(ProsperNews.net) – Portland police will pay almost $700,000 compensation to a city official who tried to defund them. Jo Ann Hardesty was the first black woman to serve as a Portland city commissioner, and in 2021, she sued for $5 million after being implicated in a hit-and-run incident. The president of the Portland Police Association, Brian Hunzeker, resigned following a department leak that incriminated Hardesty. She was later cleared of any involvement, and Mayor Ted Wheeler launched an investigation into the source of the leak.
The matter was due to go to trial in September but was avoided when parties reached the $680,000 settlement that will be paid for by Portland’s police union and the two officers found to have leaked the false claims to the media.
Jo Ann Hardesty’s relationship with Portland police has been hostile and marred by accusations and calls for defunding. At the height of the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, she advocated a $15 million cut to the city’s police budget. Following an uptick in violent crime, Portland, one of America’s most left-wing cities, began reassessing. Mayor Wheeler said, “Studies show people are choosing not to stay here. I see this as a critical moment in the city’s history that we should respond to.” The council increased law enforcement funding at that time.
Hardesty also clashed with police in 2020 when she claimed that officers, rather than Black Lives Matter, were starting fires and “creating crisis.” On social media, she said, “They’re sending saboteurs and provocateurs into peaceful crowds so they justify their inhumane treatment of people who are standing up for their rights.” She later apologized for the remarks.
In the elections of 2022, Hardesty was ousted by law-and-order candidate Rene Gonzalez. She appeared to accept that her anti-police agenda had harmed her, and conceded that the city should pay to beef up its policing numbers. She also called for a crackdown on open drug use on Portland streets.
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