Has Shane Nelson Lost His Mind?
Yesterday in what can be only described as a part political attack ad, part “cover your ass” letter, and overall lunacy, Sheriff Shane Nelson posted a rambling and long winded post onto the Sheriff’s Office official Facebook page.
His post took direct aim at one of Nelson’s own employee’s, Sergeant Kent Vander Kamp, who has dared run for office against Nelson’s protege and chosen successor Captain William Bailey.
The subsequent backlash to this highly inappropriate post was immediate, explosive and continues to reverberate across multiple social media platforms today.
In our opinion, what little credibility Nelson had remaining was completely evaporated by this ill-advised and poorly thought out Facebook post.
Furthermore, it appears that Nelson only managed to successfully cause irreparable harm to himself and to Captain William Bailey’s political aspirations, as well as show the general public the depth to which Nelson is willing to sink in order to prevent Vander Kamp from becoming the next Sheriff.
That Nelson would interject himself into the democratic process in such an ugly and unethical manner by attacking one of his own employees on the Sheriff’s Office official Facebook Page is not only highly inappropriate, but frankly makes us question his sanity.
To us this is a sign of desperation on his part and we have to ask what is Shane Nelson hiding that he is so set on protecting?
We believe, Nelson’s post gives the outside world a glimpse into the culture of retaliation, bullying and intimidation that Sheriff’s Office employees have had to endure for almost 8 years under Nelson and his leadership team.
It is no wonder then that Sheriff’s Office employees are bravely, directly and openly taking to social media to express their heartfelt desire for badly needed change at the Sheriff’s Office.
This despite the weaponization of the internal investigation process and a draconian “Speech and Expression” policy aimed at curtailing employees freedom of expression — A policy that was conveniently put in place by Nelson and his Command Staff late this August. (Article linked below)
The bottom line is that employees have had enough, are fed up and are simply not longer willing to put up with Nelson and his leadership’s deplorable behavior.
Based on the hundreds of comments that have been posted on multiple social media sites in response to Nelson’s post, it appears Deschutes County citizen have had enough as well.
This convinces us all the more that Sheriff Shane Nelson and Undersheriff Paul Garrison will ultimately be responsible for the costs of their own legal defense in the many lawsuits that we are certain will soon to be filed against them. (Article linked below)
In our opinion, there is no way that their behavior doesn’t rise to the level of malfeasance as described in ORS 30.285 and 30.287. (Statutes linked below)
REFERENCES
