Dillon Moran’s Gratuitous Attack On Tim Coll

The Times Union has run a story on the city hiring an attorney to represent it in dealing with the New York State Attorney General’s demands on Saratoga Springs following her office’s investigation and report on the city’s conflicts with the local Black Lives Matter group.

After rehashing the legal expenses the city has been enduring, reporter Wendy Liberatore notes that the Council is united on the need to hire outside counsel to respond to the AG. She then provides Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran a platform to attack fellow Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll.

Moran said he is skeptical about Coll’s sincerity to collaborate. He believes Coll and the police will fight the attorney general on proposed reforms such as training police on de-escalation, bias and community policing.

Times Union August 23, 2024

Moran goes on to make further accusations:

“We are cognizant of the fact we do not have enough legal talent nor appropriate legal talent to engage in the negotiation with the attorney general,” Moran said. “That we all agree on. … The problem is that (Coll) wants to fight the attorney general … His (requests for quotes) is written like somebody who doesn’t want to collaborate with the attorney general, but like somebody who wants to argue over every word in the (proposed attorney general) document [JK:Emphasis added]. … This could harm the city for years going forward.”

Times Union August 23, 2024

Unfortunately for Moran, it was not Coll who drafted the “request for quotes,” but the City Attorney, and Coll has invited all members of the City Council to participate in the interviews of the attorneys who respond to the RFQ.

Moran (and Ms. Liberatore) apparently did not bother to check the facts on this or his other allegations. The city police force, for instance, is already routinely being trained in “de-escalation, bias, and community policing,” so there will be no fight over those reforms as they have already been implemented.