Press release
Feb. 22, 2022
WashCOG recognizes KUOW and staffers with Key Awards
The Washington Coalition for Open Government on Tuesday recognized KUOW public radio, online managing editor Isolde Raftery and reporter Ashley Hiruko with Key Awards for pulling aside Seattle City Hall’s veil of secrecy on a pivotal moment during the tumultuous summer of 2020.
WashCOG presents Key Awards throughout the year to people and organizations that do something notable for the cause of open government.
Raftery and Hiruko pored over nearly 2,000 pages of public records and interviewed six people close to the situation to determine who decided to abandon the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct during the street unrest of June 2020.
The precinct’s abandonment was a stunning turn of events, but city officials – including then-Mayor Jenny Durkan and then-Police Chief Carmen Best – repeatedly provided vague and evasive explanations about who made the decision and why, leaving Seattle residents in the dark.
In a story published July 9, 2021, Raftery and Hiruko reported that Assistant Police Chief Tom Mahaffey, the incident commander, met June 8, 2020, with his deputy and four or five others. During that meeting in downtown Seattle, the group decided to abandon the East Precinct. It was a dramatic decision, but Mahaffey did not inform his boss, Chief Best.
Raftery and Hiruko’s groundbreaking story, reported with KUOW’s support and encouragement, shed new light on a troubling and puzzling civic event that city leaders preferred to leave unexplained. Because of KUOW’s reporting, Seattle residents had a clearer understanding of City Hall’s actions during those chaotic days. As a result, citizens were in a better position to weigh their government’s performance and hold their public officials to account.
Raftery and Hiruko’s story is posted on the KUOW website at https://www.kuow.org/stories/we-know-who-made-the-call-to-seattle-police-s-east-precinct-last-summer-finally.
WashCOG is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002. We are an independent, broad-based advocate for public records, open meetings and informed citizens.