Spokane7
48°
February 23, 2010 in City
Center for Justice loses lawyer
Poor finances, political aspirations behind Beggs’ decision to leave firm
Beggs
(Full-size photo)
Breean Beggs, the self-described chief catalyst for the public interest law firm Center for Justice, announced his resignation Monday, citing both fewer financial resources at the firm and aspirations for a future run at public office.
Beggs, 47, quickly said he has no public office in mind, especially the already contentious race for Spokane County prosecutor.
“Most of my life that has been my dream,” Beggs said of seeking public office. “I plan to stay in Spokane, raise my kids a little older and look for the right office at the right time. I will take all those issues I learned and take them inside government instead of outside.”
Until then, Beggs will work with the Spokane law firm of Paukert & Troppmann. He said he plans to litigate employment and injury cases in addition to civil rights and open-government work.
His resignation will not affect the ongoing federal civil rights case on behalf of the estate of Otto Zehm, the mentally ill janitor who died in 2006 while in the custody of Spokane police. Jeffry Finer will remain lead counsel on that case and Beggs said he will continue to contribute.
Former public defender Jim Sheehan founded the nonprofit Center for Justice in 1999 with his own funds. But the center now operates solely on contributions from foundations and grants, which have decreased in this poor economy. As a result, the firm went from six full-time attorneys to four working part time.
“Obviously, losing Breean is a huge loss. We just have to get together and determine what we are going to do now,” Sheehan said. “It’s hard to explain … what Breean has meant not only to the center but the entire community.”
Sheehan said he’s glad Beggs is remaining in Spokane and believes he would make an effective public servant.
“He isn’t interested in tearing people down. He’s interested in bringing people together from all sides and having everybody connect in a way where we can actually get something done,” Sheehan said. “A lot of people talk about that, but you don’t see it in their actions. You do with Breean.”
Closing Geiger: Wise or worrisome? 
cowboy on February 23 at 8:47 a.m.
he has been working on the Otto Zehm murder maybe he was threatened to lay off. since thompsons trial is coming up in March.
Ron_the_Cop on February 23 at 10:48 a.m.
Cowboy,
I don’t think so but your suspicions are well founded though. Breean was one of the few that brought transparency in local govenment actions. I wouldn’t count him out in future actions in this realm.
See this email exchanged between Larry Shook and me re Dave’s Laird’s post over at Community Comment:
Breean Beggs steps down from Center For Justice…
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/commcomm/2010/feb/23/breean-beggs-steps-down-center-justice/
Thanks for sharing this note about the departure of Breean Beggs’s departure from the Center for Justice, Ron. I have to say that, as powerful a contribution as Breean and the Center for Justice have made to Spokane, from my perspective the current efforts of you and retired Sheriff Tony Bamonte may prove the more historic in the end. Until you two arrived, took the mountainous evidence of criminality surrounding the RPS financial fraud, the gangrenous public corruption that fed it, and the death of Jo Ellen Savage in the RPS garage that these “crimes against property” caused, it was as though the law didn’t much matter to anyone in these parts. It was as though the social contract in Spokane had been voided. Your lonely, professional determination to demand justice may yet produce justice for the public as no other efforts have. Were I putting you in for a military commendation, I could without hesitation add the boilerplate about rising above and beyond the call of duty and conduct reflecting great credit upon yourselves and your community. In a setting in which government at every level, all the way to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, has disgraced itself and failed the very legacy of the American democracy, that’s saying a lot. I’ve said it before and I say it again: there’s nothing like good cops when you need them, even if they are retired.
Larry Shook
[I’ll post my reply below]
Ron_the_Cop on February 23 at 11:00 a.m.
My response to award winning investigative reporter Larry Shook of Camas Magazine and the Girl from Hot Springs:
http://www.camasmagazine.com/
http://www.girlfromhotsprings.com/
Thanks Larry.
