2007 Year in Review--10 Biggest Vanguard Stories of 2007

As the first full year of the People's Vanguard of Davis comes to completion, we will countdown the top 10 stories from year. This is the second year we have done this.

Last year we counted down the 10 Biggest Stories in Davis.

This year we countdown the 10 biggest stories that we followed on the People's Vanguard of Davis.

We continue with the 5th biggest story: Landy Black hired as new Davis Police Chief.

Given all of the controversy surrounding the Police Department and the exit of former Chief Jim Hyde, this is almost a story because it is not a story. The resignation of Police Chief Jim Hyde was the second biggest story in 2006.

However, the hiring of the new police chief was not without at least some early controversy.

City Manager Bill Emlen decided that the best way to conduct these interviews was to keep all of the names confidential.

So on January 9, the City Manager announced that there were seven final candidates for the position of Police Chief.

"Last night the Davis Enterprise reported that the city has seven final candidates for the position of Police Chief and that one of those candidates is not interim Chief Steve Pierce.

City Manager Bill Emlen was quoted as saying:

“We’d like to find somebody who’s going to be around for a while, is able to set the department forward with clear vision and will be able to implement that vision.”

City Manager Bill Emlen not only has not disclosed the list of finalists to the press, but he has not disclosed it to the city council. While this is a personnel matter, it would not be inappropriate to divulge the names of candidates particularly to the members of the council. Several sources have informed us that this is a highly unusual move by the City Manager. While some personnel matters are confidential, the names of those on a short list are not--particularly to the City Council who is ostensibly his boss."

However, just because the intent was to keep the names confidential, doesn't mean that names do not leak out--particularly controversial ones.

As we reported on January 10, 2007:

"The People’s Vanguard of Davis has learned from multiple well-placed sources that one of these seven finalists is former Davis Police Captain Nick Concolino who was dismissed from the Davis Police Department in June of 2000 by then Police Chief Jerry Gonzales and then City Manager John Meyer."

The article laid out some of the reasons for the firing on Concolino and the controversy it spawned.

"The nature of personnel matters is shrouded in confidentiality agreements that prevent the release of reasons for a dismissal. As such, the public and even the City Council at the time were never informed of the reasons. We spoke with the Mayor of Davis during the time of the dismissal, Ken Wagstaff. He expressed his frustration stating, “this was the most frustrating thing about being on the council.”

Any hire of Nick Concolino would re-open old wounds. This action resulted in a huge and ugly controversy as the Davis Police Officer’s Association (DPOA) and many citizens campaigned against the dismissal of Concolino and then began an orchestrated campaign against Chief Gonzales. In response many citizens and civil rights activists came to the defense of Chief Gonzales."

The fact that Mr. Concolino was even under consideration sparked a lot of attention, criticism, and outrage.

Two weeks later, when the field was trimmed to three, Mr. Concolino was not among them.

"The Davis Enterprise reported on Thursday that City Manager Bill Emlen has announced that there are three finalists for the Police Chief position vacated in June by the departure of Jim Hyde for the same position with the Antioch Police Department.

According to several sources, Nick Concolino, who we ran an article on a few weeks ago, is not among the top three candidates. According to Emlen, one of the candidates is a woman, two of them are from out of state, and two of them work currently for law enforcement organizations, but one does not but has experience working as management in police organizations."

By early February it was clear that there was one candidate--Seattle Police Captain Landy Black.

The Police Captain sat down on the phone with me for a 30 minute phone interview. And laid out his position on a number of controversial issues including expressed support for civilian police oversight, which he had worked under while in Seattle.

On February 20, 2007, Landy Black was named the new Police Chief.

"City Manager Bill Emlen at last night's Davis City Council Meeting announced that Seattle Police Captain Landy Black has accepted a job offer for the position of Police Chief. Captain Black's tenure will officially begin on April 9, 2007. Interim Police Chief Steve Pierce will once again return to his previous position of Assistant Police Chief. Captain Black's starting salary will be $130,421.50 which is the highest salary in the city's salary schedule."

The swearing in came in early April:

"Amid much excitement, anticipation, mixed in perhaps with some relief, Davis City Manager Bill Emlen swore in Landy Black as Davis' new police chief.

The newly sworn-in Chief Black was joined by a number of colleagues, friends, and his very proud wife and parents yesterday before a full contingent of Davis Police Officers, elected office holders, and other community leaders."

