Updated
The Oregonian reports:
For years, past police chiefs and city attorneys have vigorously fended off critics who called Portland police Capt. Mark Kruger a "Nazi sympathizer." They said he was simply a history buff who collected military memorabilia and had belonged to a World War II reenactment club.
But now, a Portland commander and a Portland Police Performance Review Board have found Kruger brought "discredit and disgrace upon the Bureau and the City," by building a public tribute to five Nazi-era German soldiers at a city park while employed by the police bureau.
During the course of the police investigation, Internal Affairs investigator Mike Barkley learned the city attorney's office had stashed away the plaques in a litigation file for at least six years.
But the city had never initiated an investigation into what they were for or why Kruger put them up until the city got pressure from Robert Seaver, a former friend of Kruger's who dogged city officials with explosive e-mails, interviews with the media and an embarrassing YouTube video featuring Kruger posing in German uniforms.
Former police Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who said he was alarmed there hadn't been a prior in-depth inquiry, last October called for an internal investigation of Kruger. Seaver filed a formal complaint with the Independent Police Review Division the next month. Both prompted the Police Bureau's first, wide-ranging internal investigation of Kruger and a sustained violation.
Now, a former Portland attorney who had sued the city and Kruger in federal court, and Seaver, accuse the city attorney's office of a "cover up."
Who knew, when did they know it and why was nothing done?
Update: I wrote a brief letter after posting this blog entry to the Oregon Attorney General's Office asking for a state investigation into this matter. You can read the letter here.
