Lars Larson: Data confirms Mayor, Police Chief wrecked Portland

By Lars Larson,
NW and national radio host

You don’t have to buy MY opinion: the numbers confirm the deadly nature of the failures of Feckless Ted Wheeler, Mayor and Police Commissioner of Portland.

Murders during his first year in office…six years ago: twenty. Murders last year: 90.

Forecast for murders this year, 130.

Police officers ten years ago: 1-thousand. Today, less than 800. Cops are quitting the “City of Riots” left and right. Short staffing means punishing overtime.

City Hall and Feckless Ted’s leadership means cops get hung out to dry.

Riots consumed the city for more than a year, and Ted said nothing.

The new, Social Justice Warrior district attorney refused to prosecute more than a thousand crimes connected to the riots, and Ted said nothing.

Worse than that, Wheeler’s “yes man” police Chief Chuck Lovell actually referred some of his officers to the DA for possible prosecution. With bosses like that, you don’t need enemies.

Lame duck Governor Kate Brown literally cut loose convicted criminals back to the streets and Portland got most of them. Ted said nothing.

Crime skyrocketed, downtown foot traffic plummeted and Portland became one of the only places where downtown home values dropped.

Last November, Wheeler convinced his city council to drop half a million tax dollars on recruiting retired cops back into uniform. Net result: zero…exactly zero cops have agreed to sign up to serve under Feckless Ted.

Can you really blame them?