For the most part since that point, Chief Landy Black has been a non-story.

He earned rare praise from the Vanguard for his handling on the May Day Student Protests.

In an article entitled, "Davis Police Compare Favorably in their Actions on Tuesday Compared with the Problems in Los Angeles," I wrote:

"As I watched the protest on Tuesday as it moved from campus, through the middle of Russell Boulevard and eventually to the intersection of Russell and Anderson, I remarked to several people the professionalism by which the Davis Police Department handled the march. They not only blocked off the streets in advance of the march, but they allowed for the impromptu, never engaging or escalating even when things may have gone slightly off-track.

As the march ended up with several hundred protesters marching in the middle of one of the most heavily trafficked intersections in the city, the police seemingly effortlessly diverted traffic. I understand that this diversion inconvenienced travelers and students who were attempting to get to class, but in terms of their prime duty--safety and peace, the police did their job on that afternoon and they did it well."

Most impressive to me was a conversation that I had with Chief Black on site:

"I spoke first to Lt. Dorothy Pearson and then to the new Chief himself, Landy Black. In both cases, they downplayed the significance of their actions. Telling me that this was their job. Chief Black spoke about the importance of the right to protest as being a centerpiece of a Democratic society and I could not agree more. However, as we have seen throughout history, the actions of the Davis Police Department on this day should not be dismissed as lightly as the leadership did."

There will likely be trying times in the future for the new police chief, in many ways that is the nature of the job. However, the first seven months or so on the job have afforded the chief was an opportunity to put down roots and make contacts in the community before the next trying incident.

For all of this non-controversy, especially after last year, the hiring of Police Chief Landy Black is the fifth biggest story in 2006.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Sunday Midday Briefs

Davis Police Chief Finalists

The Davis Enterprise reported on Thursday that City Manager Bill Emlen has announced that there are three finalists for the Police Chief position vacated in June by the departure of Jim Hyde for the same position with the Antioch Police Department.

According to several sources, Nick Concolino, who we ran an article on a few weeks ago, is not among the top three candidates. According to Emlen, one of the candidates is a woman, two of them are from out of state, and two of them work currently for law enforcement organizations, but one does not but has experience working as management in police organizations.

However, to date Bill Emlen has not announced the names.

According to the article there will be a meet and greet for the new candidates:

Now, Emlen plans to conduct some preliminary interviews and background investigations with the finalists "to see how much further we want to take them through the process," he said.

Once that has been determined, the city will conduct a more intensive round of interviews, as well as a "meet-and-greet" opportunity with members of the public, Emlen said.

The plan at this point would be to have a hire by the end of January, would suggests that this process will occur very quickly.

People's Vanguard of Davis hopes that the public has a full chance to meet and weigh in on this most important of hires that will be a large factor in the future of the Davis Police Department.

Eighth Assembly District Democratic Race

The Davis Enterprise ran a story today about the Eighth Assembly District Race and listed five names: Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada, Yolo County Supervisor Mike McGowan, West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon, Davis City Councilmember Don Saylor (who insisted on inclusion in the article), Vacaville City Council Member Steve Hardy.

Early thoughts on this. It seems like Wolk and the Democratic machine may back Cabaldon this time. That would leave much of the establishment in his corner. Yamada will have the strongest backing of progressives and labor and that will make her formidable if she can make in-roads into Solano County. Steve Hardy ran in 2002 and is the only candidate from Solano against two people from Davis and two from West Sacramento, that would make him a powerful player.

At this time, I cannot see both McGowan and Cabaldon running because they have similar supporters, political leanings, and are from the same city.

As I mentioned in a comment, I do not see Don Saylor as a viable candidate at this time. Unlike the other four, Saylor was largely uninvolved in terms of the organization of the 8th Assembly District Committee meeting. He may be throwing his name out there, but I don't see him beating out any of the top four.

Early handicap: Cabaldon wins if the Democratic establishment machine coalesces around him and can get him the resources and organization to spread out across the district. Hardy wins if he can take the bulk of Solano county while Yamada and Cabaldon split Yolo County. Yamada wins if she can cross county lines by organizing progressives and labor.

Dunning on Valley Oak

Davis Enterprise Columnist Bob Dunning writes: "Sometimes I think there must be another 'Bob Dunning' working for this very newspaper. How else to explain the nasty e-mails, bitter bloggers and livid letters to the editor all claiming that 'Bob Dunning' said something I know I didn't say? Or telling me something about my personal life or the neighborhood where I live that's based on fiction, not fact."

