Adrian Fenty plays hard. For the mayor, politics is sport. He likes to win, at any cost. He will crush opponents, if he must — if he can.
This is not to say the mayor plays dirty, or that he is mean-spirited, but he will take you out. It’s just how he rolls.
Few who have crossed swords consistently with Fenty and his top team are still in the game. I can think of only one: Kristopher Baumann. The chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police has openly challenged Fenty, Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Attorney General Peter Nickles and city council members who have taken positions he thinks would hurt rank and file cops — or endanger residents.
Like Fenty, he relishes the fight.
Perhaps that is why Baumann’s campaign literature keeps disappearing from the walls of police headquarters. A week from today, on Jan. 20, the police union will hold an election to re-elect Baumann to a third two-year term or vote in another team. Funny how the fliers for Scott Baum, one of his opponents, stay on the headquarters walls, while Baumann’s vanish.
Could Baum be Lanier’s guy? Is she also backing a slate of black officers? Would having the chief’s choice running the union be good for cops?
“The chief wants Baumann out of there, and she’s using people against him,” says Lowell Duckett, retired officer and former president of the Black Police Caucus. “He’s a 21st century police leader. I strongly endorse him.”
It’s no secret that the Fenty administration is not too cozy with public unions. The mayor and his school chief, Michelle Rhee, have been playing rough with the teachers union. No union boss has come away unbloodied from fights with Fenty.
Except for Baumann and the police union.
Take the All Hands on Deck tactic, where police flood the zone on a particular weekend. Let’s leave aside the question of whether AHOD is a public relations stunt or a smart use of cops. Fact is it violated the police union contact on overtime. Baumann contested the practice and has beat the city so far.
Take the use of roadblocks set up in the Trinidad neighborhood to stop a rash of shootings. Baumann and his members believed it violated federal law. A federal appeals court agreed.
Baumann, 42, is a lawyer, so he is not afraid to challenge the department in court. But he’s also out in the community and often testifies before city council. In four years he has essentially put a populist face on the police union. He’s also backed Fenty’s crime bill, which strengthens the cops’ ability to keep the streets safe.
How much does Lanier want him gone? She’s into her second investigation of Baumann. The one accusing him of failing to follow training rules languished; one charging him with disseminating information that puts Fenty in a bad light is pending.
For the betterment of the street cops and residents they protect, it would be best to see Baumann and Fenty go at it for another two years — at least.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
