Paranoia, the destroyah

On Wednesday, Willamette Week reported that a former employee of Multnomah County, Laura Bridges, was claiming that County Chair Diane Linn had asked her and the then Chief of Staff, Kathy Turner, to alter Linn's Outlook calendar before printing it out for a public records request in September 2003.

Kathy Turner confirmed the incident. Diane Linn claimed that this was simply dirty politics - she's up for re-election and the ballots go out this week for Election Day in May.

The local daily rag, The bOregonian, followed up on the story (link only good for 14 days; saved PDF of page one here and PDF of page two here) and Chair Linn pulled out all the stops. To my ears, it sounds like paranoia:

Linn said Bridges, who once served on the executive board of Oregon Naral, tried unsuccessfully to dash an endorsement of Linn. Turner, who lost her job in Linn's office when the chairwoman shifted her title and duties to then-Chief Operating Officer John Ball, is listed as a Wheeler supporter on his campaign Web site. Turner also is close friends with Wheeler's campaign strategist, Liz Kaufman, Linn said. And, finally, the name of John Bradley appears among Wheeler endorsements, Linn said.

"Kathy Turner has lawn signs, John Bradley, the deputy D.A. is also on Wheeler's Web site . . . and I'm calling foul," Linn said.

A John Bradley is listed among Wheeler's contributors. But it's the president of R&H Construction -- not the deputy district attorney of the same name -- who donated $250 to Wheeler's campaign.

(My emphasis added) ...well, either paranoia or jumping to conclusions. Not the sign of a strong leader.

The District Attorney, Michael Schrunk, is calling for an investigation, but because his budget is under Chair Linn's jurisdiction, he's asking that the state Department of Justice look into it. He sounds peeved that anyone would suggest that his DAs are politically motivated (from an editorial posted tonight on the WW website):

In a letter Thursday to Linn that said he is asking the state attorney general's office to investigate the Bridges charge, Schrunk flatly denied that allegation.

"The clear implication is that someone in my office is using his position in the District Attorney's office to influence a political race," Schrunk wrote. "This is something my office would never do and I would not tolerate it."

As Schrunk points out in the letter, WW spoke to Bradley in hypothetical terms and did not disclose Linn's identity.

(My emphasis added).

There's some concern over the fact that the Oregon Attorney General, Hardy Meyers, is a proponent of Chair Linn's re-election. I don't know if Oregon has a "special prosecutor" law... Might be needed, if our elected officials even care about the "appearance of impropriety" anymore.

Um, oops. Diane Linn's enemies are everywhere... in her mind.

Ms. Bridges says she was motivated by the poor treatment Chair Linn gave to Dave Boyer, the 25-year veteran of the county who retired early rather than falsify budget numbers at Linn's request.

Chair Linn complained to the Willy Week that Bridges didn't step forward sooner. But listen to Laura Bridges' statement:

"There's almost an unwritten rule. You don't talk about your elected unless you're saying something good, even after you leave. You keep it to yourself and you move on.

"I'm scared because I feel like I'm breaking that pact," Bridges says. "But people need to speak out when elected officials act improperly."

To me, that sounds like a victim of intimidation finally realizing her courage, reaching her last straw and realizing the power that they've been ignoring.

Courage just like Lea Lakeside-Scott had and has had for years. (Of course, you read about it from me, first).

They'll investigate this petty political scandal, but Jann Brown is still employed at the county, having been promoted twice since attempting to silence a whistle-blower. A whistle-blower whose accusations have never been investigated!

And that doesn't even address the poor woman intimdated by Dr. Peter Davidson, or the pending Federal case brought by Candace Clarke who claims she was intimidated into ignoring budget irregularities.

But I've been saying this amongst my friends for years: suppression and intimidation is the way county management works! I've seen it with my own eyes and I've done what I can to stand up to it. This goes hand-in-hand with Diane Linn's mis-management skills. She's known as someone who doesn't compromise - it's her way or the highway. And that percolates down through every level of management. She doesn't negotiate and she brooks no dissent. It's obvious (in my eyes) in how she handles everything, but, publicly, especially the way she badly bungled the same-sex marriage issue - make a unilateral decision, keep other commissioners out of the process, don't consider building a consensus with those who might disagree, silence or ignore her opponents.

But it looks as though the dam is breaking. One can only hope that the rest of the county sees it too.