I think a lot of people think there are at least two Bob Dunnings, given the amount of faces he shows in his columns.

Of course, we can go back and re-read his past columns.

On January 9, 2007, Dunning wrote:

"I guess if your kid goes somewhere else and your school isn't threatened with closing, you can look the other way and pretend it isn't happening …"

In making this point, he is calling civil rights groups to task for failing to stand up for Valley Oak school. A somewhat ironic complaint given his track record of not supporting civil rights groups and at times working openly to weaken them.

As with most of Dunning's writings there is also a subtext there. The subtext allows him to imply something, but then later claim he didn't actually say it. The subtext to that statement was that Valley Oak involved his kids and civil rights groups were not sufficiently disturbed by this because they are a bunch of NIMBY's and this wasn't in their backyard (but, the subtext here was that it was in his backyard).

In today's column's Dunning denies the subtext of that first argument in his response to a letter to the editor writer.

The irony is that I agree with him on the main issue and his main point in his column today:

"We ought to be appointing task forces charged with the job of coming up with a plan to keep all the schools operating, not closing them. If any town can do it, it's Davis."

But Dunning undercuts his potential allies through his polemics.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Commentary: On Confidentiality and Its Misuses by Government

Recent events have brought the issue of confidentiality to the forefront. There are times in government when dealing with the issue of minors or personnel issues that confidentiality is not only legitimate but also necessary to protect the people involved. The dismissal of former Davis Police Captain Nick Concolino is one such use of legitimate confidentiality. He as a former at-will employee of the City of Davis is entitled to having the issue of his dismissal remain confidential. (Although if the city manager is serious about considering him for the new police chief position, the council ought to request he waive that right). That is a perfectly legitimate use. However, other recent uses by both the Davis City Manager and the Davis Joint Unified School District seem more questionable.

The hiring of a new police chief

Tuesday’s Davis Enterprise article cited just such a case where the use of confidentiality is questionable at best (and perhaps inappropriate according to our reading of the law): “Davis City Manager Bill Emlen declined Monday to identify the seven candidates by name.”

In fact, Emlen according to multiple well-placed sources has not informed the members of the Davis City Council as to who the seven candidates are. His rationale was that this was a personnel matter.

Personnel matters do receive a large degree of confidentiality protection. However, under almost no circumstances, are names of applicants or candidates for a job considered confidential. Indeed, as one person I spoke to pointed out, the university is actually required to hold part of their interview process in public at which point the names of those who make it to the presentation stage of the interview are divulged and those individuals have to present their research in front of the public in addition to the hiring department.

In fact, according to the public records act: Personnel, medical and similar files are exempt only if disclosure would reveal intimate, private details. (§ 6254(c)) Employment contracts are not exempt. (§ 6254.8). See also: California Government Code.

While I am not a lawyer, I would have to guess that the name of applicants is not exempt from the public records act, as revealing a name does not reveal any information that is intimate or private. City Manager Emlen then could be required to divulge this information to the public.

This issue also goes back to the heart of our city government model that was discussed last week. Who makes the hire of police chief? The unelected city manager. The city council itself has the power to hire and fire the city manager who then has the sole power to hire and fire employees. There is no transparency in this process.

More concerning is the implication that the elected representatives are being kept out of the loop. Again, some personnel matters I understand being kept from the public. What I continue to not understand is how they can be kept from the City Council who are representatives of the public. And in this case, this appears to be an abuse of confidentiality requirements.

The handling of the Harper Junior High harassment case

We have been reporting on the case stemming from a harassment incident involving a 13-year-old student at Harper Junior High who was harassed by 14 of his classmates because of perceptions about his sexual orientation based on the lifestyle of his father who is gay and lives with a partner of the same sex.

The school district and school board had a long meeting in public about this issue in mid-November where they discussed numerous ways that they were going to deal with it to prevent such occurrences in the future. Let me make this clear—I absolutely applaud those actions. There seems to be a misconception among some in the district and on the board that we are neglecting to include all the things that the District is doing to address the situation.

However, from day one, our main concern has been to get Zach Fischer back into school. And now we have this other kid who likewise we need to get back into school. We just do not believe that the District has addressed these concerns in a timely or adequate manner. Perhaps the District wants to counter this contention, they are welcome to correct this on the record at any point in time.

