Fresh off the heels of Spy-PA Gate 2010, Bobby Lopez is throwing his hat in for another run at San Jose Police Officers’ Association president next fall.
Apparently, there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with the cop union’s current leadership—and Police Sgt. Lopez’s media-shy predecessor, George Beattie, in particular. There’s been a sense among the POA’s rank and file for awhile now that everything has gone to pot since the never-afraid-to-speak-his-mind Lopez stepped down.
Now, police officers are saying all they do is talk about concessions, and the times under the still popular Lopez’s tenure (before the brunt of city budget cuts) must be looking pretty rosy. Some POA members feel that they were stronger when Bobby was there championing their causes—oh yeah, and getting fed information from inside the Independent Police Auditor’s office must have been pretty sweet, too.
Lopez, who describes himself as “tanned, rested and ready” (a la Nixon in ’68) after his time off, still insists he was just looking out for his boys in blue regarding the IPA scandal.
He says he never received confidential information from his mole and characterizes the still-unknown leaker as a “whistle blower” who let him know about potentially “unethical” practices being perpetrated by former IPA head Barbara Attard.
And did we mention that Lopez and Beattie don’t exactly have the sort of relationship where they hang out brushing each other’s hair and gabbing about American Idol?
Lopez has been none too mum on his opinion that Beattie is a weak leader. On the flip side, Beattie probably doesn’t trust Lopez any farther then he can throw him. Either way, Fly is definitely looking forward to seeing these two butt heads next fall.
What is an IPA scandal was how IPA head Barbara Attard assumed any police officer accused was guilty and had to prove themselves innocent and seemed to encourage complaints
Bobby Lopez was already receiving IPA complaint information from city about who was under investigation as part of his job as POA President and also heard from officers since many believe they were falsely accused since IPA was on a personal quest to prove police officers wrong
No scandal at POA
2 True Scandals in IPA office
What should be investigated was many leaks from IPA office to NAACP, Debug, Asia Law Alliance and others who were not legally entitled to IPA officer personal file information but got it
Why hasn’t Fly. Metro, Mercury or San Jose Inside told public the large IPA Scandal that an individual or group can knowingly make false police complaints or encourage others to knowingly false police complaints and it is not publishable under California law or have any criminal penalty with fines or jail time as is common in most other states?
Isn’t the Media interested in truth or that people are making false police complaints. Oh, forgot that doesn’t fit media’s political agenda ?
POA proved most of Mercury’s Sean Webby’s excessive arrest articles were false, only reported what supported police were guilty, left out important information and was biased
Why did the Media not report the false arrest articles scandal ? Was it because it doesn’t fit media’s political agenda or you don’t want public that newspaper is lying to public ?
Police officers face administrative and criminal penalties for making false statements but people or groups making or encouraging false police complaints do not
Do this seem fair or reasonable ?
The court say a new California law can be enforceable with criminal penalties if everyone involved is under the same requirements.
The previous California law was overturned as unfair by courts because not everyone in complaint process was subject to penalties
Why doesn’t San Jose Municipal Code or California Code make it a criminal penalty with fines or jail time for any false statements by anyone involved in police complaints ?
IPA Scandels
These groups look familar?
http://calendars.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/ipa.htm
Everyone knows that local media ( newspapers, tv, radio and blogs )will be predictably silent when it come treating Police officers fairly and reporting about Murky’s misleading and biased police reporting.
Fly comparing Lopez to Nixon (a la Nixon in ’68) and using words like Spy-PA Gate 2010 and mole in reporting story is lastest examples of media bias
> Everyone knows that local media ( newspapers, tv, radio and blogs )will be predictably silent when it come treating Police officers fairly and reporting about Murky’s misleading and biased police reporting.
Poor media!
Every day there is more and more that they have to be silent about:
– The Blagojevich trial and Obama’s connections to sleazy Illinois politics;
– The illegal job offers to senate candidates in Colorado (Romanoff) and Pennsylvania (Sestak);
– Al Gore’s kinky “sex poodle” antics and secret life as a sexual predator;
– The “Climategate” scandals and the collapse of the entire “global warming” hokum;
– The justice department whistle-blower and the cover-up of the justice department’s racially motivated dismissal of the New Black Panthters voter intimidation case;
– the recently deceased “dean” of the Democrat Senatorial delegation’s one time role as —surprise, surprise— a Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan. Who knew?!!
– the mammoth, quid pro quo campaign contributions to the Obama campaign from Goldmann Sachs and BP.
And that’s just today’s news.
For news and politics junkies, it’s a feast.
For the gatekeepers of the media, it must be hell.
They have to watch Oprah and Larry King and read phony polls on The Daily Kos and tell themselves that they’re living in “reality”.
For the media, the problem with ignorance is, they don’t know they’ve got it.
Congratulations Bobby Lopez!! I knew you’d be cleared of the Merc’s lies! I wonder how the new IPA feels about Skyler Porras giving her an ultimatum to fire an innocent employee? Anything like the PD does when they are given the same ultimatum? Hum…
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/
“There is no evidence to substantiate the allegations that were reported in the news
media. The evidence fails to demonstrate disclosure of confidential information. There is also
no evidence that any member of the IPA staff “leaked” information to the San Jose Police
Officers’ Association or acted as a “spy” or “informant.” It is possible that Sergeant Lopez
construed casual statements by IPA staff as criticism of office policy, the evidence fails to show that any information was communicated to him with the intent of affecting the independence of
the IPA and there is no evidence that the processes of the office were so affected. Despite the
lack of timeliness to the allegations and the absence of identification of a specific employee on
the IPA staff, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that no violation of the law has occurred. “
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ipa/Outside Investigator’s Report of IPA Office.pdf
More IPA Scandals
1) Skyler Porras, as Director of the San Jose ACLU
” Porras indicated that she knew who it was, that this staff person did not like the former IPA, and had confirmed that information with a second source.
Porras told Judge Cordell, “here’s what I want you to do” and explained that the employee
should be removed from her position. Porras also stated that if the person was not removed,
she would let “the community” know that this person had leaked confidential information to the
police. “
” Porras then repeated the threat to “expose” this employee to her coalition partners if the
employee was not removed from her position. “
2) ” We attempted an interview with the reporter for the San Jose Mercury News who reported statements
made to him by Sergeant Bobby Lopez. Because of the newspaper’s editorial policies, the reporter could
not disclose any information beyond the statement printed in the news reports. “
What is Mercury hiding?
That another Mercury story ( story – an account of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious ) was fictitious or inaccurate might come out, again
” Sergeant Lopez stated that he never referred to the employee in the IPA office as an “informant” or “spy,” nor did he ever say that anyone from the IPA office was “leaking” information or that there was a “leak” in the office. As to the specific allegations in the newspaper article,
Sergeant Lopez related the following:
“I had a spy inside San Jose police auditor’s office”
Lopez: never used the term “spy” or referred to a “spy” in the I~A office;
(IPA staff) “repeatedly leaked confidential information over several years to the
San Jose police officers union”
Lopez: never received any “confidential information” from anyone in the IPA office; he stated that he told the reporter that he was told that the IPA office was not acting according to its charter;
(IPA staff) “gave him inside information about complaints against police officers
made to the IPA”
Lopez: never received any information about specific complaints from anyone in the IPA office;
“At one point (Lopez) said he was tipped to an upcoming Mercury News story about the violent arrest of a San Jose State student”
Lopez: never received any “tip” from the IPA staff; only “tip” he received on this issue was from the Mercury News; “They felt that, for many reasons, the office was being disingenuous and being unfair to the department, particularly under the leadership of former IPA head Barbara Attard. ‘“
Lopez: this referred to his conversations directly with Ms. Attard;
“Lopez said he was approached by the IPA employee when Attard was the IPA head from 2004 through 2008. “
Lopez: his contact with the IPA staff member began about a year after he became union president (i.e., communication began in or about 2007);
“Lopez contended, the insider would give him information which wasn’t included in the official lPA complaint about an officer.”
Lopez: never said that this statement occurred;
“Last October, the person tipped the union president that the Mercury News had obtained a cell phone video of San Jose State student Phuong Ho, as he was
being violently arrested, Lopez said. ”
Lopez: never received any “tip” from the IPA staff; only “tip” he received on this issue was from the Mercury News;
Sergeant Lopez was adamant that he was clear with the reporter that he had not received any information from IPA staff that was protected from disclosure
Read Sean Webby Mercury’s master storyteller ( either true or fictitious )
Original Story: Former cop union boss: I had a spy inside San Jose police auditor’s office
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15263301?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
More Fuel on Story ( either true or fictitious ): San Jose: Community abuzz over allegation of spy in police auditor’s office
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15271886?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
Today’s story : There was no cop union spy in the San Jose police auditor’s office – http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15421425
Why did Mercury leave out important point that ACLU threatened IPA then went to Mercury who called Lopez?
Is it believable that Lopez would give ACLU information in 2009 to use against POA and then confirm ACLU’s story to Mercury ? – No
Does Mercury practice “Big Lie ” propaganda techniques ? What do you think ?
The Big Lie: “If you tell a lie that’s big enough, and you tell it often enough, people will believe you are telling the truth, even when what you are saying is total crap.” Sounds like Merky
Sounds more like Meg Whitman.
Jenny Talle,
LOL! Good one!
Seems like the Police Officers Association couldn’t contain their glee with the original report post by Webby. They were more vocal than the usual histeria by the local anti police groups. Makes you wonder….Why even a former V.P. of the association came out swinging. An organization such as the POA has always complained the MURKY news was unfair seemed to join them on this one. Looks to me like the campaign has already started at the POA
With all due respect, Bobby needs to step aside. There is not “a great deal of dissatisfaction with the cop union’s current leadership” within the department rank and file. That is frankly a bunch of BS. George and the rest of the POA have done a great job under extremely difficult circumstances and Bobby could not have done better.
No Thanks, Bobby,
I have a few questions for you. Why hasn’t the POA allowed commentary about Bobby’s vindication on Protect San Jose? Are they hoping their unfair treatment of their former POA President will just go a way? Why did both Beattie and Unland rush to judgment in the press on this IPA issue even before the investigation had been completed?
I have always supported our men and women in blue, and always will, but I’ve got to tell you after seeing how they’ve treated the Chief, and Bobby through this IPA mess, I wouldn’t take your POA President or VP to a rock fight with me and count on them to protect my back!
Kathleen,
First off, thank you for your support of the police department.
Bobby Lopez should never have spoken to the Mercury about this matter. He should know that they would manipulate whatever he said into the firestorm that it became. The timing of this could not have been worse for the officers of the SJPD. We are in the middle of a contract fight and at odds with the city because our department is so depleted of officers. We are under constant, unfair, and misguided attacks and scrutinty from an already biased media.
It is unfortunate that you do not know our current POA President, or you would not feel the way you do. He is a great guy and an officer’s officer. He is someone I would trust my life with if it came to that. As far as the way officers have “treated the Chief”, the question you should ask is how he has treated the officers.
No Thanks,
First and foremost, thank you for your service. I deeply appreciate you putting your life on the line for us everyday.
As to your comments, I know George very well. Let us not forget one vital fact here; he is POA President because of Bobby Lopez. Bobby valued his friendship with George, and George’s leadership skills enough to back him for this office. George owes him better than he’s given Bobby.
I agree, George is a good man but I think he is in way over his head. He is listening to the wrong people, and has made some serious mistakes in how he has handled things, including censoring the very blog that was meant to connect citizens with the POA/PD. By refusing to allow topics of discussion he and Jim want to ignore, they are in fact making matters worse. They are losing respect and allies in the community.
Having said that, Bobby Lopez spoke to Webby because he had nothing to hide. We all know for a fact that the Merc, Webby in particular, twists the truth so both George and Jim Unland should have kept their mouth shut if they weren’t going to support a fellow officer.
Your POA President and VP threw Bobby under the bus without giving him the respect of waiting to see the end result of the investigation. They made themselves look bad by rushing to judgment. In fact, they seem like hypocrites because by doing what they did to Bobby in the press, they abandoned one of their own the way they claim Chief Davis is doing to them. (I disagree that the Chief has abandoned you. He is a good man who is doing the best he can under the circumstances, and the perimeters of his power and authority.)
The truth is simply this politics is a dirty business. Power struggles are even dirtier. The unfortunate part of both politics and power struggles is that we citizens, and innocent Officers pay the price for it. You guys need to get your act together, stop hurting one another, and remember why you joined the force in the first place because it certainly wasn’t for the pay, or the glory.
You signed up to protect and to serve because you are special breed of people. You care about members of the public so much so, you lay your life on the line for us everyday without a thought for your personal safety. You give up holidays with your families, and friends, and you get very little back for the sacrifices you make.
There’s a special place reserved in heaven for you heroes. So remember to treat your brothers and sisters on the force the way you want to be treated, and stop all this infighting. It only serves to hurt you in the long run.
God bless and stay safe out there!
No Thanks,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort or convenience; but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Try to remember that the next time the press is railroading one of your own like Bobby. Bobby stood by George when the media came after him when he called Raj a thug.
Quid pro quo.
Kathleen,
George was elected president because of his popularity within the ranks, no other reason and not due to any other person wanting him to be president. Despite what you think, George and Jim are very honorable men and did not throw anybody under the bus. They have both worked thousands of hours in dealing with the most difficult contract in POA history. They knew when they ran for office and others did not, that they were going to be put in an absolute no-win situation. They knew that ““The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort or convenience; but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” and they did not back away from it.
“We all know for a fact that the Merc, Webby in particular, twists the truth”. That is exactly why nobody should have mande any comments to the Mercury. George was not the one who started the ball rolling.
