Rantz: Time to fight Seattle’s defund police movement before it’s too late

If the reasonable, rational voters of Seattle don’t immediately fight back against the council’s dangerous embrace of the “defund the police” movement, it will be too late.

The council has a veto-proof majority to cut the Seattle Police Department budget by 50% — a number to get them halfway to abolition, which is very clearly their goal.

But what they’re asking for has already been tried. Indeed, CHOP was the perfect example of why these outrageous plans will be so deadly. Lives are quite literally on the line if these rabidly progressive activist council members get their way. And you have less than two weeks to act.

SPD Chief Best: Council bid to defund police is ‘height of recklessness’

Seattle Council will defund police

Taking their cues from a small but vocal activist class — the ones who spend their time online demonizing cops and threatening to murder them while Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda cheers them on — the council is set to push four policies. Some are specific, others nebulously defined (like “affordable housing”).

Instead of cops policing Seattle streets, activists on the council want nebulously defined “community-led solutions” to crises. Only, we know this will fail. How do we know? The experiment known as CHOP implemented this very policy.

The very same activists and community members pushing this defunding plan were the ones pursuing CHOP. A number of community groups took control of a small piece of Capitol Hill and in just a matter of days the failed-nation had the highest per-capita crime rate in the world.

When there were issues, CHOP used deescalation experts to intervene. The result? The community-lead CHOP experiment caused two dead Black teenagers, four Black men injured in gun violence, an attempted rape, an arson against a business, vandalism, assaults, media censorship and daily skirmishes.

The council pretended it was peaceful because they were partly responsible for the illegal occupation. Indeed, Council members Dan Strauss, Lorena Gonzalez, Teresa Mosqueda, Kshama Sawant, Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis helped form CHAZ/CHOP with their early activism to kick cops out of the East Precinct.

Man shouts to @SeattlePD "Take your guns, put them onto your chins and pull the trigger. I need you to kill yourselves," while Seattle CM @CMTMosqueda says "the anger is justified" & King County CM @GirmayZahilay says "I've seen nothing but peaceful people out here." (LANGUAGE) pic.twitter.com/96yJl8KcgQ

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 7, 2020

Rantz: Seattle councilmember defends ‘kill yourselves’ threat to cops at protest

Civilian 911 call center

One specific plan from the “defund police” Seattle camp is to turn the 911 call center over to civilian (read: activist) control. Ideological, anti-cop activists will decide what to do when you call in your emergency.

Councilmember Strauss of Ballard loves the idea.

2/3 Success to me is when you call 911:
– There is always a fast response, 24/7
– The appropriate first responder arrives quickly with the resources they need to be successful

— Councilmember Dan Strauss (@CMDanStrauss) July 9, 2020

It’s good to know that Strauss is a fan of fast service. But it’s a courtesy he won’t extend to constituents. When a Ballard business owner contacted Strauss for an ongoing and worsening criminal homeless problem outside his office, Strauss completely ignored him.

“I’ve written him three emails,” Alexander Gow Fire Equipment Co. Owner Dan Schuler told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “We called his office several times. You know, to be honest, I wasn’t ever expecting an answer back. I’ve heard of friends who have tried to get in touch with him over very similar type issues with no luck.”

I hope you never call 911 to report a criminal homeless problem under the Strauss-endorsed system. Instead of sending cops, they’ll send protesters to picket outside your business, calling you a NIMBY.

Get active. The time is now

If you do nothing, you will regret what happens to Seattle. When you need police, they won’t be there for you. There won’t be many left to help. Crime will go up, as it did in the CHOP. Indeed, the disaster that the CHOP quickly became will reach from West Seattle and Northgate to Magnolia and Greenwood.

Right now, the only thing that can realistically be done is put the fear of G-d into every single one of the councilmembers by telling them you are paying attention and their political futures truly do hang in the balance. You must contact the seven council members supporting defunding (contact info at the end of this blog) and firmly, but civilly, let them know where you stand on their plan. The more you write and call, the more worried they will become.