The school district is basically now arguing that they cannot talk about it on the news or in blogs because of confidentiality requirements. This is an argument or perspective that I simply do not understand. We do not need to know that a specific student, John Doe, has been suspended for three weeks or has an expulsion pending. That is a confidential matter and not our business.

However, if the school district is implementing a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who uses sexual orientation as a means to bully another student—how is that a confidential matter? Or if the school district offered to have an escort for these students between classes to ensure that they were not bullied—how would that be a confidential matter?

What seems to be happening here once again is that the school district is using the fact that there is a pending court case and the fact that these are incidents involving both students and teachers, both of whom are protected by such requirements—to avoid going on the record with a discussion about what is being done to prevent incidents from happening in the future both in general and with specific regard to this student.

Once again, this is an abuse of the confidentiality laws. They are using them not to protect the students or their employees but to protect the district. They are using and misusing confidentiality to cover up and avoid talking about their wrong doing. They undermine transparency in that way. We cannot hold our elected official accountable when they declare these matters closed or use a gag order to keep it secret.

Buzayan Case

This is precisely what we saw happen last spring in the Buzayan case. The juvenile justice system seeks to protect the identity of juvenile offenders precisely to avoid the type of situation that occurred last spring when the release of sensitive material was used to harm the reputation of a minor. A minor in this case who was cleared of any wrongdoing by the judge. Now, Councilmember Don Saylor, Ted Puntillo, Officer Pheng Ly, and Deputy District Attorney Patricia Fong all pointed out that the judge dismissed the case based on the civil compromise. Well it does not matter. In this country, there is a presumption of innocence unless someone is proven guilty by a court of law and when the District Attorney’s office chose to disclose these tapes they violated the rights of a minor to keep such matters confidential.

The District Attorney’s office got upset because the minor and her family were able to talk about the case, but not them. Well that’s how the law is designed and as a public agency that goes with the territory. Under the law, the juvenile and her parents have every right to talk about the case. The law is set up to protect the minor from a smear campaign not to protect the prosecutors and law enforcement from charges of misconduct.

All three of these cases now represent a misuse of confidentiality laws to protect a public agency from charges of misconduct or prevent scrutiny by the public of their actions. We as a community should demand transparency in our government and we must recognize that government officials operate under a public trust that does not exist for private individuals. That means there are different standards of behavior that public officials need to adhere to that private individuals may not. At times that may make it more difficult for the public agency to deal with charges of impropriety, but that is the cost of doing business in a free and open society where the value of accountability and transparency must be paramount.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Formerly Fired Police Captain Nick Concolino on Short List for Police Chief

Last night the Davis Enterprise reported that the city has seven final candidates for the position of Police Chief and that one of those candidates is not interim Chief Steve Pierce.

City Manager Bill Emlen was quoted as saying:

“We’d like to find somebody who’s going to be around for a while, is able to set the department forward with clear vision and will be able to implement that vision.”

City Manager Bill Emlen not only has not disclosed the list of finalists to the press, but he has not disclosed it to the city council. While this is a personnel matter, it would not be inappropriate to divulge the names of candidates particularly to the members of the council. Several sources have informed us that this is a highly unusual move by the City Manager. While some personnel matters are confidential, the names of those on a short list are not--particularly to the City Council who is ostensibly his boss.

The People’s Vanguard of Davis has learned from multiple well-placed sources that one of these seven finalists is former Davis Police Captain Nick Concolino who was dismissed from the Davis Police Department in June of 2000 by then Police Chief Jerry Gonzales and then City Manager John Meyer.

Furthermore, our sources tell us, that there is a strong behind the scenes movement lobbying for his hire as the new police chief. Former Davis City Councilmember and current Yolo County Judge Dave Rosenberg, who is a very close and personal friend of Concolino, is according to well-placed sources actively lobbying for his hire. Moreover there is strong speculation that the Davis Police Officer’s Association is also strongly moving for his hire. Finally Lt. Darren Pytel is said to be strongly in favor of such a move as well. Pytel may himself have future ambitions toward this position and may believe that such a hire would pave the way for his eventual ascension to the chief position.

The nature of personnel matters is shrouded in confidentiality agreements that prevent the release of reasons for a dismissal. As such, the public and even the City Council at the time were never informed of the reasons. We spoke with the Mayor of Davis during the time of the dismissal, Ken Wagstaff. He expressed his frustration stating, “this was the most frustrating thing about being on the council.”

