If the Common Council follows its attorney’s recommendation.
Blaska is about to win his law suit against the City of Madison, unless the Common Council chickens out. The City is poised to acknowledge that it impermissibly based membership on the Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) by race, as we alleged in our lawsuit in federal court:
The City’s racial classifications — enshrined in city law and the official policy of the City — are unconstitutional, offensive, and repugnant to basic American values. At the heart of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection lies the simple command that the government must treat citizens as individuals, not as simply components of a racial [class].”
As an add-on to the ordinance, the council adopted as a resolution an alder work group report recommending half the PCOB’s membership be African-American. The three alders writing that report were Shiva Bidar, Donna Moreland, and Rebecca Kemble. All three progressives have since moved on from the Common Council.
Mayor Satya and five alders propose to amend Ordinance 5.20 to eliminate the racial requirement. As part of the settlement, the City will pay the $46,000 costs of our attorney at the Wisconsin Institute of Law & Liberty (Daniel Lennington), and to pay the claimant $100. City taxpayers are also on the hook for the private lawyer it hired from the Boardman Clark law firm, Amanda Kaiser.
The amendment will be introduced Tuesday’s 04-19-22 Common Council meeting and likely scheduled for discussion at the 05-03-22 05-10-22 meeting (where it may be referred to committee). It is agenda item #120. You will note the lack of details at the link, probably due to the contested legal nature of the matter.
The rewritten ordinance that we have seen putatively abolishes quotas but dances around the issue by suggesting membership “from a diverse background, including but not limited to … African American, Asian, Latinx, Native American; and LGBTQ.” No neighborhood association presidents, no shopkeepers, no Republicans. No Norwegians, for that matter. So it’s not total victory, unfortunately. But it’s a blow against identity politics.
As a practical matter, there’s nothing to stop the mayor and council from appointing the same individuals, alleging their appointments this time were race neutral — honest! Joe Biden can promise to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court (not that he is a biologist) but it least he was not statutorily mandated. That is not why we fought the Civil War or Jim Crow.
We would prefer the current PCOB to be disbanded and its membership reconstituted, given that it is the tainted fruit of an illegal racial quota. The city’s lawyer cites as exculpatory — get this! — the agency’s incompetence! The city argues that the terms of 5 of the 13 members expire in September and that “As of this time, the current board … has taken essentially no substantive action.”
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Got that right. The PCOB has been meeting for a year and a half. They’ve managed to get their pronouns straight, ask for more pay, and offer the $120,000/year job of police monitor to a man accused of sexual discrimination. We have said from the beginning, the Police Civilian Oversight Board is the wrong solution to a non-existent problem. As today’s student melee at Sherman middle school proves.
16 responses to “Madison to rescind Police Civilian Oversight Board’s racial quotas”
GBY Dave. Will they also have to remove the named groups as qualifications for membership?
Job well done and Thank You for taking on the progressive Madison machine and winning.
Sherman Middle School.
Al Rickey
F****n’ A Blaska!
The Gotch
DAVID VERSUS THE MACHINE. Tread lightly marxists never fight fair
Congratulations but how appalling is it that “progressives” are racially discriminating and segregating at all levels of government?! This should never have happened in the first place. People endured beatings, jail, and murders 60-70 years ago to put a stop to segregation and government-sanctioned racial discrimination in programs and services, yet schools and universities and governments think they can try it again because they have “good intentions”!?
Same people want more content moderation on twitter to “save democracy”. They are willing to throw their own free speech rights into the shitter for a short term “win”.
It’s nice to know the city has this much money to waste on lawsuits and bullshit police oversight but not enough to run the recycling program.
Exactamunde!
Congratulations and thanks again David for stepping up and leading. It’s just too bad that the judgement and expenses are paid by the taxpayers instead of from the personal funds of the perpetrators…..
“As an add-on to the ordinance, the council adopted as a resolution an alder WOKE group report recommending half the PCOB’s membership be African-American.”
fify
The Gotch
Excellent, well done Squire!
I have always wondered why Madison pays so much for a City Attorney that gives bad advice and has to hire outside attorney’s every time the City goes to court. Most of the time the City looses and gets to pay. Sometime it makes you wonder who is running the asylum? Good job Dave.
Madison’s 14 city attorneys aren’t sufficient? So hire even more expensive outside attorneys. What, exactly, are the 14 doing with their time?
[…] the process to remove racial membership quotas on the Police Civilian Oversight Board to settle Blaska’s lawsuit. File […]
[…] to Blaska’s lawsuit, the city is amending its ordinance that unconstitutionally requires racial quotas for appointment to the this government agency. As […]
[…] The City of Madison created this 11-member paean to Wokeness to pillory the racist slave catchers when they needlessly target people of color, as progressives believe occurs as a matter of course. (The City is reluctant to even experiment with body cameras for fear the technology might prove the contrary.) To combat alleged racism, the council imposed race-tests on members: half had to be black and the others Asian, “Latinx,” Native America, LBGTQ — and/or convicted of a crime. Which is about to be changed due to Blaska’s lawsuit. […]