The thing people need to recognize about James Chanin and John Burris is that both lawyers are opportunists whose self-interests are served as long as they keep the Oakland Police Department under federal receivership.
Both men, in other words, are bad news for Oakland public safety. Neither has ever disclosed just how much money they’ve made from oppressing the police, or from suing police departments, but it’s got to be in the millions. Although neither directly controls just how long the federal monitor, Robert Warshaw, keeps OPD under his boot, their opinions carry great weight with Warshaw, whose million dollar salary explains why he will never let OPD go free.
Now, Chanin and Burris have launched their most vicious attack in years on OPD. Their reason: totally obscure, as usual. It doesn’t even matter why. Some technical thing no one understands. They’ve done it again because it’s what they do: kick OPD whenever and however they can. We’re in a political season now, and they’re trying to help their friends Sheng Thao and Pamela Price keep their jobs by smearing OPD yet again, thereby legitimizing cop-hating as a core value of progressivism that appeals to uninformed Oakland voters. They know that complicit news media companies, like the San Francisco Chronicle, will give them headlines—and headlines are what people remember.
Chronicle: “Civil rights lawyers say, even after decades, Oakland police should remain under federal oversight.”
That’s what people retain in their heads: “Oakland police should remain under federal oversight.”
There’s something truly wrong with Chanin and Burris—psychologically, morally and ethically. Their determination to harm OPD is inexplicable, but there can be no doubt how strong it is. In one way or another, both have been involved in the effort to cripple OPD for decades. They’re addicted: harming cops is their crack cocaine. It reached the point, years ago, when there was no longer any valid reason to keep OPD under the monitor—if indeed there ever had been. OPD complied with every condition Warshaw, at Chanin’s and Burris’s insistence, imposed on OPD, but it was never enough; they always found something new to complain about. A form had been improperly filled out! A Police Chief was bad! Black officers were being investigated too much!
Here’s what people must understand. These con men are riding a gravy train of publicity, power and profit, and we’re letting them get away with it. I’m sick and tired of hearing police-hating crime enablers say, “Oh, there must be something dreadfully wrong with OPD, because they’re still under federal monitorship!” Well, I’m here to tell you there’s nothing wrong with OPD. Yes, individual officers make mistakes. We all do. But vultures like Chanin and Burris, hovering over them 24/7, will always find some tiny little error to nitpick.
Sadly, Oakland has never had leaders with enough integrity and courage to stand up to Chanin-Burris-Warshaw and tell them to go where the sun don’t shine. Things are even worse today, when we have a desperate, frightened mayor, fighting to keep her job, too terrified to take on a ruthless cabal of grifters: Chanin-Burris-Warshaw. If we had a decent mayor and a responsible City Council, they would have gone to war with Chanin-Burris-Warshaw years ago, and probably won. Instead, we elected a bunch of neurotic police haters who love seeing OPD get harassed. Make no mistake, Carroll Fife, Nikki Bas, Rebecca Kaplan, Dan Kalb and Sheng Thao are celebrating this most recent assault on OPD. And remember this: the weaker OPD gets, the more powerful and confident become the criminals, in this zero-sum game.
Steve Heimoff