Any hire of Nick Concolino would re-open old wounds. This action resulted in a huge and ugly controversy as the Davis Police Officer’s Association (DPOA) and many citizens campaigned against the dismissal of Concolino and then began an orchestrated campaign against Chief Gonzales. In response many citizens and civil rights activists came to the defense of Chief Gonzales.

Prior to this controversy, both Gonzales and Concolino were well liked by Davis citizens and both were longtime Davis residents.

Both Gonzales and Concolino were longtime police officers with the city of Davis and both had been good friends for many years. This ugly controversy split the community and eventually resulted in Chief Gonzales resigning from his position in December 2000.

Gonzales was a 20-year veteran with the Davis PD. He had advanced through the ranks from patrol officer, to sergeant, to lieutenant and finally to captain before being selected as Chief of Police in 1996.

Gonzales had been selected to replace Chief Phil Coleman who resigned following being reprimanded for sexual harassment of female police employees. Indeed, the city had settled several civil complaints brought on by Chief Coleman’s inappropriate behavior.

Concolino began his career with the UC Davis Police Department and transferred to the Davis Police Department. Every time Gonzales was promoted, Concolino was selected to succeed to Gonzales’ old position, due in large part to recommendations by Jerry Gonzales to promote his friend Nick Concolino to succeed him. When Gonzalez was promoted to Police Chief, he selected Concolino to succeed him as captain. Concolino then became one of only two captains on the force joining the senior captain Leo Sacket.

Concolino’s transfer from the UC Davis to the Davis Police Department is also shrouded in mystery. Concolino had been a seven year veteran of the UC Davis police department when some incident occurred that resulted in his dismissal.

While the events leading to Concolino’s firing from the Davis Police Deparmtent are still largely a mystery. Concolino himself as recently as this past June claims not to know the reason why he was dismissed. Davis Enterprise Columnist Bob Dunning ran a long series of defenses of Concolino that stirred up a strong public backlash against Chief Jerry Gonzalez that many believe ultimately led to the no-confidence vote that ultimately cost him his job. Dunning defended Concolino as a family man and a little league coach who was wrongly fired.

However, sources tell us that Nick Concolino’s firing was due to strong insubordination, political backstabbing, and attempts to undermine the Police Chief by rallying the support of the rank and file against him. He would often refuse to take orders from the Police Chief Gonzales and Senior Captain Leo Sacket who was the number two person in the department by seniority.

In the year leading up to Concolino’s dismissal it was becoming common knowledge that Nick Concolino was creating a division within the department by openly challenging and competing with the senior Captain Leo Sacket. Concolino was also currying favor with the DPOA who was increasingly becoming upset with Chief Gonzales who would engage the community in dialogue and when appropriate correct or discipline his officers.

Concolino was both openly and behind the scenes insubordinate to his superiors, which was causing dissention in the ranks and negatively impacting morale.

John Meyer would eventually advise Police Chief Gonzales to dismiss Concolino. Meyer would then accept a new position at UC Davis. He was thus not the City Manager during the many months of controversy that would follow the firing and was not in a position to defend or guide the police chief.

Concolino used his power and influence to undermine the police chief and try to gain reinstatement. They would eventually come to terms on a rather generous severance package that included one year of pay and benefits.

The City Council upon the resignation of Police Chief Jim Hyde and their subsequent dismissal of the Human Relations Commission, conveyed the concern about the tone of dialogue in the city and the divisiveness between various groups. If that is a true concern, bringing Nick Concolino back in the position of police chief would open many raw wounds.

There are strong concerns among civil rights and social justice groups in Davis about the signal that would be sent by the hiring of Concolino. Moreover, given the nature of the political dynamics in the department, the hiring of Concolino at the behest of powerful cliqués within the DPOA would signal to them that they would have free reign and would limit the power of Concolino to control his department in the face of many issues that confront it in the wake of last year’s controversies. This would be a strong step backwards.

Moreover, if the City Council is to approve this hiring (if it indeed occurs), it would seem entirely appropriate, indeed a requirement, that Concolino should be compelled to waive his confidentiality clause and reveal to the present city council the reasons for his dismissal. Current council members should seek to force this action if necessary.

The current city manager would be well-advised despite the strong political pressure on him to look to someone with a fresh perspective from outside the department that can heal rather than inflame the wounds in this community.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting