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1/TYT, in their unending crusade 2 tear dwn Buttigieg, has shown again they r willing 2 misrepresent facts & mischaracterize events 2 meet their ends. This vid is latest example & while a lot 2 unpack, I’m going to focus on Cenk’s characterization of PD Chief demotion & the facts
2/Paraphrasing Cenk @ 4:30: “Black police chief (Boykins). Pete fired him. Why? There were tapes showing cops saying racist things. The police chief and other person revealed that information & it was inconvenient for Pete & SB so he was fired.” Lets break this down:
3/In court docs, officers - and Boykins - claim recordings began in 2010. Officers claim it was to monitor them for “loyalty.” These recordings allegedly continued for *two years* before Pete became Mayor.
4/On January 1, 2012, Pete Buttigieg was sworn in as mayor of SB. As part of his mayoral duties, he began interviewing people for top positions - including chief. Pete interviewed Boykins and other recorded officers.
5/Recorded officers were interviewed on January 6. One claims Boykins confronted him that afternoon for being “disloyal” and a “back stabber” for seeking his job as chief. Same convo, Boykins admits to having recordings & said he would listen and fire anyone disloyal.
6/Until then, no one except Boykins and woman who tapped the phones knew the officers’ personal lines were being recorded. That woman later confirmed to at least one plaintiff that she set up the tap on their line.
7/Less than two weeks later - January 19, 2012 - recorded officers met with US attorneys to complain they were illegally recorded. US investigators began looking into situation & Boykins.
8/Of note - there is no indication that *anyone* told Pete about the existence of the tapes, let alone what was *on* those tapes before (or even at) this point. In fact, it wasn’t until Boykins was *already under investigation* that he claimed racist remarks.
9/Taking a quick aside to say I am not attempting to cast doubt about what is on the tapes. Do I believe they could have racist remarks on them? Absolutely. Is it ok? Absolutely not. At issue is chief demotion and illegal recordings - which I’ll get into later.
10/While Boykins was being investigated by fed authorities, he never *once* told the Mayor about it. In fact, Pete found out *from federal investigators* that his own chief was being investigated for violating constitutional rights of his own officers.
11/Another note - not even *Boykins* himself claims he was taping officers to try to get evidence of their racism. He says it was accidental when they were trying to tap other lines as is routine. He’s not claiming his was a whistle blower.
12/On March 31, 2012, after Pete found out about federal investigation, he asked Boykins to resign. Boykins agreed and resigned same day. Next day, Boykins rescinded his resignation. Pete then demoted him to Captain - having still lost confidence in chief.
13/Boykins *was not* ultimately fired - only demoted - which is pretty objectively reasonable given above facts. Boykins remained with SBPD for another 5 years, until his *retirement in 2017.* 953mnc.com/2017/07/08/for…
14/Officers filed suit September 2012 claiming, among other things, violation of 4th Amendment and IN Wiretap law - claiming recordings were illegal and a violation of privacy. scribd.com/document/40704…
15/One year after his demotion, Boykins filed suit against city for “unlawful and discriminatory” firing. Important: Boykins never claims he was fired for uncovering or revealing the racist remarks allegedly on tapes.
16/Instead, he claims that there were 3 AA high ranks in SB when Pete took office and within 3 months they had either “retired, been asked to leave, or demoted.” Seems weird retirement would count against Pete, no? scribd.com/document/40704…
17/Now illegal recordings: When Pete found out about racist remarks claim, a federal investigation into the tapes was already underway. Further, it is possible they were illegal intercepts as claimed, which would bring about city liability if Pete released.
18/Pete is not against releasing them - he has said time and time again that they are tied up in court. City Council is asking for their release - officers want them private.
19/Pete cannot just step in and release them without *risking a lawsuit against the city for violation of constitutional rights and invasion of privacy* - the same kind the officers originally filed.
20/If Boykins was really trying to uncover racism, 1) he had 2 years of prior recordings under another Mayor he could’ve disclosed it to; 2) he could have disclosed to Pete upon his swearing in; 3) he could have disclosed to Pete when investigation started.
21/Nothing about the situation is ideal, but Pete’s hands were tied - both by how Boykins went about recording and because he was kept out of the loop until contacted by federal investigators.
22/So, TYT, tell me again how Pete “fired” (see above, demoted and remained on force for 5 more years) because what he “revealed” (2 years after starting recordings and only after investigation started) was “inconvenient for SB.”
23/This begs the question - why is TYT so bent on bringing down Pete that they wildly misrepresent facts to sow racial division. Horseshoe theory is real y’all...feels so familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it...nytimes.com/2019/05/06/us/…
24/24 What TYT is doing is dangerous and irresponsible. They should not be so bent on bringing down Pete that they dig themselves into a hole if he's the nom. What are they going to do then? Tell every1 they were wrong or to vote 3rd party?
Tagging on one more to say that @TheYoungTurks make it hard to respect them when they do this - if they were being factual and honest and criticizing him, that's one thing. But this is irresponsible. #TYT #MayorPete #PeteforAmerica #ChangeTheChannel
