/

 

Despite what many folks think…Cops Ain’t No Dummies, we have always known which side the butter is on!

 

IF and that is a BIG IF, Spokane Citizens have an opportunity to question Meidl regarding his involvement in the Zehm case and the Infamous Salute, I am at an advantage in formulating questions because I am the only one that has all of the Public Records regarding the case and the Salute. I have shared SOME but not all of those records with a few folks and you could see some questions by others of Meidl in the news prior to “The Show”

 

Let’s don’t forget that Craig Meidl was third in Command of the Spokane Police Department when the Salute took place.

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/44b44582-7ac4-4dfb-901d-99878c58be58

 

My guess is that each Citizen will be limited to three minutes to ask questions or make statements just like Council Meetings, that is a total of six minutes if a Citizen participates in both Shows, obviously that won’t be enough for all my questions so I will have to prioritize and hope that the City Council actually asks Meidl the questions they should be asking when they have a bigger and broader opportunity to do so.

Here are two things I’ll be looking for:

 THE EAT UP THE TIME PLAY, which is a common play in situations like this and simply means the individual answers simple questions often requiring just a simple YES or NO with a long drawn mostly meaningless answer to a simple question. Craig Meidl is notorious for this this, often quoting books he says he has read.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE AMNESIA PLAY, which is a common affliction among many government administrators in situations like this. Somehow they can’t remember certain facts no matter how important they might be.

 

IS THE APPOINTMENT OF MEIDL A DEFLECTION FROM THE CAPPEL REPORT???

You can lump me into the group that believes it is an effort on Mayor Condon’s part to deflect from the issues facing him as a result of violations of the Public Records Act.

The question is… “Will it work?” Well that depends on just how well people, including the City Council, study the Cappel Report and understand Meidl’s involvement in the issues surrounding the entire matter. It isn’t pretty folks and as time goes on even more will come out in litigation depositions, if not Court.

The deflection has worked with me to the extent that I have to prepare for “The Show” and write about that for the time being instead of focusing on the Cappel Report… But “I shall return!” to quote General Douglas MacArthur.

I am going to tip my hand on one of the questions I’ll be asking Craig Meidl. The question requires a simple YES or NO and the answer will be very telling. Since I know Meidl reads my stories, here you go Craig:

“Interim Chief Meidl, would you be willing to withdraw your name from contention because of the tremendous controversy involved with your nomination, suggest that the Mayor and City Council utilize one of the many organizations that provide temporary Police Chiefs for situations like Spokane’s, renew the search, and if you truly are interested submit your application for consideration at that time?”

________________________________________

One of Many Examples of Organizations Available:

 

________________

Interim Staffing and Mentoring

On occasion communities find themselves without a police executive for short periods of time. This can be the result of a short term disability or other unexpected absence. The duties and responsibilities of a police department are too important to the residents of a city or town to allow a void to develop due to the absence of the chief. Municipal Resources has the ability to place an experienced police manager in your police department on short notice and remain in place until the current chief returns to duty or a replacement is selected. A number of former police executives are affiliated with MRI that have years of quality police administrative experience. These former officials continue their involvement in the police field through various consulting projects and can confidently take command of any police department with little time needed for familiarization.

 

http://www.mrigov.com/contentInline/policeservices-30

__________________

 

 

 

 

The answer to that question is a simple YES or NO, and the answer will be very telling from the standpoint of whether or not Meidl’s true desires are self-serving or he really does believe that the Community should come first, the SPD second, and he and his wife’s well compensated and benefited careers last.

 

Now back to preparing questions so don’t look for more stories until after Thursday.

 

*** Special Note to Gonzaga Prep Grads!!! It has been brought to my attention that some of my readers who did graduate from Gonzaga Prep take offense to me sometimes kidding about Prep. Let me assure you it is just that… kidding from this LC Grad, and Prep has some great graduates, some of whom were cops. By the same token along with those Great Graduates there were also some Slugs, just like we had at LC… and yes Fredrick Harlan Coe comes to mind!

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!!