City Ponders Costly Advice, Asks: Sooo …?

What happens when a California consulting firm helps out with the search for a new police chief? Tacoma taxpayers found out this week and are $25,000 poorer for it.

Norman Roberts & Associates Inc. of Los Angeles offered the following advice to Tacoma in what to look for in a new chief:

“Knowledge of principles, practices and techniques of law enforcement.”

Surely, a good start. But the report goes on: the chief should also be “honest,” “principled,” “bright,” and have “common sense.”

All of which left some Tacoma residents wondering why they spent $25,000 on the study.

“I can’t believe we bothered with this,” said Steve Kirby, a member of the City Council. “This is the kind of thing you read and say, ‘We want someone who knows how to run a police force.’ Right. Now there’s a good idea. Never would have thought of that.”

Overall, the report left him “underwhelmed,” Kirby said.

“Anybody in my personnel department could have written this profile. I could have written it, and only charged $5,000.”

Everyone’s a critic

It could be worse. King County Council members are wrestling with an even more weighty matter: changing the county’s logo.

The council is set to throw money at changing the logo on its stationery, flags, county executive’s podium, and in the council chambers.

County bureaucrats promise the cost will be held to about $7,000, but the public is suspicious. A local TV report pegging the cost closer to $1 million didn’t help build confidence, despite assurances from county officials that the report was way off.

Meanwhile, the logo is being designed by not just a committee, but a committee of politicians.

Council members offered their collective artistic expertise at a council meeting this week.

One member worried a proposed logo, one of several, likens county government to a blob.

That hits it exactly on the head for some taxpayers, no doubt. But it didn’t strike quite the right note for the council, which has a higher opinion of itself.

Taxpayers can only hope the council turns out to be a better art critic than the Legislature.

State lawmakers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on murals in the House and Senate chambers over the years.

Then they decided they didn’t like them, and spent more money to take the artwork down.

Today, the walls are blank. No one, so far, has objected to white paint.

This is no game

Tribes are back with another gambling initiative, and they’re not fooling around.

Tribes for Responsible Gambling filed their initiative this month. They also hired one of the biggest political consultants in the state, Gogerty and Stark, and a powerhouse paid signature gathering firm to get the measure on the ballot.

This year’s measure was filed by tribes that opposed Initiative 651, a gambling measure backed by the Spokanes and two other tribes.

The Spokanes dumped more than $833,000 into the I-651 campaign last year only to get shellacked statewide by a 3-to-1 margin.

Like I-651, the new initiative allows slot machine gambling. But it keeps all state regulatory controls in place.

Tribes need slot machine gambling to raise money to run their government programs, said Doreen Maloney of the Upper Skagit tribe. Washington state officials could hardly argue.

The state relies on gambling revenue to help pay for everything from public schools to the new Mariners’ stadium.

There will always be purists who turn up their noses, no matter how the initiative is worded, Maloney knows. Consider Gov. Mike Lowry.

The governor turned out for a ceremony this spring when the state uncorked the new scratch tickets it’s selling to help pay for the stadium.

Handed the first ticket, Lowry refused to use it.

, DataTimes MEMO: West Side Stories appears every other week.