Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon tweets this from his iPhone: "The truth about the kidnapping stats? There was no fraud. I'm confident the audit will show that."
And Gordon, who has thrown his confidence and support behind Phoenix Public Safety Manager Jack Harris, who was stripped of his duties as police chief today, later tweets: The public would have learned more today if not for the gag order placed on the Phoenix PD. That's as disturbing as the Harris decision.
Gordon is beyond clueless if he thinks that the public will judge this situation based purely on a legal standard -- whether or not fraud was committed.
Yet Gordon's comments speak volumes about how he has been conducting business in the Mayor's Office for the past few years.
Um, Gordon's bringing a delegation of foreign dignitaries from Bahrain to Phoenix and setting it up so that his girlfriend Elissa Mullany gets paid is not illegal.
But it is still wrong.
The problem lies with Harris, the leader of a police department, repeatedly defending border-related kidnapping statistics that were used in two federal grants either knowing they were flawed or lying when he told the public that they conducted audits to verify the accuracy of those figures.
Whether this issue rises to the level of actual fraud does not excuse misleading the public and violating public trust.
Perhaps Gordon is defending Harris because he has to justify his own failure to dig deeper when questions were raised about the 2008 kidnapping statistics, which Gordon himself said were nearly all linked to border-related crimes.
After all, Gordon has been having monthly meetings with Harris to review crime and other public safety issues in Phoenix for years. There is no question Gordon and Harris are tight -- and not only on a professional level.
When Gordon's son -- a Phoenix police officer -- was place on administrative leave over allegations that he inappropriately touched someone, Harris took himself out of the loop on that investigation. Harris wanted to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
And fellow tweeters weren't going to give Gordon a pass on this obvious attempt to set the bars so high so that he could claim victory for Harris if the panel of experts -- being convened by Phoenix officials to investigate how the numbers were flubbed -- comes back with anything less than actual fraud.
MayorGordon: I'm very disappointed in the Jack Harris decision. When the audit is complete, the public will see the truth.
AzWally: @MayorGordon a lot of us are disappointed in YOU for continuing to allow this embarassment to go on!
staceydillon: I wish mayors were more often quick 2 defend frontline ofcrs than a #chief that's been audited 2xs already on the same stats. @MayorGordon
