Spokane examines Dolezal situation
COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Spokane is investigating Rachel Dolezal for possible ethics violations after media reports Thursday questioned the validity of her application for a position on the city's Police Ombudsman Commission.
Other organizations that Dolezal is involved with were also scrambling to respond to a Coeur d'Alene Press article published Thursday that questioned Dolezal's claims that she is African-American.
Spokane Mayor David Condon and City Council President Ben Stuckart issued the following statement on the chair of the independent citizen police ombudsman commission:
"We are committed to independent citizen oversight and take very seriously the concerns raised regarding the chair of the independent citizen police ombudsman commission," they said in a press release. "We are gathering facts to determine if any city policies related to volunteer boards and commissions have been violated. That information will be reviewed by the City Council, which has oversight of city boards and commissions."
City spokesman Brian Coddington said the investigation will primarily focus on a potential breach of the city's ethics policy.
"The city has a code of ethics and the investigation will focus on that," he said, adding there are two oaths that each of the commission candidates had to sign when they applied for the position.
Coddington said the application has an "understanding of application" section where the applicant signs a statement saying they understand the city code that created the commission and that they are subject to the "City's Code of Ethics set forth in Chapter 1.04 of the Spokane Municipal Code."
That section also informs applicants that the information they put in their application is a matter of public record and they must authorize the city to conduct a reference check.
Coddington said they also had to sign an "oath of application" that says:
"I certify under oath that I read and understand all questions and statements contained in this application, further, that all statements I have made herein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief."
Meanwhile the Spokane Police Department has suspended all investigations into the hate mail claims that Dolezal has filed.
"Unless new information arises, they are all suspended at this point," said SPD spokeswoman Teresa Fuller. "We don't have any additional followup to do on any of them."
An anonymous caller claiming to be a board member of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP called The Press on Thursday seeking more information about the sources who provided information about Dolezal.
The caller said he was sitting with three other board members who needed the information to develop a formal response for the NAACP, but he refused to identify himself or the other board members.
The Press informed the caller that the staff was very familiar with Dolezal's history in Coeur d'Alene and questioned some of the claims that she was making about North Idaho in recent Spokane media coverage.
Dave Meany, director of media relations at Eastern Washington University, said the college is not ready to comment on the situation at this time.
"As far as the university goes, we feel at this time it is not appropriate to comment on her personal issues," he said, adding he is limited in what he can say about her professional association with EWU. "We are aware of the reports, but we cannot comment on faculty records."
Meany said Dolezal is an adjunct professor of Africana Studies, which is a part-time position at the university.
Overall he said the campus was quiet on Thursday because students were taking their finals this week, but he said they have been tracking some chatter about her on EWU social media sites.
Dolezal did not respond to an opportunity to comment on this story.