More attention has been placed on law enforcement agencies in recent months, and with that comes a more informed conversation around the impact that its leaders can have on an organization. As Central Oregon grows and changes, we believe it’s time for new leadership at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s office. While L. Shane Nelson has been a strong leader for the office, too many instances of poor officer behavior and insider ball have happened on his watch.
Nelson’s admission during our endorsement interview that he offers a daily, voluntary report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement about foreign nationals inside the jail did not sit well either. What’s more, his earlier support for repealing sanctuary law in Oregon was not the direction we wanted to see for a sheriff in a rapidly growing and diversifying county. Scott Schaier, on the other hand, would end the practice of sharing ICE information at the jail.
Schaier, a candidate with fresher ideas overall, hails from the Bend Police department and plans to rapidly implement an officer wellness program for DCSO, similar to the nationally recognized one at BPD. Nelson said he’s doing that too—but it wasn’t until this campaign season that we saw it start to happen in earnest.
We also like Schaier’s idea to name an undersheriff for DSCO—as strong leadership gets stronger with more supports like that.
Both candidates have faced unfortunate events in their careers that we’d rather not see happening; Schaier was involved in the shooting death of Tyler Jacques in downtown Bend; Nelson was recently involved in a deadly high-speed chase, and bears the ultimate responsibility for the undesirable behavior of the officers who work under him. Ultimately though, we believe it’s time for new blood at DCSO. Vote Scott Schaier for Deschutes County Sheriff.
This article appears in Oct 21-28, 2020.
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If voters are looking for someone who is only concerned about which way the wind is blowing and how it will make him look, by all means, vote for Scott Schaier. If you want someone who is honest, trustworthy, fiscally responsible, and has experience managing multi-million dollar budgets, please vote for Shane Nelson.
As a retired LEO for over 25 years who served with Bend PD for over 20 years including over 17 years as a supervisor, I have worked with both candidates in a variety of roles. Shane Nelson is the only one I trust and who I believe is honest. Shane doesn’t always take the popular route, but he nearly always makes the right decisions as Sheriff.
On the other hand, Schaier was removed from Bend PD CERT (SWAT) because he was incapable of being responsible for his role on the team. Even after multiple counseling sessions, he was incapable of fulfilling his role on the team and was removed by the team’s leadership. As a patrol officer, he was known as a “blue falcon” and someone who couldn’t be relied upon to do his job correctly. Instead of doing the work, he spent more time trying to get out of work than actually doing what he should be doing. This caused more work for the other officers on his team and his supervisors. This is one of the reasons he chose to pursue a school resource officer position. He no longer had to deal with regular calls for service, he could work more independently, and he didn’t have to be part of the team any longer. Generally, the last few years at Bend PD, he was a supervisory challenge.
Former Bend PD Chief Jim Porter knows all of this and still endorses him due to his pettiness and personal animosity towards Sheriff Nelson. I believe Porter’s hostility towards Sheriff Nelson is due to Porter’s desire for a larger kingdom. He wants to control more of the tri-county purse strings through the COLES Board just like he wanted to have more control over Deschutes County 9-1-1. Just read Porter’s endorsement and you will see what I mean. This type of kingdom building should have no place in government. Those resources don’t belong to Porter, nor do they belong to Sheriff Nelson. Those resources belong to the voters, and Sheriff Nelson knows this and leads the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office in that manner.
Vote Sheriff Shane Nelson back into the position of Deschutes County Sheriff. He is the candidate with the experience, trustworthiness, honesty, and integrity to work for you as Sheriff of Deschutes County.
Hey there, why don’t you run for Sheriff, then?
Because I say Shane Nelson is #wrongfordeschutes
http://www.wrongfordeschutes.com/
Whoever did this is genius:
http://electsheriffnelson.com/
The truth about Jim Porter’s “endorsement” of Scott Schaier –
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ungracious-…
The truth about Scott Schaier’s “qualifications” for Sheriff –
https://nuggetnews.com/Content/Default/Gue…
The truth about the killing of Tyler Jacques by Ofc. Scott Schaier and Marc Tisher –
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tyler-throw…
The groundwork to include applying for federal grants for the DCSO Health of the Force Wellness Program, as documented and posted on the DCSO FB page, began in 2016. It was carefully researched, staffed, and is a far better program than Bend PD’s to include covering the Search & Rescue volunteers.
Interesting to note that the Bend PD in-house PSY, Dr. Andy Barram, just had his contract with BPD terminated reference his conflict of interests and violation of ethical standards – and Barram is a supporter of Schaier.
The Bend Bulletin got it right. Re-elect Sheriff Shane Nelson – and keep the “good old boys” like Jim Porter, Stacy Crawford, and “wanna be” Undersheriff Erik K out of professional, ethical, and positive county law enforcement.
The Source apparently overlooked the endorsement by Hispanic Medal of Honor recipient, MSG Leroy A. Petry, for the re-election of Sheriff Shane Nelson.
Petry will be in Bend on October 26th to dedicate the VA Rural Clinic in Medal of Honor Bob Maxwell’s name and will meet with Candidate Nelson, as well, in a show of support and encouragement for the Central Oregon Latino Community to re-elect Shane Nelson for Sheriff.
PETRY ENDORSEMENT BELOW
“It is both an honor and a privilege for me to lend my support to Shane Nelson and his re-election as Sheriff of Deschutes County.
“My fellow Medal of Honor recipient, Bob Maxwell, always spoke of his love for our flag, our country, and our veterans.
