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This site documents the process and results of the WTO Accountability Review Committee.
Seattle City Council Resolution
30100 establishes a special committee to review events surrounding the 1999
World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Seattle.
The Accountability Review Committee (ARC) is chaired by Seattle Councilmembers:
The city deserves answers about what happened. Citizens and visitors deserve
assurances that they will be safe in the streets, safe in their homes, and safe
to express deeply held convictions without obstacle or interruption.
Law enforcement personnel deserve assurances that city policy regarding large
public events will involve sufficient planning, training, staffing and
coordination to enable law enforcement to protect the public in an effective and
professional manner.
The City Council is determined to establish a compelling factual record as
the basis for understanding the events of WTO week. Our review will guide
council consideration of future policies and legislation, and provide a
historical base for all who would study these happenings in the future.
The City Council is not a judicial body or court, and we are keenly aware of
the legal and practical limits of our inquiry. Decisions about the legal,
criminal, or personnel questions raised by the WTO events are outside our
purview. Our most powerful tool will be the truth, in the form of factual
accounts that settle major unanswered questions facing the community. Our
research will allow citizens to draw conclusions about the ethical and
constitutional challenges presented by WTO, and offer a resource to churches,
civil rights organizations, academics, courts, police, and other reviews.
We believe that a firm and fair review of the events, done without favor, and
completed in a timely manner, will serve the community best. Our inquiry must
not further divide the community, but bring it together with a truthful and
candid statement of the facts.
ARC will create a factual record, composed of documents and interview data,
that will serve as a baseline for community understanding of the events of the
WTO, and assist in policy making by the Seattle City Council. ARC will, if
necessary, ask the City Council to use its subpoena power to compel the
production of documents or to require testimony. ARC will:
- Determine how, by whom, and on what basis the decision was made to host
the WTO in Seattle.
- Determine what planning and decisions by city employees, including police
and elected officials, and by other community members and organizations,
preceded the City's hosting of the WTO Conference.
- Examine City public safety operations during WTO week, including but not
limited to police crowd control efforts in response to demonstrations and
disorders in Seattle streets.
ARC will establish a documented account of the events of the WTO, outline the
"lessons learned", and recommend to the City Council possible
legislation or policy changes.
The WTO Accountability Review Committee (ARC) is not empowered to act as a
finder of fact for legal purposes, or to act as a judicial review of specific
incidents.
- The City Council WTO Accountability Review Committee (WTO ARC) consists of
Jim Compton (Chair), Jan
Drago and Nick Licata.
- Review Committee Staff Director will be Alec
Fisken. The Director may hire additional staff as necessary, with
Committee approval.
- There will be three ARC Citizen Panels.
- ARC will utilize City Council Central Staff to a limited extent, based on
availability.
- ARC will hire independent legal counsel as it deems necessary to
accomplish its stated goals.
The ARC Committee will appoint Panels of five members each to address the
main areas of inquiry. Such Panelists will be volunteer members chosen for their
experience, expertise, and ability to fairly review the events of the WTO.
Panelists will collaborate with staff in the inquiry. Panels will receive
background information and briefings that will give them a grounding in
documentary evidence in possession of the committee. They will confer among
themselves about the direction, adequacy, and balance of the review. Each panel
will hold at least seven (7) two-hour meetings, and may participate in
interviewing subjects of the review. Transcripts will be made of these
interviews, and the tapes will also be part of the public record.
The product of the ARC process will be:
- An historical account, including timelines and key documents, of the
City's decision making process and actions preceding and during the WTO
Conference is the primary product of the review. If there are disputed or
unresolved questions, they will be noted in the panels' reports.
- Identification of the key public officials and public employees who made
the above decisions and actions, how they were made, and on what basis.
- Recommendations, based on lessons learned from the factual inquiry, on
what ordinances, resolutions, or policy changes should be instituted by the
City.
After gathering all possible information, each panel will be expected to
draft a report, that states, on the basis of documentary and testimonial
evidence, the best factual understanding of the issues raised in that panel’s
chargeŚ It may highlight factual findings it finds particularly important to
understanding the events of the WTO.
The ARC will review each of the panel reports for thoroughness and balance,
and forward them to the Council for legislative action. ARC will submit its own
findings of recommendations for legislation or changes in city policy.
Each panel will have access to city conference room and facilities for
meetings, forums and interviews.
Each panel will have access to the Staff Director for purposes of accessing
information and documents and coordinating with the Committee.
Panels will direct research and the work plan of the staff. Individual
panelists will have access to the documentation assembled by staff. There will
not be sufficient staff resources to respond to investigative requests of
individual panel members.
All questions regarding the WTO Accountability Committee should be directed
to the office of Councilmember Jim
Compton at 206.684.8802.
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