‘The mayor’s office is allergic to the truth’: Gee fires back after SPD report points directly at Wilson over Bite of Seattle delay

Nearly two months of finger-pointing over the Bite of Seattle shooting news conference delay ended Tuesday with a simple answer, and the findings only reinforced what KIRO host Gee Scott has been watching for months.

“The mayor’s office is allergic to the truth,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “My mama used to say, ‘I’m not saying you’re lying, but you ain’t telling the truth.’ And that’s what this office does a really good job at.”

The Seattle Police Department’s after-action report on the July 26 shooting that killed three people and wounded four others was presented Tuesday at a Public Safety Committee hearing. The report found that “senior and elected officials distracted sworn staff from completing timely public safety information and on-scene decision-making.”

KIRO Newsradio reporter Luke Duecy broke the developments live on the show as the hearing unfolded.

“Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis just got done saying that SPD was ready to go with a press conference at 7:30 p.m. to inform the public very early on, but Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt told SPD to stand down, to wait for the mayor,” Duecy reported.

It was the mayor

The report used the phrase “elected officials,” plural. Duecy noted that Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle methodically eliminated every other possibility during the hearing, confirming it wasn’t a briefing for the council president, for Governor Bob Ferguson, or for Congresswoman Jayapal.

“Kettle went on to say, so it was for the mayor,” Duecy said.

Ferguson responded on social media the same day, writing that the only contact his office had with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) on the night of the shooting was a 9 p.m. Teams call to which the governor was invited. KIRO host Ursula Reutin connected the dots.

“They listed everybody other than the mayor,” Ursula said. “So the elected official we’re talking about that held everything up was the mayor.”

The Tom Hagen of city hall

Gee zeroed in on the role of Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt, the unelected official who, according to Davis, told SPD to stand down that night. He compared Surratt to Tom Hagen from “The Godfather.”

“Tom Hagen, played by Robert Duvall, was a consigliere,” Gee said. “He wasn’t the gangster. He wasn’t the elected official. He was the one sitting behind the scenes like, ‘I think you should do this.’ That’s the deputy mayor, Brian Surratt. He is the Tom Hagen of this administration.”

Gee said the dynamic matters because while the buck stops with the mayor, the person pulling the strings behind the scenes isn’t always the one who faces voters.

Two months for a simple answer

Ursula said the entire saga could have been avoided with a straightforward admission early on.

“Just come out and say, ‘Yeah, we’ve got an inspector general investigation coming into this, but we’ve made mistakes, and we’ve learned from it,'” she said. “I would have an easier time accepting that.”

Instead, it took from July 26 to September 22 to confirm what most people already suspected. Duecy said the drawn-out process raises legitimate questions about trust in the mayor’s office and whether the pattern of “messiness” points to something deeper than inexperience.

Ursula reminded listeners that former Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes was asked to resign with a significant payout and a nondisclosure agreement, meaning answers won’t come from him.

“The information ain’t going to come from the former police chief,” she said.

Gee promised the “allergic to the truth” theme would surface again.

“I’m going to bring that back up in the future,” he said. “I’m telling you, it’s going to come up.”

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.