On the death of a cop

I’m sorry, but seeing Sheng Thao at her news conference shed crocodile tears for Officer Tuan Le’s murder disgusted me. It was on the 5 o’clock news Friday afternoon. I didn’t buy her performance for one lousy second.

Let’s get one thing straight: Thao has spent year after year trying to wreck the Oakland Police Department. She tried to defund it. She and her colleagues on the City Council delighted in destroying OPD’s morale. Even today, Thao is still kicking OPD—witness her refusal to even consider any of the three candidates for Chief, including LeRonne Armstrong, whom she so wronged. OPD will now have to limp along without a Chief for who knows how long, while the corpses pile up.

Why won’t Thao tell us why she rejected all three candidates? We know why she turned thumbs down on Armstrong—Robert Warshaw (and probably the unions) told her to. But the others? “I want to be as transparent as possible” Thao assured us, but it was a lie. This is all happening inside a black box. Nobody has any idea why Thao vetoed the other two fine cops who wanted to be Chief, and we’re not likely to, because the imperious Thao, acting more like a Majesty than a servant of the people, isn’t talking.

She is, however, tweeting. A lot. Following Officer Le’s murder, Thao put out a 7-part tweet that used every cliché known. It sounds like she has a manual called “Things for politicians to say following the death of a cop.” “Senseless act,” “Let us remember and honor,” “In this moment of shared grief,” “We extend our deepest gratitude,” “The entire city mourns the profound impact of this loss,” etc. etc. ad nauseum. The only bromide she missed was “thoughts and prayers,” which is a little too maudlin even for Madame Mayor. I can’t imagine what any of the brave men and women of OPD thought as they read or heard her words. Perhaps the funniest response to Thao’s Oscar-worthy performance in her news conference came from Oaklandside’s Darwin BondGraham, who has never lost an opportunity to support the most cop-hating elements in Oakland. “Mayor Sheng Thao,” Darwin wrote, “was visibly shaken,” proving either Thao’s thespian abilities or, more likely, Darwin’s credulity.

Well, at least Thao pretended to care. Nikki Bas also borrowed from the “Things for politicians to say following the death of a cop” playbook. “We are devastated by the tragic loss,” she tweeted. This, from perhaps the most virulent cop-hater on the City Council. “Council members Nikki Fortunato Bas and Carroll Fife spearheaded the push to defund the Oakland Police Department,” headlined the S.F. Chronicle on June 24, 2021, a time when Oakland was heading toward a record number of murders and citizens were reeling from the crime wave. Three days earlier, the same duo, Fife and Bas, voted against adding another police academy. As for Fife, not a peep from her on Officer Le’s murder.

Somebody posted a tweet that headlined, “Carroll Fife and Nikki Bas stand for lawlessness.” Beneath that was a doctored photo of a T.V. screenshot. “BREAKING NEWS!” it screamed. “JACK LONDON SQUARE MOVING TO VEGAS. FAIRYLAND TO FOLLOW.” That’s about the size of it, friends. To all those who voted for Bas or Fife or Sheng Thao or Rebecca Kaplan or Dan Kalb or Pamela Price, all I have to say to you is—well, two words, and they ain’t Merry Christmas.

Steve Heimoff