To Paul Schell, Seattle City Council members and Mark Sidran:

As a Seattle resident and an active trade unionist, I am outraged by the behavior of City officials during this past week. The police, under direction of Norm Stamper and Paul Schell, ignored vandalism masquerading as political protest, but tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed and fired on peaceful protesters.

Stamper has shown himself completely unqualified to continue as any kind of ranking officer in the police department, and Schell should be promptly recalled. The City Council members have, for the most part, shown no leadership at all in supporting the grassroots efforts to reclaim our city.

We knew in advance that the WTO, if it's allowed to continue, would devastate our standard of living while keeping citizens of developing countries under the thumbs of the multinationals. We didn't realize that the Mayor of Seattle and his police chief would instantly collaborate with the WTO to suspend the US Constitution in Seattle.

Fire Stamper - recall Schell!

Paul Bigman

Paul Bigman 1999 Port Workers Rally Seattle, WA