Letter: ‘Lady Liberty is blindfolded for a reason’

Published 10:00 am Tuesday, April 7, 2020

To the Editor:

It appears that my previous letter to the editor submitted in March struck a nerve with Sheriff Palmer. I was advised that he authored a long, rambling diatribe on his personal Facebook page defending his naming of additional “special deputies.” In reading the post by Sheriff Palmer, two things became abundantly clear. One, Sheriff Palmer clearly does not proof read his musings before hitting send. Two, and of much more consequence, is that he stated in his Facebook post that he named two current county commissioners, Sam Palmer and Jim Hamsher, to be “special deputies” for the sheriff’s office. It might be understandable that Sheriff Palmer would not see this obvious conflict of interest, but I would like to think that the commissioners, who oversee a large county budget, would have enough common sense to realize this fact and decline.

The duties of the commissioners include budgetary oversight of all county agencies, including the sheriff’s office. How can Sam Palmer and Jim Hamsher objectively oversee the sheriff’s department when they are de facto members of that department? Additionally, do Sheriff Palmer’s squad of “special deputies” have access to confidential police databases used by law enforcement for legitimate inquiries?

I have only been a citizen of this county for about five years, but I believe that the people of Grant County deserve a professionally run sheriff’s office that understands that Lady Liberty is blindfolded for a reason. Sadly, my observations over the past five years of how Sheriff Palmer runs his department run contrary to these basic standards.

Steve Smartt

John Day