Approved by the Membership on February 10, 2021.
Resolution Calling for the Resignation of Mike Solan, Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President
WHEREAS the Democratic Party is a progressive party, committed to Constitutional values, including the right to freedom of speech, press, peaceable assembly, freedom to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures; and to be free from police violence;
WHEREAS the Seattle Police Department is invested with the power to commit violence on behalf of the state and will reflect white supremacist state power unless checked1; and
WHEREAS all nine members of Seattle City Council have called on Mike Solan to resign, along with the Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council, Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, Black Law Enforcement Association of Washington2; and
WHEREAS Mike Solan has clearly lost the confidence of the residents of the City of Seattle as an officer of the law, and the confidence of Seattle’s leadership to be a good faith partner in contract negotiations; and
WHEREAS Mike Solan has registered to vote at his police precinct3, rather than at his home, demonstrating both a sense of being above the law he is supposed to enforce and a willingness to engage in acts of bad faith; and
WHEREAS under Mike Solan’s union leadership, officers have felt empowered to abuse protesters, to abuse people living unhoused, have failed to take necessary precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including refusing to mask4 in homeless encampments, at protests, and in medical settings5; and
WHEREAS Mike Solan has publicly blamed BLM6 and anti-fascists for the fascist coup attempt on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, claiming that “Far right and far left are responsible for that sad day”7 and retweeting disinformation from known right wing provocateur “journalist” Andy Ngô; and
WHEREAS Mike Solan maintained an account on the social media site Parler, follows the and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, and has not spoken out against the fascist violence endured in our region; and
WHEREAS under his leadership, at least two SPD officers felt empowered to participate in the fascist coup attempt in DC on January 6th8;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the 34th District Democrats support the calls for Mike Solan to resign from both the position of SPOG president and from the Seattle Police Department; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 34th District Democrats strongly support City Council and the City’s negotiating team in their pursuit of strong accountability measures in the upcoming round of contract negotiations with the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
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Submitted by Carla Rogers, District Chair and PCO, for consideration by the 34th Legislative District Democrats at their February 10, 2021 meeting.
1 https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/12/16/spd_findletter_12-16-11.pdf
4 https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/1350927929522483209
5 https://twitter.com/B20e/status/1350600576552247298
6 https://twitter.com/realmikesolan/status/1347435354895179776
7 https://twitter.com/realmikesolan/status/1347755874626859010
8https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2021/01/08/spd-officers-in-d-c-referred-to-opa/