I won't come down either way with Kerlikowske, I was pretty much leaving the City as he was coming on board. However, the reasons I left are germane to a measurement of the man and I do have strong concerns, especially considering the history of abuse associated with our local DC 'lobbyists'.
Like Ron Sims, Kerlikowske has also successfully negotiated the minefield of Seattle gender politics. The question though is, at what cost?
As you know the cycle of abuse creates abusers from the formerly abused. I believe the Seattle legal profession has used those racially and sexually abused not to attack abusers but to continue that cycle once again - where it is profitable for the bar. I would include the Seattle Police force in that
There are female officers that are among the very best and there is a lot to be said about male-female teams in appropriate situations - those two different sets of eyes can be invaluable. At the same time the stereotype of the closeted man hating lesbian is also very real, and only thinly veiled with current Seattle practices, most notably around the subject of harrassment, and, I suspect, some of the lower orders of sex crimes.
Calling a woman, a racial minority, or a person of authority to account is NOT harrassment, all the more so when the authority figure is public. Do so makes that authority an act of harrasment itself, not the other way around.
Consider the case of Anwar Peace. The police accountability activist who was accused of 'threatening' Kerlikowske after an escalating relationship, including, as I recall, with Kerlikowske's female deputies.
Consider also the larger context of Kerlikowske's hiring - replacing the scapegoated Norm Stamper for the multi-national corporate WTO debacle. Like with Anwar those protestors were free to protest and the failure of the police to immediately control inappropriate behavior was the cause of the problem, not the protest itself, as implied in the media, and by others such as Dave Reichert.
Now, Kerlikowske bears no culpability for the WTO, but the people who hired him did. My concerns with Sims are similar in nature. I interviewed with Sims once and we actually discussed some of the general aspects of gender politics in Seattle, so I am quite sure there is something here of merit.
Figuring out exactly what is not up to me alone to decide, but if you've got a legal profession that considers it harrassment to question them is there any alternative but to wait until it gets bad enough that in the next WTO type protest everyone starts showing up armed?
I certainly hope not, and lets hope the people who would see this happen are fired, at a minimum, ASAP. And yes, that may well include you Mr. Kerlikowske, as the same law you apply to the citizens applies to you.
Lastly, I used to contribute quite a bit to the usenet before it flamed over - personally, I thought this was rather funny, welcoming Kerlikowske to Seattle.
