Emails Show Tensions Between the Mayor and the Governor Over Activating the National Guard for an Aug. 17 March in Portland

Gov. Kate Brown's office sent her rejection via the FBI.

Proud Boys, Aug. 17, 2019 (Wesley Lapointe)

It's difficult to remember now, but the weeks leading up to an Aug. 17 "anti-antifa" rally by the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and other right-wing groups were filled with great anxiety in Portland.

Related: While the Nation Watched, the City of Portland Defused Politically Motivated Violence—For Now

On Aug. 5, Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw told The Oregonian the Oregon National Guard might help preserve order as extremists from around the country pledged to descend on the city to battle anti-fascists.

Prior to the march, neither Mayor Ted Wheeler nor Gov. Kate Brown, who oversees the National Guard, would comment on whether troops would be mobilized. The march went off peacefully after strong pushback from Wheeler and a coalition of community leaders, and deft crowd control by the Portland Police Bureau.

On Oct. 29, Brown's office finally released emails that provide insight into tense communications about the National Guard. Here are three takeaways:

The city really wanted the National Guard's help. In an Aug. 15 email, Wheeler's chief of staff, Kristin Dennis, mentions a rare, face-to-face meeting between Wheeler and Brown three days earlier, in which the mayor asked for help. That request, however, was not clearly understood. "The mayor emphasized in our meeting with the governor that this was just a request for the National Guard to be on standby, and not a request for immediate service member involvement," Dennis wrote to Brown's deputy chief of staff, Gina Zejdlik.

The way Brown rejected Wheeler's request caused hard feelings. Emails show that rather than responding to Wheeler's office or the Police Bureau, Brown's office conveyed a flat rejection indirectly. The National Guard commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Stencel, instead gave the news to FBI Special Agent in Charge Renn Cannon. "After further discussion with Gov. Brown, the Oregon Military Department will not be providing troops for crowd control," Stencil wrote to Cannon on Aug. 13. "We do not foresee a civil disturbance rising to a level or size that requires placing Oregon National Guard service members in a forward posture." In an email, Dennis told Zejdlik the city was "confused and concerned" about not being notified directly and that Stencel's email demonstrated a "fundamental misunderstanding of the city's request to the governor," i.e., that the city wanted troops on standby, not actively engaged.

The city disagreed with Brown's decision. On Sept. 1, two weeks after the march went off without significant violence, Wheeler's public safety adviser, Robert King, emailed Brown's public safety adviser, Constantin Severe, a Newsweek article. It described St. Louis police and the Missouri National Guard receiving a national award for their joint efforts in 2017, when the Missouri governor activated the National Guard during the racially charged trial of a St. Louis police officer accused of murdering a black man. "As indicated," King wrote, "other cities have confronted many of the same issues we face here in Oregon."

Today, both offices say they've moved on and learned from the experience. "There were verbal communications between our office and the mayor's office," says Brown spokesman Charles Boyle. "Our office did debrief following the August marches, and we continually reassess what responses and resources might be necessary for future events of this kind."

And Wheeler's office cooled down. "As a result of our office's exchange with the governor's staff, the right people were connected with each other to forge an agreement regarding potentially available resources on Aug. 17," says Wheeler spokesman Tim Becker. "The mayor's office appreciates that our concerns and requests for contingency measures were ultimately heard and addressed."

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