City officials urge Washington state ex-NAACP official to quit commission

By Eric M. Johnson SEATTLE (Reuters) - Former Washington state NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal, who drew national attention after being accused of lying about her racial background, has violated ethics rules while heading a police oversight commission and is facing pressure to resign, senior city officials said on Wednesday. Investigators hired by the city of Spokane to probe a whistleblower complaint found Dolezal had publicly named citizens who made complaints against police officers, in violation of a confidentiality agreement, City Council President Ben Stuckart said. "There were multiple occasions at open public meetings, that were recorded, where names of complainants were discussed in the open and they should have been confidential," Stuckart said. Stuckart and Spokane Mayor David Condon called for her resignation. Dolezal, 37, resigned this week as president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading civil rights organization, amid reports she was falsely claiming to be African-American. Dolezal has told U.S. media she identifies as black, and the controversy has triggered a national debate over the bounds of racial identity and self-identification. She was raised in a home with adopted black siblings and enrolled at historically black Howard University, according to a white couple who told U.S. media they are her biological parents. Dolezal did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Spokane-area broadcaster KHQ quoted her as saying she was "sincerely troubled by the short-sided conclusions that have so quickly been made with this report." "I stand by my work on behalf of the citizens of Spokane to further justice and promote civilian oversight of law enforcement," she said, according to the broadcaster. The ethics allegations against Dolezal, and two other commission members, stem from the findings of two independent lawyers hired by the city to investigate an April 16 complaint by a Spokane employee. The probe also found Dolezal engaged in workplace harassment as head of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission. The Spokane City Council will meet on Thursday to discuss whether to remove Dolezal from the post, and whether to file an ethics complaint against her, Stuckart said. A city human rights commission called for Dolezal to resign on Tuesday, and Eastern Washington University, where she taught Africana studies, said she was no longer employed there. Separately, the city is investigating whether Dolezal violated city rules when she identified herself as Caucasian, Native American, and black in her job application. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)