Golf Carts: The Gifts That Keep Giving

On Tuesday, February 20th 2024, KBND published a story titled “Golf Cart Fleet Focus Of Early Campaign For Deschutes Co. Sheriff”

The thrust of the story was that Sheriff candidate sergeant Kent Vander Kamp had in a campaign speech at the Redmond Kiwanis earlier this month talked about what he considered to be runaway spending at the Sheriff’s Office.

As part of his speech he specifically mentioned the infamous golf carts that the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office had recently purchased and upgraded for an exorbitant amount of taxpayer cash. (Bend Bulletin “Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office spends $37k on golf carts, more than previously disclosed”)

When asked about this by the KBND reporter, Sheriff candidate captain Bailey doubled down on the golf cart purchases and also said:

“Having a tool to get around in 100-degree heat with a little bit of sunbreak. It was important to give the deputies the tools they needed. And the deputies were very appreciative that they had those tools to patrol the fairgrounds.”

In the article Bailey also worked very hard to distance himself from the acquisition of the golf carts stating he had nothing to do with their purchase and that the automotive unit doesn’t even report to him. Remember this.

We are not going to go into the many ways the purchase of these golf carts is a complete fiscal fiasco except to say that Bailey doesn’t seem to understand that they have become a symbol of the reckless spending at the Sheriff’s Office and no amount of spin will change that.

Then again, perhaps Bailey does get it after all, because here is where things get extremely interesting.

The KBND’s article must have hit a nerve because we were contacted by someone from, of all places, the county fair who had a fascinating story to tell us.

We were told that a few months ago captain Bailey sent a couple of his employees to the fairgrounds to meet with Geoff Hinds the Director of the Fair & Expo. Bailey’s employees were apparently instructed to pitch the sale of the Sheriff’s Office golf carts to the fair. We are curious if Bailey’s employees were armed and in uniform, because nothing says “friendly sales call” like a couple of armed cops showing up asking if you want to buy their golf carts.

You heard right folks, Bailey was trying to offload these supposedly indispensable golf carts, much loved by his deputies and which he had nothing to do with acquiring in the first place.

We now have to ask if the automotive unit doesn’t report to Bailey, and he had no control over the purchase of the carts, how come he suddenly had control over their sale?

Bailey’s supposed proposal was that in return for the fairgrounds taking the golf carts off his hands, he would reduce the overtime bill charged by the Sheriff’s Office for patrols at the next county fair by the agreed upon sale amount. Thus no cash would change hands.

Why wouldn’t Bailey want cash for the sale? We can think of several reasons none of them good. We understand Mr. Hinds wisely didn’t fall for Bailey’s awkward sales pitch.

That said, very sneaky captain Bailey and so much for protecting deputies in the 100 degree heat… Not that the golf carts were ever about that in the first place. In fact, we wonder how many deputies actually got to drive around in the golf carts at the last county fair.

What we do know is that Bailey and Sheriff Nelson had a grand old time in them. In fact the two of them were seen happily handing out Bailey’s campaign material to visitors at the fair.

As a reminder Bailey is not permitted by Sheriff’s Office policy to campaign in uniform or while on duty; however, the rules don’t seem to apply to him, because at Shane Nelson’s Sheriff’s Office it is “rules for thee, but not for me.”

In closing we would love to hear from Public Information Office (PIO) sergeant Jason Wall. Perhaps he can tell us, hand on heart, that none of what we have written happened, and we can then humbly say we were wrong.

Maybe our local media will take a few minutes out of their busy schedule and look into this story. We sure think it is of significant public interest.

Now over to you PIO Wall.