Spokane TV Station Obtains Details on Frank Straub's Ouster as the City's Police Chief

KREM has published a lengthy report detailing information gathered in texts, emails and written records relating to the ouster of former Indianapolis Public Safety Director Frank Straub from his position as Spokane Chief of Police:

Former Spokane Chief of Police Frank Straub

Records released Tuesday stated that Cotton met with City Administrator Theresa Sanders in April 2015 to voice her concerns about Straub. Handwritten notes from Sanders after the meeting said [then police department employee Monique}Cotton was distraught and claimed Straub "grabbed her ass and tried to kiss her."

Sanders said in the notes she forwarded the claims to Mayor David Condon to investigate. 

... 

Amid a series of complaints from additional co-workers, Straub resigned in October after coworkers accused him of intimidation, personal attacks and threats. However, Straub's lawyer argues that he was fired and did not resign. 

Straub's lawyer, Mary Schultz, fired back following Condon's statement on Wednesday. 

She claimed the ...statement by Condon [published by KREM in this story] confirms he never investigated any of these damaging accusations, "gave his word to an accusing employee that he wouldn’t investigate their accusations, gave the accuser what they asked for without question, and then publicly denied all of it."

Fortunately for Condon, details regarding his handling of the Straub matter were kept under wraps until he was re-elected earlier this month with over 60% of the vote.  Nonetheless, whether Mayor Condon mishandled the investigation into the Cotton sexual harassment allegations and Straub's termination, the fact remains that Condon showed incredibly bad judgment in hiring Straub in the first place. Straub's employment problems at White Plains, NY, where he was chief of police and then Indianapolis were well-documented available to anyone who had access to a computer and the search engine "google."  Yet Mayor Condon ignored Straub's past problems and enthusiastically hired him any way.  That shows terrible judgment on the part of Condon that should have disqualified him from being re-elected.