The People’s Republic of Louisville?
Consent Decree Motion, Post 4- What happens when there is a tie vote in the Metro Council?
Fastzone on Substack reported nearly a year ago about The People’s Consent Decree (TPCD), a five-page resolution sponsored by Metro Council member Shameka Parrish-Wright. Her subversive resolution sought to ensure full participation of ‘restorative justice’ groups in the DOJ Consent Decree negotiations, and to ‘point the finger’ at the LMPD.
Last July, the Metro Council voted it down: 17 against, 4 for, 3 voting ‘present’ and 2 not in attendance. But on June 12 this year, the same resolution, somewhat toned down, passed by a vote of 13 to 12.
Shameka continued to plead for passage of ‘TPCD’ on June 4, 2025, at the Public Safety Committee meeting. She begged the council to admit that the LMPD HARMED US. That committee voted 5-4 to recommend that the full council REJECT it.
A revised version with fewer ‘whereas’s’ and no requirement for the ‘justice’ groups to serve as consultants (but of course, they will), passed. How?
The resolution was originally scheduled for discussion at the tail-end of the meeting. Watching the video, we learn that the item was moved up to accommodate Democrat Barbara Shanklin who has a bad back and could not survive to the end of the meeting.
Republican Kevin Kramer was in Washington DC on National League of Cities business. He had a limited timeframe to participate, remotely. The discussion DRAGGED OUT until he was no longer present for the vote. But Shanklin was still there.
All but one Council Democrat and the Independent, Paula McCraney, voted for the resolution. One Democrat, Brent Ackerson, and all Republicans except for the absent Kramer, voted against it. The vote would have been 13-13 if Kramer had voted, and by the rules of the Council (Pdf page 22, ‘tie vote’) the question would have been lost.
Pushback to no avail
A resolution to replace Shameka’s was presented by Ginny Mulvey-Woolridge, a Republican elected in 2024.
Ginny is married to a police officer, and described how her husband came home soaked in urine and spit after the 2020 riots. (How does that compare with slushies?)
Her resolution was a positive recognition of the LMPD:
The vote to accept this resolution was 13-13 because Kramer was still in the meeting at that point. The tie quashed the resolution.
Discussion ensued. Betsy Ruhe insisted that the slushy incident proved that the LMPD has a culture of abuse. View the entire discussion.
Is a single incident a ‘pattern or practice’? Of course not.
What about an extremely limited number of incidents such as those cited as ‘excessive force’ in the DOJ investigation? How many incidents comprised their ‘pattern or practice’ accusation? This was Judge Beaton’s question to the DOJ lead attorney but he refused to provide a specific number.
When Harmeet Dhillon, Trump DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, described why the lawsuits against the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments were being dismissed, she said:
These lawsuits, which were filed at the last minute by the Biden administration after President Donald Trump’s reelection, accused Louisville and Minneapolis of widespread patterns of unconstitutional policing practices by wrongly equating statistical disparities with intentional discrimination and heavily relying on flawed methodologies and incomplete data….
Why, then, does Louisville have a signed Community Consent Decree which establishes the role of an Independent Monitor and a budget figure of $750K?
There is no mention of the FOP and its role in the LMPD in the local decree, though the FOP was an intervenor in the DOJ CD case last January. Their objections revealed that their authority had been ignored.
The Louisville CD is described as ‘an agreement between Metro Government, LMPD and the citizens of Louisville’. Which citizens?
Our leaders had the cherished opportunity to denounce any Consent Decree against our officers. But instead they doubled down on their misguided oversight of the LMPD by providing their very own ‘Community Consent Decree’ that is essentially the same as the DOJ’s. On top of that, our Metro Council endorsed it with their rushed vote on the resolution to support it.
Back the Blue!
Please watch this Budget Hearing-Community Input video (starting 1:05:06) to hear testimony from two citizens of the Old Louisville District 4 neighborhood.
Ruth Ann Shumate-Reed and Jose Vasquez attended the hearing to OBJECT to the $750K in the Metro budget for the Louisville Consent Decree. They are inspiring many citizens to contact their council members to say— Let the police DO THEIR JOBS! We are 300 officers short in Metro Louisville! No money for the Louisville CD! Fund and support the brave men and women of the LMPD!
It is up to the Metro Council to decide which budget items to leave in or to take out. Their decision will be made by the end of this month. Contact your council member! Each has a webpage with a contact form. If they tell you the resolution expressed their view, remind them it should have been a tie, and POOF! it would have disappeared.
Share this post. Read about a new report detailing a 97% rate of false reporting in the DOJ's summary for the Phoenix, AZ, CD.
Make no mistake, McCraney is a DEMOCRAT she only changed her designated affiliation because she is in what should be a Republican District. If only our JCRC cared enough to challenge Democrats, we can never win with their compliancy.