Willamette Week
The need for strong, independent local journalism
is more urgent than ever. Please support the city we
love by joining Friends of Willamette Week.
Someone in Law Enforcement Leaked False Information About Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty to Her Adversaries It’s possible the leaker broke state law as well as police directives. Updated March 10 By 4:48 pm on Wednesday, March 3, City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty had finished her last business call of the day. Exhausted after a six-hour City Council meeting, she rested on the couch in her Southeast Portland apartment and started thinking about dinner. At the same time, some two and a half miles away, a Portland woman says she was rear-ended by a tan, four-door sedan that then drove away. Many hours later, at 11:24 that night, a 911 dispatch report shows she called police and incorrectly told them she recognized the driver of the sedan: Hardesty.
UPDATE, 6 pm:
City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has addressed the false accusations in a press release, again calling for an investigation. Today began with an unnecessary burden put on my office to disprove a completely false accusation. Now the Portland Police Bureau has admitted what we knew all along – I was not involved in any way with any hit and run incident and am not a suspect.
While I am relieved to see the truth prevail, this incident brings up a number of urgent questions that I want answers to.
How did this false information get leaked to the Oregonian and fringe right wing media groups?
91% of Portland protest arrests not being prosecuted January 05 2021
Protesters are emboldened, coalition leader says, despite tough talk from Portland officials including Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has vowed to crack down on antifa anarchists after a riot on New Year s Eve, but months of catch-and-release policing has skeptics wondering if anything will change. Right now there s a lot of people that are emboldened to just do whatever they want, Gabe Johnson, co-founder of the Coalition to Save Portland, told KOIN 6 News. Johnson feels city and county officials have set a precedent that will be hard to reverse, and thinks the mayor s announcement is just more words.