“Shane Nelson is a man who I would want keeping my family and town safe. I am today proud of Shane Nelson and his continuing efforts on behalf of those of us who have served our great nation in uniform. He has my trust and confidence watching over Bob’s beloved Deschutes County.
“Your vote for Sheriff Nelson is a vote for courageous, decisive law enforcement leadership.
“Rangers Lead the Way!”
https://www.dvidshub.net/…/medal-honor-r……
MSG Leroy A. Petry, Recipient
I am the mother of Michael Tyler Jacques who was killed by Scott Schaier during a suspected reckless driving stop in December 2016. Schaier tased and shot Tyler twice within 29 seconds! If Schaier’s incompetence as an officer was well-known, why wasn’t he fired BEFORE he cost my son his life.
An additional insight into the Source’s candidate of choice from retired Bend Police Department sergeant, Todd Fletcher – Perhaps the voters should ask Mr. Schaier to post his BPD personnel file, en toto, online?
Todd Fletcher 2:12 PM on Linkedin –
“He should have been terminated a long time ago. He was a complaint generating nightmare for the last Sgt he worked for before I left. I know it for a fact because we were on the same side of the week and his Sgt came to me several times for advice. Unfortunately, Paul Kansky and Jim Porter didn’t have use [the] stones to actually deal with him even after all the issues were documented. Including honesty and truthfulness issues.”
wowwwww people really don’t like Shane Nelson deschuteswomenspeakout.com
And from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Employee Association yesterday –
DCSEA PUBLICLY ADMONISHES FORMER BEND POLICE CHIEF JIM PORTER (RET.) AND THE SCOTT SCHAIER CAMPAIGN FOR SHERIFF
News Release from Deschutes Co. Sheriff’s Employees Association
Released by: DCSEA Executive Board
Release Date: October 30, 2020
NARRATIVE:
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Employees Association (DCSEA) today publicly admonished former Bend Police Chief Jim Porter (Ret.) and the Scott Schaier for Sheriff campaign for a recent op-ed citing misleading figures on employee morale.
On October 15, 2020 – the same day Stacy Crawford stepped down as its President – the DCSEA Executive Board sent an email to each candidate for Sheriff explaining that the sole purpose for the 2018 “Survey Monkey” poll was for the use of internal messaging and to assist with ongoing contract negotiations.
The Executive Board further wrote to each candidate, “At no time has the DCSEA verified the authenticity or accuracy of the poll. The DCSEA cannot independently verify actual members who voted in the poll.”
Further and even closer analysis of the Survey Monkey poll since October 15 has only reinforced the Executive Board’s belief that the only reasonable, good faith purpose for the poll in 2018 was for internal messaging purposes. The poll was never meant to be released publicly, has never been authenticated, and the public should not rely on its results as fact.
The DCSEA expressed regret to the candidates that the poll was apparently leaked without the permission of the DCSEA. The DCSEA formally requested that each candidate cease referencing the poll in their respective campaigns, as well as remove existing online materials related to it. Both candidates for Sheriff agreed to this request.
Nevertheless, the Scott Schaier for Sheriff campaign continued to feature on its website the endorsement of Retired Bend Police Chief Jim Porter. Porter’s endorsement referenced, in part, results from the misleading and inaccurate poll.
Yesterday’s guest op-ed, written by Porter, again cited the poll’s misleading figures on employee morale. The Schaier campaign has promoted Porter’s guest op-ed on his campaign Facebook page.
The DCSEA advised in its email to the candidates that it would publicly admonish any candidate that continued to use the misleading and inaccurate poll for political gain. Consequently, the DCSEA is calling on the Schaier campaign to remove its Facebook post linking to the misleading op-ed. Further, the DCSEA is calling on Porter to disavow his misleading references to the poll.
Background:
In early 2020, the DCSEA membership voted to changed its bylaws to prohibit the public endorsement of political candidates for elective office. The Executive Board has striven to honor this vote, and is troubled by any perception that it publicly supports one candidate for Sheriff over the other. The DCSEA represents hundreds of sworn and non-sworn employees in the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, and it is the goal of the DCSEA to remain officially neutral in the race for Sheriff.
The full text of the emails sent to each candidate for Sheriff can be found below:
Good evening:
The purpose of this communication is to clarify the original purpose of the 2018 DCSEA Survey Monkey poll completed, and to make a request of both campaigns to cease referencing it.
The 2018 Survey Monkey poll was created for the sole purpose of internal use and messaging to assist with contract negotiations between the DCSEA and Deschutes County at that time. At no time has the DCSEA verified the authenticity or accuracy of the poll. The DCSEA cannot verify actual members who voted in the poll.
For these reasons, the Survey Monkey Poll should not be relied upon as an accurate source of information in which to base assertions in a political campaign.
The DCSEA regrets that the poll has been made an issue in the campaign. The DCSEA further regrets that the results of its internal polling were apparently leaked to a political candidate and to the press without the DCSEA Executive Board’s express approval.
The DCSEA is requesting that the candidates for Sheriff cease to publicly cite the poll. The DCSEA further requests that candidates remove online information referencing the poll.
Failure to abide by either of these requests may result in the DCSEA issuing a public admonishment and correcting information that has erroneously been released about the poll.
Thank you,
The DCSEA Executive Board
Wow just saw this. I will never pick up a Source again. Fuck you Source Weekly for supporting this murdering piece of shit. Do you just blindly go around supporting who ever? Our community and civilians didn’t and still don’t stand behind Scott Schaier. actions. Fuck Scott Schaier his murderous actions speak louder than your shity magazine.