MAINE, USA — The people of Memphis are mourning the death of Tyre Nichols, and the country again debates what to do about police officers who appear to target Black people. Political Brew analysts Phil Harriman and Ethan Strimling agreed government needs to have a response to the abuses.
"There must be," said Harriman. "We've seen too many instances like this where the public feels law cement taking matters into their own hands. Suppose I could describe it that way. In this instance, as I understand, all five officers involved in this heartbreaking death are people of color. So this isn't a racist issue. I think this is more about a training issue, And training should be consistent across federal ad state guidelines."
Strimling agreed better training is needed but said the problem goes much deeper.
"It's about institutional racism, and we need to understand. When we talk about institutional racism, we talk about racism in systems that can be perpetuated by anyone who is part of that system. That's a problem we see in some of our police departments.
Strimling added that nationally, Congress needs to pass the George Floyd Act finally. It includes measures supporters believe will make it easier to hold police departments accountable for unacceptable violence.
The two analysts also had different takes on last week's action in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, when Republicans voted to remove Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accusing Omar, a Muslim, of making anti-Semitic statements.
Strimling rejected the suggestion that the move was just payback by the GOP for Democrats removing two Republicans from committees last year.
"People taken off committees in the past were threatening other members o Congress. Remember, another member threatened AOC, and he was taken off the committee. Let's understand the difference between an ideological attack which is what's happening to Rep Omar, versus someone who threatens someone physically with violence."
Phil Harriman took a broader view.
"We used to have mutual respect for minority and majority parties. Minority parties get to name their preferences of who served on what committees. That got overturned last Congress with Nancy Pelosi. Now Kevin McCarthy is doing it, and that has begun the debate. This is unraveling the institution that used to operate on mutual respect.
Harriman said Congress needs to find a way to return to the era of mutual respect.
On Maine topics, both commented on the news last week that the Attorney General is investigating possible fraud in a petition effort two years ago to force a referendum on prohibiting non-citizens from voting.
The petition failed to collect enough signatures, but the Secretary of State has reported problems with thousands of signatures collected by paid signature gatherers and has turned the investigation over to the AG. The leader of the petition was Rep. Billy Bo Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, now the House GOP Leader. He joined forces with a national conservative group to run the petition effort and has said he was not involved with collecting signatures.
Harriman said the rules for Maine petitions are clear.
"Rep. Faulkingham is saying he isn't responsible, that will have to be proved, and the AG will have to discover who did authorize this behavior."
Strimling had similar comments.
"He says he wasn't involved with that. We will find out. It was his campaign. He was the spokesman; he has to take some responsibility for it."
Both agreed the use of paid petition circulators can cause problems. Still, neither said the practice should be eliminated, as collecting enough signatures without using paid people can be challenging.
Political Brew: Police abuse, congressional committees, and referendum petition concerns
Our analysts this week are former state senator and mayor of Portland Ethan Strimling and former state senator and Yarmouth town councilor Phil Harriman.