16
Wednesday, July 27, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Out-of-towner’s facebook remark stirs Deschutes sheriff race
By Claire Withycombe
The Bulletin
BEND (AP) — It wasn’t
the pork steak that Christie
Gorsline had a beef with.
It was the outfit on the
cook.
In a photo posted to his
campaign’s Facebook page
July 14, Deschutes County
Sheriff Shane Nelson was
shown grilling pork steaks at
the La Pine Frontier Days cel-
ebration. Nelson was wearing
an apron festooned with the
American flag over his sher-
iff’s uniform.
“Cooking in uniform isn’t
exactly protecting the citi-
zens, it’s campaigning in uni-
form,” Gorsline, a Wilsonville
resident who said she learned
about the ongoing sher-
iff’s race when visiting the
Sunriver area, wrote in a com-
ment. “Does anyone else see
a problem with this since his
opponent is NOT allowed to
do the same?”
The comment provoked
further comments, first from
a woman who’s done public-
ity for Nelson’s opponent, Eric
Kozowski, and then responses
from Nelson’s campaign
manager.
The exchange eventually
stalled out after Nelson’s cam-
paign invited Carol White,
who also commented on the
story and has done outreach
for Kozowski’s campaign,
to discuss the matter pri-
vately. White said in an email
Tuesday that she declined the
offer.
The Kozowski campaign
made an issue of Nelson’s
custom of wearing a uniform
to public events.
However, the sheriff said
Tuesday he complies with both
state law and county policy
MAYOr: Three seats
open in November
election
Continued from page 1
limits to be eligible.
Frye, the owner of the
General Store at Black Butte
Ranch, had served as mayor
since the beginning of 2015.
He was appointed to council
in February 2014. His term
was due to expire December
31.
City Recorder Kathy
Nelson told The Nugget
that Frye’s seat will remain
empty until the November
election. It is possible that
an elected councilor could
then be appointed to step into
the seat before the January
swearing-in.
Three seats are up for
grabs. Nelson said that no
when he wears his uniform
during public appearances.
“In representing the
sheriff’s office as the sher-
iff I am within the law and
policy to use the uniform in
campaigning,” Nelson said.
“Campaigning is part of the
sheriff”s official capacity, and
it’s my duty and my desire to
be elected as the sheriff and
continue serving the support-
ive citizens of this county.”
The rules on wearing a
police uniform while cam-
paigning or otherwise engag-
ing in political activity differ
for public employees who do
and don’t hold elected office,
Nelson said.
Kozowski is a deputy at the
sheriff’s office, and because
he is a public employee and
does not hold elected office,
is prohibited by Deschutes
County Sheriff’s Office policy
from campaigning while in
uniform.
Nelson said those poli-
cies regulating when employ-
ees can wear uniforms are in
place to “control the message”
employees send.
“The design of the policies
is, we want to make sure the
uniform is used for official
capacity only,” Nelson said.
“My official capacity as sher-
iff does not end. My official
capacity as sheriff is active all
the time.”
Nelson — who was
appointed sheriff by
the Deschutes County
Commission in July 2015 to
replace Larry Blanton, who
retired before his term ended
— holds an elected office
and says he is barred neither
by state law nor by sheriff’s
office policy from wearing a
uniform publicly at campaign
events.
Deschutes County’s legal
candidates have yet filed
for the November election,
though a couple of people
have picked up packets.
To be eligible a candidate
must be registered to vote in
Oregon and must have been a
resident of the City of Sisters
for 12 months preceding the
election.
Election materials may be
picked up from City Recorder
Nelson at City Hall, 520 E.
Cascade Ave. Candidates are
encouraged to obtain elec-
tion materials by August 16
and must submit perfected
petitions by August 30, at 5
p.m. in order to qualify for
the ballot.
For more information
about the application process,
contact Nelson at 541-323-
5213, by email at knelson@
ci.sisters.or.us, or stop by
City Hall at 520 E. Cascade
Avenue.
counsel, Dave Doyle, said the
sheriff represents the sheriff’s
office “at all times.”
“In the context of sher-
iff’s office policy, I informed
the sheriff (and Deputy
Kozowski) that the sheriff is
an elected official; with very
few exceptions (i.e. out of area
on planned vacation) the sher-
iff is on duty 24/7; the sher-
iff represents the office at all
times whether in uniform or
not,” Doyle wrote in an email
Tuesday.
Kozowski weighed in on
his campaign’s Facebook page
Friday.
“I have had people ask me
why I don’t wear my uniform
at campaign events and why
I don’t have pictures of me
in uniform on my Facebook
page, website, and Instagram,”
Kozowski wrote. “They won-
der if I am not proud of my
uniform. The answer is simple
— it is against Sheriff’s Office
policy for me to wear my uni-
form at campaign events or
to have pictures of Sheriff’s
Office logos, uniforms, or
equipment on a personal
website or social-media site.”
Kozowski and White frame
Nelson’s uniform-wearing as
an issue of “integrity,” and
Kozowski contends Nelson’s
practice applies a double
standard.
the design of the
policies is, we want to
make sure the uniform
is used for official
capacity only.
— Sheriff Shane Nelson
“The cozy ‘insider’ boys
strike again,” commented
White, who is also Kozowski’s
mother.
Kozowski said Tuesday
he had not read White’s com-
ments on the photo and could
not comment on her state-
ments specifically.
“It boils down to, for me, if
you’re going to have a policy
and you’re the leader of an
organization, I believe you
should follow the policies you
ask all your employees to fol-
low,” Kozowski said.
Nelson reiterated Tuesday
that the role of sheriff was
“24/7” and differed from
that of unelected public
employees.
Even though Gorsline, the
original commenter, cannot
vote for Deschutes County
officials, she says that she felt
the need to post the comment
because the two candidates
should have a “level playing
field.”
Both campaigns have
focused more on issues of
substance facing the sheriff’s
office, including personnel
management, transparency
and fiscal accountability.
Nelson has been with the
sheriff’s office since the early
1990s, whereas Kozowski,
a patrol deputy, joined the
office in 2010 after six years
as a Wallowa County sheriff’s
deputy.
Both are running for
Deschutes County Sheriff in
the Nov. 8 general election.
2016 Deschutes County
FAIR
AND RODEO
Free Shuttle Bus
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, August 3rd - Sunday, August 7th
Sisters Elementary School, 611 E. Cascade Ave.
Redmond High School, 757 Rimrock Way
Leave Sisters
Elementary School
9:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
4:30 p.m. (not on Sun.)
Leave Redmond
High School
10:00 a.m.
Noon
5:00 p.m.
Leave
County Fair
3:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m. (Last bus on Sun.)
10:30 p.m. (Wed./Th.)
11:30 p.m. (Fri./Sat.)
Bend High School, 230 NE 6th St.
Leave Bend
High School
9:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
3:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Note: Sunday August 7th Schedule
9:30 p.m.
11:30 p.m.
Leave
County Fair
2:30 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
9:00 p.m.
10:30 p.m. (Wed./Th.)
11:30 p.m.(Fri./Sat.)
3:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
541-548-2711 • www.expo.deschutes.org