The expected reappointment of longtime city attorney Jay Heffern ran afoul of police-community controversies and City Hall politics Monday afternoon.

Michelle Gross of Communities United Against Police Brutality testified against Heffern’s reappointment during a public hearing, arguing that Heffern has not discouraged city attorneys from prosecuting low-level charges against citizens who file complaints against violent police officers. These prosecutions, Gross alleged, are an effort o “dirty up” people who may be contemplating civil suits against the city as a result of police misconduct.

“It’s a method of risk management that is a gross and outrageous violation of people’s civil rights,” she told the Ways and Means Committee. “This falls squarely at the feet of the city attorney.”

Another critic, community activist Ron Edwards, testified that the city attorney’s office had been negligent in its supervision of the city’s Ethical Standards and Practices department. Edwards alleged that the department had not responded satisfactorily to charges that two Civil Rights Commission members had accepted a total of $245, 000 from the city’s Empowerment Zone program and subsequently conspired with the mayor’s office to prevent the reappointment of commission member Larry Blackwell, who had called for an investigation of the payments.

“I’m concerned about the prospect of interference,” Edwards said. “Is the office functioning?”

Edwards later said he supported Heffern’s reappointment, but because he had run into dead ends at City Hall on this matter, he felt he needed to raise the issue during today’s public hearing. “I had to do it on Jay’s watch,” he said.

The testimony is not likely to derail Heffern’s reappointment, but it did give committee members enough to think about that they voted unanimously to send it forward to the City Council without recommendation—a surprising vote, considering Heffern’s long tenure in the job.