As Seattle inches closer to finalizing a long-awaited contract for its police force, a bombshell accusation has emerged, raising serious questions about integrity, transparency, and political posturing on the City Council.
In an interview on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Mike Solan revealed that while Councilmember Rob Saka publicly justified his no vote on the police contract by demanding greater “accountability,” he privately asked Solan to conduct city-related communications through Saka’s personal phone, sidestepping public disclosure laws. That, Solan says, exposes a breathtaking level of hypocrisy, especially after Saka claimed he wanted the city to be able to demand officers’ personal records and even the personal records of their family members and friends for investigations.
After three years of negotiations, the tentative agreement between SPOG and the city finally headed to the City Council for approval. Six councilmembers voted yes, allowing the contract to advance to the mayor’s desk, where it can be signed or, if left untouched, automatically becomes law after 30 days. Solan emphasized that the contract is a win for both the community and the officers, providing stability after years of attrition, uncertainty, and anti-police rhetoric.
Saka, however, emerged as one of the most vocal opponents, insisting that the deal failed to incorporate subpoena powers promised in the city’s controversial 2017 “Accountability Ordinance.” Solan said the subpoena provision is far more extreme than most people realize and has been one of the most “troublesome components” of the ordinance for years.
“If you wanna be a police officer in the city of Seattle,” Solan said, describing how the ordinance is designed to work, “they basically want to take your personal records as a police officer to enhance an investigation, you know, administrative policy alleged violation, not just the cop’s personal records. Oh, it could be your family. Oh, it could be your friends.”
He added that such a sweeping reach stands in stark contrast to core constitutional protections. “Just imagine how that strikes so opposite to what our United States Constitution, the Fourth Amendment, calls for, unreasonable search and seizure. Can you imagine agreeing to something like that?”
Yet Saka framed this subpoena power as a moral necessity and claimed his no vote was a principled stand for accountability because SPOG refused to accept those terms. Then came the revelation that, according to Solan, completely undercuts Saka’s public stance.
Solan recounted that Saka called him the Sunday before the vote to give him a heads-up that he would be voting against the contract. “Credit Rob Saka for calling me on Sunday evening to give me a heads up that he was a no vote for the upcoming Tuesday vote,” Solan said. “I thanked him for calling me and to give me a heads up. And I asked him, ‘Why are you doing it?’” Saka then went into the same talking points about subpoena power that he later delivered at the council meeting.
But at the end of their 15 to 20 minute conversation, Solan said, Saka tipped his hand. “Rob Saka tells me, ‘Hey, I’ve called you from my personal phone. Don’t send council business in a text on this phone. Call me if you just wanna meet, and we can meet.’”
Solan described hanging up and then realizing just how glaring the contradiction was. “It was one of those conversations, you know, you have a conversation, you’re like, I wish I would have said this right after you analyze it,” he said.
To Solan, the hypocrisy was unmistakable. “Based upon his comments on the dais yesterday, he was pushing for this subpoena power of officers’ personal records,” he said. “He’s doing the exact same thing he claims cops are doing in order to get true accountability, skirting the PDR law.” The same councilmember demanding the power to dig through officers’ personal, family, and friends’ records for administrative investigations was simultaneously directing that his own official communications be routed through a private channel, shielded from public records requests.
Solan did not hold back. “So this is a guy who wants the accountability but wants to skirt the accountability,” he said. “Insane, absolutely insane.”
Saka’s stance, Solan argued, fits into a broader political environment at City Hall. He noted the expected opposition from socialist councilmembers such as Alexis Mercedes Rinck and acknowledged growing concern among officers about incoming socialist mayor-elect Katie Wilson, a longtime anti-police activist. While officers are relieved to finally have a contract after years of working without one, there is understandable trepidation about what a mayor with a history of defund and abolish rhetoric might try to push.
Even so, Solan said he intends to approach the new administration professionally. “I have to be open and ready to work with whoever occupies the office,” he said. “So far they haven’t done anything to us, at least that I’ve heard about, that impacts SPOG in a negative way.” But he made clear that the guild is not naïve. “We’re prepared for anything, and if it gets negative, then we’ll respond in kind. But right now it’s status quo.”
