mynorthwest.com
Governor Chris Gregoire says she's not changing any security procedures after discovering that a biker who shot and killed a Portland, Ore., police officer decades ago showed up at a recent bill signing.
Robert Christopher was convicted of killing officer David Crowther during a drug raid in 1979, but he was released about two years later due to police misconduct in his case. He was among a group of bikers, that included the Banditos and the Outsiders, who stood near Gregoire on April 13 as she signed a bill prohibiting law enforcement from profiling motorcyclists for sporting club colors or logos.
Bill sponsor Senator Jim Hargrove, an avid biker, even sported his leather vest and do-rag for the celebration. Senator Hargrove's office told us he invited two people, but neither were flying colors or are known gang-members.
The Governor's Office told MyNorthwest.com it had no idea who was in the room, and the governor did not invite any of the people who attended the signing, but she said she's aware that some law enforcement officials are upset that Christopher was present. She says bill signings are open to the public and that's how it should be.
"Those folks who showed up last week, I didn't know them; I'd never met them before; I didn't know anything about their backgrounds. They came in here just like anybody else would," she said. "I don't screen people; it's a free process here for people to come in and observe if they choose."
Gregoire's spokeswoman Karina Shagren said that at no point during the bill signing did the governor feel unsafe, and she noted it would have been ironic for law enforcement to single out a group of bikers for extra scrutiny at the signing of a bill designed to protect bikers from being unfairly targeted.
"There were troopers all over the place that day," Shagren said. "The bill process has always been very open. ... It would be a shame to make the last, and most important, step closed to the public when everything else is open."
The Washington State Patrol would not discuss the governor's security detail or how it monitors the people who attend the signings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MyNorthwest.com
Staff report