No Thanks,
Your loyalty to your friends is admirable. I would have liked to see that kind of loyalty extended to Bobby through out this entire ridiculous situation. I have often wondered how people can have the same facts and see things so very differently. I have also wondered how the facts can be twisted to justify bad behavior.
I have first hand knowledge of things that it seems you don’t so; we can agree to disagree on both the facts, and our viewpoints.
Have a great day, and stay safe out there.
Kathleen,
I have great respect for you too. We will have to agree to disagree. I am a mere grunt who has worked in the trenches day after day, for many years, so I do have first hand knowledge of how the average grunt feels. There is great respect for both George, Jim, and Bobby. It is presumptuos for you to state you have first hand knowledge of things it seems I don’t.
Sorry pal I have to agree with Kathleen. Say a lie long enough and you will start to believe it.
George was not elected President. He was trusted the position by Bobby. Second. Thousands of hours working on the contract? Better check your time sheet. Just add the days since the contract talks started. I don’t think your going to come up with thousands of hours. The ultimate challenge to man is his honor. Bobby trusted George and like a good politician he stabbed him in the chest by coming out in the Mercury against him. Sam Liccardo statement would have been a picture perfect response. Let’s wait till we have all the information before we make a judgment. I agree with BUCK ROGERS. They couldn’t contain the excitment thinking they could knock out a potential threat to the position they have never been elected too.
No Thanks,
“It is presumptuos for you to state you have first hand knowledge of things it seems I don’t.”
Given your commentary I do have first hand knowledge of some things you don’t, or you wouldn’t have posted some of the things you have. I do respect your right to stand up for your friends. It is a lost art, and I honor your right to do so. Anyway, we can agree that both Bobby and George are great guys doing their best to serve you wonderful men/women in the field. Stay safe.
Re No thanks Bobby!
Kathleen is right! Your POA has continued to fall in the eyes of the public and the membership. Even the board is at odds. Better check your pulse.
I know Both Bobby and Georgie, They both are great guys. People, just don’t make something out of NOTHING….
Super Cop!
Super Cop, you said, “People, just don’t make something out of NOTHING….” They do if they fear you.
Kathleen:
I know you feel as if you know both George and Bobby. To some degree I am sure that is true. I can tell you this, Bobby has lost ALOT of respect for his actions in the past year and it is not all about the IPA scandal. Just because the IPA Investigator could not PROVE wrongdoing does not mean Bobby was not involved in same. He escaped that mess with minor political burns. You should know, there are other issues weighing down Bobby that can not be aired here or in public for that matter. Smoke and mirrors? No, the truth. This is just not the venue to air out why Bobby is done. Bottom line: Bobby served his time. He’s done, in the eyes of the membership and the board. He is becoming a distraction now and at worst a nuisance. Regardless of what resulted from the IPA mess his timing alone was felonious. George has earned the respect of the rank and file. George is our president and if Bobby thinks he can come back he’s sorely mistaken.
Reality,
I deeply respect your right to feel however you do on this, and I agree that the public arena is NOT the venue to discuss this. That is exactly why I am so disappointed in both Jim Unland, and George. By rushing to judgment in the press against Bobby they have in essence made themselves look bad. A week prior to this they attacked the Chief publicly. My questions to you are this, WHOM is next, and WHY are they behaving this way toward their own?
Regardless of whether Bobby runs again or not, I think he was owed the respect of being considered innocent until proven otherwise, no matter HOW you feel toward him personally.
Your comment that, “Just because the IPA Investigator could not PROVE wrongdoing does not mean Bobby was not involved in same,” only further demonstrates my concerns about Bobby getting a fair shake here.
Be honest, is this how you would want to be treated of this were you?
Kathleen,
You are absolutely right. I would always want a fair shake. Bobby may not have gotten that here or within the walls of the POA/PD. Maybe he deserved more. For me it’s hard to say. I know that many rank and file wish he would walk away and support the existing leadership. I do not hear a clamor for him to come back. Maybe I don’t know the officers you do whom have confided in you they miss his leadership. I just don’t hear that on the streets or in the hallways. Sadly Bobby has contributed to his own demise. IMHO his career with the POA is over,…literally and figureatively.
Beyond that,….many thanks for your continued support. You are appreciated at SJPD more than you know.
Reality,
Thank you for the kind words. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.
On a different note, I am in the process of setting up a 2nd annual candle lit vigil for victims of violent crimes. We will be honoring my murdered friend Vahid Hosseini, Officer Fontana, other fallen Officers, and victims of violent crimes. I hope you will attend. It will be held at the end of August. Check back and I’ll post the rest as soon as I have the event set up completed.
Stay safe out there!