Bullock Texas State History Museum
Disappointed in Council
RECEIVED Fri., May 15, 2015
Dear Editor,
I testified in support of appointment of Antonio Buehler to the Public Safety Commission, along with a former Austin police officer and a defense lawyer, and am highly disappointed in our new 10-1 City Council ["Council Says 'No' to Buehler," News, May 8]. While one might disagree about the fitness of one nominee to the commission, it does not appear that any other nominee would represent our concerns about police misconduct. Mayor Adler, in delivering his obviously prepared argument (which as chair is forbidden by Robert's Rules of Order) against waiving the policy that appointees be residents of Austin, made a critical revelation, that it does not matter that Buehler was driven outside city limits by police harassment, and thus condoned that misconduct. None of the Council except for Zimmerman stepped forward to try to do something about that harassment, which is a Class A misdemeanor under Texas Penal Code § 39.03, and a federal felony under 18 USC 241 & 242. That is aiding and abetting a crime, which is itself a crime.
No one should be appointed to the Public Safety Commission who is a past or present police officer, and every appointee should have had the experience, at least once in his life, of having been arrested and held in a cell. Our 10-1 Council seems blithely unaware of the seriousness of the problem of official misconduct. Let us hope what happened in Ferguson and Baltimore does not has to happen here before they wake up. It could happen here.
I testified in support of appointment of Antonio Buehler to the Public Safety Commission, along with a former Austin police officer and a defense lawyer, and am highly disappointed in our new 10-1 City Council ["Council Says 'No' to Buehler," News, May 8]. While one might disagree about the fitness of one nominee to the commission, it does not appear that any other nominee would represent our concerns about police misconduct. Mayor Adler, in delivering his obviously prepared argument (which as chair is forbidden by Robert's Rules of Order) against waiving the policy that appointees be residents of Austin, made a critical revelation, that it does not matter that Buehler was driven outside city limits by police harassment, and thus condoned that misconduct. None of the Council except for Zimmerman stepped forward to try to do something about that harassment, which is a Class A misdemeanor under Texas Penal Code § 39.03, and a federal felony under 18 USC 241 & 242. That is aiding and abetting a crime, which is itself a crime.
No one should be appointed to the Public Safety Commission who is a past or present police officer, and every appointee should have had the experience, at least once in his life, of having been arrested and held in a cell. Our 10-1 Council seems blithely unaware of the seriousness of the problem of official misconduct. Let us hope what happened in Ferguson and Baltimore does not has to happen here before they wake up. It could happen here.
Jon Roland
