There were a few dozen Seattle police officers in the room while this was going on, but they didn't lift a finger to bring calm to the rowdy, post-WTO mood. City hall security, not Seattle cops, ejected the Compton critic. And according to one observer, some officers even suppressed a few grins at the minor chaos that swirled around them.
Then what were the officers doing there if not to preserve the peace? "It was a lobbying thing on their part," says Matt Fox, a political consultant and a neighborhood activist. In short, they were there at the behest of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, and they were trying to send a political message of their own: Remember us during our contract negotiations.
J. D. Miller, the guild's vice president, says the guild used word of mouth to get officers to come in and silently stand along a side wall during the swearing-in ceremonies. Miller says about 45 to 50 officers attended, but non-partisan observers disagreed, giving estimates that varied from a mere 16 officers to a healthy 40 officers (even with the presence of plainclothes detectives).
Miller downplayed what the guild was trying to accomplish in the council chambers. "We tend to hang out in groups, you know," he joked.
He added coyly, "I think that we're just interested in their work, as they are in ours, and we wanted to let them know that we're still here.... There's a greater interest [in local politics] now than there has been. Officers want to meet the new council people and establish a relationship with them."
But the timing of the event couldn't be more critical for the guild. It's currently bogged down in negotiations with the city over a new employee contract. Once a tentative agreement is finally hammered out, the city council will have to approve that contract with a majority vote.
The officers in the Seattle Police Department are negotiating a new contract at an usual time. They've suffered two major blows to their reputation this past year: The criminal trial of Officer Earl "Sonny" Davis for stealing $10,000 from a dead man sparked a massive investigation into officers' behavior by a citizen review panel; and accusations of police brutality during the World Trade Organization protests have divided the city over how they feel about their police department and its officers.
Ultimately, it's a little ironic that the guild found itself at the council meeting last week fighting WTO protesters again. This time, however, it was not over who owned the streets of Seattle, but over who could make the strongest political point.
If Compton and Judy Nicastro are any indication, it was the guild that lost.
"If it was intended to influence the city's negotiations with the guild, it'll have absolutely no effect," vowed Compton, who heads up the public safety committee.
"I didn't notice [the police] at all," added Nicastro, who, along with Wills, benefited from a guild campaign endorsement. "There was a lot of activity that day."
