by Guy Oron
(This article was originally published in Real Change and has been reprinted with permission.)
The office of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell apparently wanted to limit media coverage of the June 8 Office of Police Accountability (OPA) public forum, according to emails obtained by Real Change. According to the documents, members of the Mayor’s Office explicitly mentioned that they did not want to send any media advisories or press releases relating to either the public forum or the OPA director hiring process in general.
Harrell announced on July 19 that he planned to appointed Gino Betts, one of the four finalists for the position who participated in the forum, to the position of OPA director.
In an email dated June 7 at 2:20 p.m., Harrell advisor Devon Abdallah — the Mayor’s point person on the OPA director candidate search — wrote, “We opted to not do a press release for the OPA forum or OPA director search in general.”
Continue reading Emails Appear to Show Mayor’s Office Intentionally Kept OPA Public Forum Quiet
