Kerlikowske leaving for Obama administration

[Sun195]

<broken link removed> about Kerlikowske heading for DC:

Sources: Kerlikowske leaving for Obama administration

After more than eight years as Seattle police chief, Gil Kerlikowske has told the department's top commanders that he expects to leave to take a federal law-enforcement position in the Obama administration, according to multiple sources familiar with the chief's plans.

One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Seattle office of the FBI had received a "special presidential inquiry" ordering a comprehensive background check on the chief in anticipation of his taking a position in the administration.

Kerlikowske, 59, declined to comment today.

FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said the agency doesn't discuss background checks.

It is unclear what role Kerlikowske would fill in the Obama administration, but one possibility is as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a cabinet-level position otherwise known as the drug czar, a source said. The office, established in 1988, directs drug-control policy in the U.S.

Kerlikowske had also expressed an interest in the top job at the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, but apparently has not been tapped for that post, one source said.

Kerlikowske has told his command staff that he likely will leave by this summer and possibly much earlier, sources said.

Kerlikowske, who was appointed chief in 2000 by then-mayor Paul Schell, had worked the previous two years as deputy director of the Justice Department's community-oriented policing division during the Clinton administration.

Sources said Kerlikowske has a strong relationship with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton years.

Kerlikowske's tenure as chief has been rocky at times, marked by controversy over allegations that he been too soft on internal disciplinary matters. New rules recommended by a mayoral panel were put into place last year to make the chief more accountable.

Kerlikowske won credit for stabilizing the department after the stormy departure of Norm Stamper as chief in the wake of the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle and reaching out to citizens. Crimes rates dipped during his time as chief, reaching historic lows in recent years.

Kerlikowske began his career as a street cop in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1972 and went on to serve as chief in two Flordia cities, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie. He became the first department outsider to lead the Buffalo, N.Y., department in the 1990s, and left there for the deputy director position in the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, a post he was appointed to by then President Clinton, according to his biography on the department's Web site.

Kerlikowske lists one of his accomplishments as the development of less-than-lethal force options for officers, equipping dozens of officers with Tazers. He also oversaw the installation of cameras in the department's patrol cars.

Currently, he serves as president of the Major Cities Chief's Association, which consists of police leaders from the country's 56 largest metropolitan areas.

He has been an advocate of gun control and fought to pass the assault-weapons ban and has championed closing the background-check loophole at gun shows.

If Kerlikowske leaves Seattle, an interim chief is likely to be appointed.

Kerlikowske is the region's second prominent official apparently headed to the Obama administration. Last week, King County Executive Ron Sims announced that Obama was nominating him to be deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sims, who had been campaigning for a fourth term as county executive, awaits Senate confirmation for the HUD job.

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[Sun195]

And here's CCRKBA's take on the issue. He'll be working on drug issues, not gun issues, so I'm not sure his stance on gun control makes much of a difference. Guess we'll see.

KERLIKOWSKE PICK MORE PROOF OF OBAMA’S ANTI-GUN AGENDA, SAYS CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – Reports that Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has been tapped to become the nation’s next “drug czar” offer more proof of the anti-gun intentions of the Obama administration, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“During his eight-year tenure as Seattle’s police chief, Gil Kerlikowske has established himself as a devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “That’s pretty hypocritical of a guy whose own gun was stolen out of his department car on a downtown Seattle street. He may pass an FBI background check for an appointment, but he flunked the responsible gun owner’s test.”

Kerlikowske has lobbied for bans on sport-utility rifles that are owned by tens of thousands of law-abiding Washington residents, and millions of their fellow American citizens. He backed legislation to close the mythical “gun show loophole” with an unsubstantiated theory that private sales put guns in the hands of criminals.

“While he’s been Seattle’s police chief,” Gottlieb noted, “he’s become a close ally of the anti-gun Washington CeaseFire, but he’s never bothered to sit down with gun owners to discuss crime problems, gun safety or enforcement efforts that focus on felons rather than firearms.

“Kerlikowske’s reported appointment to a post with the Obama administration reinforces the genuine concerns of American gun owners that the new president is not their friend,” he observed. “The new president has surrounded himself with people who have long anti-gun rights track records, including Joe Biden, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel. By adding Gil Kerlikowske to his inner circle, Obama is simply confirming the adage that ‘you can tell a lot about someone by the company he keeps.’

“It’s no surprise Gil Kerlikowske would jump at the opportunity to leave the Evergreen State,” Gottlieb stated. “He and his anti-gun allies have repeatedly failed to erode the civil rights of Washington citizens. But he would be leaving here with unfinished business. He hasn’t solved the one crime that poses more of a threat to public safety than a hundred gun shows or a thousand semiautomatic rifles owned by law-abiding private citizens. He still has to find his stolen pistol.”