Obama Drug Czar Emerges as Police Superintendent Candidate
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 19, 2011 9:07PM
R. Gil Kerlikowske
Kerlikowske's resume reads like this: Bachelor's and Master's degrees in criminal justice from the University of South Florida, graduated from the FBI Academy's National Executive Institute. His nine-year tenure as Superintendent of the Seattle Police Department was marked by criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union over his handling of the second anniversary of the WTO riots, protests of the Iraq War, and the department's slow response in the Seattle Mardi Gras riots of 2001.
The response to the Mardi Gras riots earned Kerlikowske a vote of no confidence from the Seattle Police Guild. The Seattle chapter of the NAACP also called for Kerlikowske's resignation in 2007 after he personally intervened in the punishment of two officers who violated the civil rights of a drug dealer.
Kerlikowske was tapped by Obama as drug czar because of his notable lack of a record in drug policy debates. Kerlikowske's conservative stances on decriminalization efforts (he's particularly opposed to marijuana decriminalization) are a stark contrast in a city with progressive needle exchange programs, methadone vans and drug courts. But his ability to thrive in Seattle made him appear to many outside the Emerald City as a progressive on drug policy.
What impresses us most about Kerlikowske is his presence. This is what a lawman should look like. We can just see the Emanuel Administration give this man a two-by-four and declare him the second coming of Buford Pusser.