‘She was looking to get him out’: Ursula contends Barnes gave Mayor Wilson the ammo needed to fire him

Shon Barnes was fired from his position as chief of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) by Mayor Katie Wilson Wednesday night, multiple sources confirmed with KIRO Newsradio.

Barnes was initially given the option to resign or be fired, according to sources, with the chief choosing not to resign.

KIRO host Ursula Reutin and fill-in host Angela Poe Russell questioned whether all the talk about Barnes is a distraction from the massive communicative failures that were made on Sunday following the Bite of Seattle shooting at the Seattle Center.

“Is this a deflection or a distraction? I am still in shock; we haven’t even gone a week from the tragedy at Seattle Center, and this is the focus,” Angela said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “I just can’t believe that’s the focus right now. Were there issues here? Yes. This travel thing, in my view from what I’ve seen so far, this is ridiculous.”

After a review of Barnes’ calendar, he spent at least 47 days out of town through July 26, while also traveling to Chicago four times, accounting for 17 of those days. Barnes also attended seven law enforcement conferences.

“We’re talking seven conferences. Was it a legitimate public purpose, in line with department policy, and consistent with past practices?” Angela asked. “I haven’t seen any evidence of those things. I just know we have enough going on without adding more distraction and chaos into this city right now.”

Ursula explains why Barnes may have preferred to be fired

Ursula brought up the specific reasons for why Wilson would ask Barnes to resign, and why Barnes likely wishes to force her administration to terminate him.

“We know that there’s beef going down and one of my sources tells me one of the reasons why it may be resignations v. termination is [Wilson] wants him to resign and [Barnes] would like to be fired because it would mean that he could file an unlawful termination lawsuit,” Ursula said. “Just like so many other things with this administration, it’s just a cluster, you know what.”

“What I’ve heard from other police agencies is, yeah, especially for a first year [chief], that’s a lot,” Ursula continued. “Given the problems that we have in the city of Seattle, I think that the travel schedule could be a bad look, but I don’t think, in and of itself, it was a legitimate reason to fire.”

“It’s something you can easily adjust,” Angela responded.

Ursula thinks Barnes may have handed Wilson the excuse she needed

Ursula highlighted that a busy travel schedule is something that’s fixable, but since Wilson inherited Barnes as she began her term, there’s a possibility that he handed her the perfect excuse to let him go.

“If you want this person as your chief, and that’s the big if. Wilson could have told him she expected him to travel less,” Ursula said. “Or that it was becoming a problem, or he needed to be more physically present in Seattle and more invested in the community. They could have worked something out if she wanted him as chief. I have to mention that Barnes did not help himself with that confrontation and then not fully owning it. He kind of handed [Wilson] a little extra, and I think she was looking for a way to get him out anyway.”

Answering the question surrounding whether Barnes’ firing was a distraction, Ursula asserted that the blame game still lands on Wilson’s poor handling of communication during the Bite of Seattle tragedy.

“This is still on Katie Wilson and the mayor’s office for that failure of communication for five hours and waiting for dignitaries. That’s not Chief Barnes.” Ursula said. “That’s Mayor Wilson. She’s responsible for making sure that the public gets timely communication. That’s on her. She inherited [Barnes]; she did not pick him. There was a question as to whether she would even keep him. Unfortunately, he did hand her some ammo that she needed to remove a chief that she didn’t want in the first place, and that’s what she’s doing. She’s just using this as a convenient excuse.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.