I really do appreciate your comments. I may be retired but I’m not dead yet and have some time on my hands:-) It’s in my blood to hunt crooks or those who would seek to harm the people for I am a sheepdog (See On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs http://www.killology.com/sheep_dog.htm). As you may have noticed I don’t really care what others may think about or have called me. Once I’m on the hunt I never let go (See my vitae below).
As I’ve said all along re the Savage Murder case http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/savage-manslaughter-case.doc our law enforcement community have all turned a blind eye to her death. This is what galls me the most and not the robbery of some $100M (See my just completed table of the losses) http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/rps-fraud-loss-table-1.doc of the public treasury in the RPS bond frauds (RPS Bonds I & II) carried out by Spokane’s power elite. For an in depth analysis of these robberies see my criminal complaint I filed with the WA State Board of Accountancy re Gavin Cooley’s misuse of the term CPA after his name on the City’s website:
Gavin Cooley CFO Spokane, WA - Misuse of CPA complaint filed
http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/?p=225
Mind you the S-R has still not written word one on this breaking story even though they have had knowledge of it the day after I filed this complaint. Why?
The Savage death was directly related to decisions made by the perps in committing these frauds. Yes, at first I can understand why our law enforcement agencies may have missed the significance of the RPS parking barriers failing. After Sheriff Bamonte filed his criminal complaint with the supporting evidence with Chief Kirkpatrick, however there is no excuse for their failure to do their duty that they are sworn to do on behalf of the people.
While the feds are complicit, they really had no jurisdiction in the Savage death as Sheriff Bamonte has said. Unless the feds took the RPS fraud cases using RICO and used the Savage death as an unindicted state offense as one of the predicate offenses to establish the pattern and practice to establish that the Cowles Co et al is a criminal enterprise under RICO, this was not their case. As you know it is my professional opinion the the Cowles Co is a criminal enterprise et al as defined in RICO. http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cowles-co-rico.doc If the feds had investigated the Savage death as one of the two predicate offenses required to invoke RICO, once their investigation was completed that could have turned it back over to the state to prosecute. But as we all know everyone just ran time down on the game clock on the Savage case under WA’s statute of limitations and turned it back over to County Prosecutor Steve Tucker to investigate the evidence that they uncovered and didn’t have the stomach to sweep under the rug. CYA comes to mind.
[Continued]
Ron_the_Cop on February 23 at 11:01 a.m.
[Continued from above]
The most blatant complicit official in my opinion is Steve Tucker for deciding that there was “insufficient evident” to file a criminal complaint without first compelling a complete and thorough criminal investigation was done that would have followed the evidence given him by the feds wherever it would lead. Tucker didn’t compel further interviews of witnesses with potential incriminating evidence that were identified by the feds.
While some my say the Savage case was reviewed by three different governmental entities, I will call foul on this. I’m a consummate law enforcement insider having manage many hundreds of complex criminal cases and know there was never an investigation done that asked the probative questions necessary. I am currently teaching, “Controversial Issues in Law Enforcement,” and just taught, “Forensics and Crime Scene Investigations,” in a BA program in criminal justice at a local college. This was a cover up ala, “Don’t ask - Don’t Tell.” And lastly as Sheriff Bamonte, you and I know the WA AG’s Office let itself be used by Tucker to give political cover for his decision not to file.
This criminal enterprise has so thoroughly co-opted/corrupted the political/governmental structures in Spokane that they can no longer act to protect the citizens of Spokane from criminal victimization and from imminent public hazards. The citizens of Spokane and the family of Jo Savage have a fundamental right to ensure that justice is served when their political/ governmental law enforcement and decision making bodies can’t or won’t act because of their systemic co-option/ corruption. In our legal system – NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.
Det. Ron Wright (Retired)
Professional Vitae
http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/revised-resume-12-29-09.pdf
HankTingler on February 23 at 4:10 p.m.
Ron, can you keep it down to 25 words or less for those whose IQ is over 100?
your broken record needs to get fixed before you infect people with sleep apnea from it.