{"id":9967,"date":"2008-09-19T18:28:21","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T23:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/?p=9967"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:20","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:20","slug":"new-chief-and-same-old-politics-in-schenectady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/09\/19\/new-chief-and-same-old-politics-in-schenectady\/","title":{"rendered":"new chief and same old politics in Schenectady"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> New Police Chief in Schenectady<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 Yesterday, fifty-six years after his father Arthur Chaires became Schenectady’s first black police officer, Mark R. Chaires<\/a> was sworn in as the City’s first African-American police chief.\u00a0 See “Son of police pioneer makes history of his own<\/a>” (Albany Times Union<\/em>, Sept. 18, 2008); “Chaires begins job as Schenectady police chief<\/a>” (Schenectady Daily Gazette<\/em>, September 19, 2008); “Schenectady names Chaires first African-American police chief<\/a>” (FoxNews23<\/em>, Sept. 18, 2008).<\/p>\n

A Schenectady native, Chief Chaires is 52 years old and has worked his way up the ranks in his 19 years in SPD.\u00a0 He is taking over the helm of a Department that employs 165 officers, and has more than its share of controversy, scandal and morale problems.\u00a0 (See, e.g<\/em>., our post<\/a> on Sept. 6th, and recent coverage<\/a> of SPD’s dismal arrest statistics<\/a> as compared to both national averages and our comparable neighbor, Troy, NY.)\u00a0 Growing up with the example of a father who “never missed a day of work during his 27-year career” and who surely experienced — from the public and within the department — the racial prejudice that is rampant in blue-collar Upstate cities, Chief Chaires brings important personal and professional experience to the job.\u00a0 That experience includes eight years in the Air Force.<\/p>\n

Those who know him speak often of his integrity, and I’m impressed with the new Chief’s thoughtful remarks yesterday — focusing more on the need to get to work to achieve on-the-job excellence within the Department (improving “customer service”) and to earn the public’s trust, than on the historical importance of his appointment.\u00a0 I’m also pleased to know that he had oversight of the SPD internal affairs office, which chose to refer the 2007 excessive force complaints of Donald Randolph (see our prior post<\/a>) to the district attorney, rather than keeping the investigation in-house.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Chief Mark Chaires deserves the support of rank and file officers, of our poliical leaders and of the public as he tries to restore the performance and reputation of his Department, and to prove that Schenectady does indeed \u201chave the makings of an outstanding police department.”\u00a0 As a Gazette<\/em> editorial noted today, the Chief’s job is a bit symbolic, since the City created the post of Public Safety Commissioner last year, and Chaires therefore reports to Commissioner Wayne Bennett (who is in the background in the photo at the head of this posting).\u00a0 But, the position comes with plenty of responsibility and calls for skillful balancing among all the interests that need to work together to create the kind of Police Department that allows good cops to flourish and the public to trust and respect our police force.<\/p>\n

The Gazette<\/em> is correct that, with a population<\/a> that is 15% black, Chaires’s promotion “is a significant step for a city, and a department, that has had relatively few minority employees and almost no minority managers.” “Editorial: Good choice for symbolic appointment<\/a>” (Daily Gazette<\/em>, September 19, 2008).\u00a0 If Chief Chaires can gain the trust of Schenectady’s black community, we may indeed find arrest rates climbing and claims of excessive force and institutional neglect greatly reduced.<\/p>\n

A<\/strong><\/em> final thought on the Schenectady Police Department: Recent online Comments at the Gazette<\/em> website regarding editorials and articles about SPD show that far too many Schenectadians (especially police officers and their families, I presume) equate support for our police with silence over their flaws and failings and those of the Department. (see here<\/a> and there<\/a>, for example) I hope Chief Chaires can help demonstrate that honesty about past and ongoing problems, and the need for procedural and supervisory improvements, can help to rally support — internally, within City government, among the public — to find and implement solutions.\u00a0 We all want our good cops to thrive within an effective and respected police department.<\/p>\n

the dragnet of nightingales
\ncloses in…
\npolice station<\/p>\n

…\u2026\u2026 by Kobayashi Issa<\/a>, translated by David G. Lanoue<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a> .. Silly Donkey Club (Schenectady Chapter)<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 We’ve never been shy here at f\/k\/a<\/em> about noting our disappointment with the Schenectady County Democratic Committee<\/a> (e.g<\/em>., here<\/a> and there<\/a>).\u00a0 Today’s newspaper brought one more reason for registered Democrats in Schenectady County to blush with embarrassment over the crassness and political ineptness of our so-called party leaders. The Gazette<\/em> article “Fair campaign group seeks more pledges<\/a>” (Sept. 19, 2008) describes efforts by the group Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc<\/a> to get county parties chairs across the Region — and not merely individual candidates — to sign the group’s Fair Campaign Pledge.\u00a0 FCP is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties and the Interfaith Alliance of New York State, Capital Region.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago, FCP established procedures to accept candidates\u2019 charges of unfair campaign practices within the Capital District, hold hearings and issue decisions regarding the charges, and their efforts have been welcomed by the voting public.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong>ee their “tips for Candidates<\/a>” and list of “2008 Pledge Signers<\/a>” , as well as their Candidate Manual <\/a>(.PDF), and Decisions<\/a> from prior years.<\/p>\n

This sounds rather non-controversial, and the Gazette<\/em> article tells us that party chairs around the region have signed the FCP pledge — except for Brian Quail, chair of the Schenectady County Democratic Committee. According to the Gazette<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\" . . QUAIL OPTS OUT<\/p>\n

At least one party leader said he will not sign the pledge. \u201cThere are several reasons why I won\u2019t sign it,\u201d said Brian Quail, chairman of the Schenectady County Democratic Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should not sign a piece of paper to promise to do good and decent things when you should always be doing good and decent things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The second reason, he said, is that Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region lacks credibility. \u201cThey use totally subjective standards and they apply their standards to other people\u2019s conduct,\u201d Quail said. \u201cThey don\u2019t matter. Who matters are the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> I’m sorry, Chairman Quail, but voters really do want to know what an objective source like FCP has to say about the claims and accusations made in campaign materials, and about the charges hurled by political candidates and their election managers and parties.\u00a0 The voters need to hear from balanced sources.\u00a0 Your failure to sign the pledge makes us all wonder just what you have to hide and what FCP decisions you are hoping to avoid.<\/p>\n

Here’s what Fair Campaign Practices says<\/a> about its structure and procedures:<\/p>\n

“A pool of 32 respected individuals from the four county region is selected to hear complaints. These community representatives serve on Hearing Panels that determine the validity of complaints. In order to ensure a balanced, fair process for all sides, the local chairs of all the recognized political parties, or their designees, automatically become ex officio members of the FCP Hearing Panel and attend hearings.<\/p>\n

“After a hearing is held and a decision is made by the hearing panel, the decision is made known to the candidates involved and to the media so that the media can inform the voting public.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> I’m really tired of the leaders of the Schenectady County Democratic Party acting as if the rest of us are morons who will simply take them at their word and nod agreement to their nonsense.\u00a0 Quail, Savage, et al<\/em>. continue to make the Party look bad with their high-handed, irrational positions and policies.\u00a0 They keep presenting a very big target for anyone wanting to pin the tail on the Democratic Donkey.<\/p>\n

update<\/em><\/strong> (September 20, 2008): Today’s Gazette<\/em> editorial is titled “Party Chairmen should embrace fair campaigns<\/a>.” Here are excerpts worth repeating:<\/p>\n