Anderson’s Ouster Sought Police Want Councilman To Retire His Comments About Pension Actions

Many Spokane police officers want City Councilman Chris Anderson removed from the Police Pension Board, saying he discloses information that should be kept private and talks disparagingly of police.

“You have numerous policemen down there who are in a lynching mood, for you,” Cpl. Mark Wheelwright, a member of the pension board, told Anderson during Thursday’s board meeting.

Another officer, Capt. Chuck Bown, sent a letter to Mayor Jack Geraghty on Thursday saying that 75 percent of the officers hired before 1977 - those whose pensions are administered by the board - have signed petitions asking for Anderson’s removal.

The petitions were not available Thursday. Bown, like most officers, has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

The officers’ complaints stem from statements Anderson has made to the media about two issues decided by the board in recent months.

In one, Anderson questioned the appropriateness of giving Sgt. William Gentry a full disability pension after he had been convicted of second-degree rape. Pension board members said Anderson released details about the case that shouldn’t have been disclosed.

In the second case in May, Anderson issued a press release noting that some officers were stricken with a mysterious illness, similar to one that left the department short-handed in 1989.

Anderson’s press release noted that speculation about the 1989 illness “centered around a supposedly disgruntled and disenchanted group of … senior old-timers.”

In a letter dated June 1 stamped “confidential,” Cpl. Clifford Walter, vice president of the Spokane Police Guild, called Anderson’s comments “a callous and blatant attack on a large group of dedicated public servants.

“You also violated, at least in spirit, the confidential medical information you were entrusted to keep.”

Sgt. Jim Lundgren, a member of the pension board, went a step further at Thursday meeting, accusing Anderson of “malfeasance on the part of an elected officer” in the Gentry case.

Anderson called the charge “ludicrous,” and said he never released confidential information in either case. Regarding the illness, Anderson said he never identified any of the affected officers or released medical information.

“There are things that come before this board that every one of us would agree should not be disclosed outside an executive session,” he said.

Wheelwright said Anderson should ask to be removed from the board.

“I didn’t ask to be put on this board … but I respect the commitment,” Anderson said, vowing to fight any attempt to have him removed.

“I won’t be run off.”

The board voted 5-1, with Anderson dissenting, in favor of a motion to require board approval for any press release that states a board position.

Anderson said the restriction, suggested by Lundgren, wouldn’t affect anything he’s said, since he spoke only as an individual board member.

He voted against the measure, he said, because the board wouldn’t insert a statement affirming a board member’s right to give his own opinion.

Thursday’s motion also bars members from breaking confidentiality rules or stating an opinion about matters before the board. Those restrictions already are state law.

, DataTimes