There are so many more of us than there are CHOP activists. We just have jobs and responsibilities, unable to commit our lives to an ideological cause. Now’s the time to make time for a few phone calls and emails.

But here’s the truth: They could ignore you. They do not care what you think. Some never will. That’s OK.

An unfortunate reality

Emailing and calling isn’t as futile as it sounds.

When you feel good about contacting them, you will start to feel anger every day that goes by that they either ignore you or dismiss you with form letters some intern wrote on their behalf. That anger will turn to resentment. Good. You should stew in those feelings until a recall or an election.

Let that anger and disappointment fuel you to be more involved in the next election. There will be more moderate, reasonable candidates who will step up and challenge this council. Everything you feel right now must be used to organize this council’s defeat.

You could stay silent and hope for the best when it comes to the “defund police” movement in Seattle. The idea of spending time during an economic downturn, thanks to the pandemic, seems daunting, I know.

And perhaps you’re waiting for Mayor Jenny Durkan to lead, but she won’t. She’s not that kind of leader and she thinks standing up against the council means someone further to the Left of her will end up in the mayor’s office. But if she’s not going to do anything as Seattle transforms into a citywide CHOP zone, then it doesn’t matter who is in the mayor’s office. The end result is the same: Socialist chaos.

And if you think this is a Seattle-only issue, think again. Bad Seattle policies spread. The council’s tackling of homeless inspired similarly baffling plans in Puyallup and Olympia. The attack on gun rights in Seattle inspired the same in Edmonds. Ban bags in Seattle? Bam — Bothell follows suit.

What do you think will happen when the city follows through with the “defund police” movement? The activists on the King County Council are already trying to take over the Sheriff’s Office, turning it into an activist force, while it protects the rabidly anti-cop activists tasked with providing independent oversight. They’re brazen; they’re not hiding their intent.

Rantz: ‘Toxic’ law enforcement oversight director faces discipline for shocking bigotry

Contact the Seattle Council now

So decide now. Will you speak up or will you let the council defund the Seattle Police Department? Call your council members below.

Lorena Gonzalez (She’s an at-large councilmember. If you live in Seattle, she is your representative. She also hopes to run for greater office, like King County Executive. Remind her she shouldn’t count on your support if she defunds the police.)
Phone: 206-684-8809
Email: Lorena.Gonzalez@seattle.gov

Teresa Mosqueda (She’s an at-large councilmember. If you live in Seattle, she is your representative. She’s also running for mayor. Remind her she shouldn’t count on your support.)
Phone: 206-684-8808
Email: Teresa.Mosqueda@seattle.gov

Andrew Lewis (Pioneer Square and Downtown Seattle to Queen Anne, South Lake Union and Magnolia)
Phone: 206-684-8807
Email: Andrew.Lewis@seattle.gov

Lisa Herbold (West Seattle and South Park)
Phone: 206-684-8801
Email: Lisa.Herbold@seattle.gov

Dan Strauss (Northwest Seattle, including Ballard, Greenwood, Whittier Heights and Greenlake)
Phone: 206-684-8806
Email: Dan.Strauss@seattle.gov

Tammy Morales (Note: Contacting Morales is useless as she will never, ever listen to you. She does not care what you think unless you’re a dues paying member to Socialist Alternative. But it’s important to get your concern on the record.)
Phone: 206-684-8802
Email: Tammy.Morales@seattle.gov

Kshama Sawant (Note: Contacting Sawant is useless as she will never, ever listen to you. She does not care what you think unless you’re a dues paying member to Socialist Alternative. But it’s important to get your concern on the record.)
Phone: 206-684-8803
Email: Kshama.Sawant@seattle.gov

The two other councilmembers, Debora Juarez and Alex Pederson, won’t support a defund plan, but if you live in their districts, you should remind them of your support. They will likely be pressured by the small group of angry, loud, professional activists.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter and Instagram or like me on Facebook. 

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz