James Kidd, a former Marine sergeant, started with the Sheriff's department as a corrections officer in October of 1999. He's seen a lot since then. Most of it I can't report here because without evidence in my hands I might be liable of libel, and even with it I might not avoid a lawsuit. Kidd is not hard to find around Rockford - I'll let you find him and ask him yourself.
For various reasons he decided to run against his boss. This started him on a trajectory which ended in his firing in June 2008.
During his campaign, a fellow previously unknown to Kidd approached the candidate about hosting a "meet and greet." Fine - nice of a concerned citizen to get involved. Allegedly, when the sheriff got wind of it, he ran a background check on this citizen (is that even legal?). Turns out that this fellow had previously been a registered sex offender. Kidd said that the label should have dropped off the guy's record after 10 years or so, but for some reason it remained. While it apparently didn't reach the threshold of being "news" to the local papers, word went out on the street that Kidd was hanging out with child molesters.
Now, before you say that is just too much of a stretch to believe, this story just crossed my computer screen this morning, before I went to the interview:
Anchorage CBS Affiliate Caught on Voicemail Conspiring Against Alaska’s GOP Senate Candidate
Caught on tape was a jovial conversation between two news reporters, a male and female. The male said, "... Joe Miller's ... uh ... get a list of the people/campaign workers ... which one's the child molester?"The following voice mail message was inadvertently left on the cell phone of Joe Miller campaign spokesperson Randy DeSoto.
The voices are believed to be those of the news director for CBS Anchorage affiliate KTVA, along with assignment editor Nick McDermott, and other reporters, openly discussing creating, if not fabricating, two stories about Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller.
The following is a transcript of a call recorded after CBS Alaska affiliate KTVA called Joe Miller’s Senate campaign spokesperson. The call failed to disconnect properly. It was later authenticated by McDermott, who sent a text to Randy DeSoto stating, “Damn iPhone… I left you a long message. I thought I hung up. Sorry.”
The female responded, "You know that of all the people that will show up tonight, at least one of them will be a registered sex offender."
This is a pretty old and reliable dirty campaign trick. Get a large enough group together and you'll find at least one sex offender, someone with a criminal background, a racist, a social misfit, whatever - then tag the candidate with hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Other allegations floated around but it seems not much was made about the race in the press and Kidd lost the election with about 36% of the vote. Soon after that, while executing his duties as a union steward, Kidd sat down with some military veterans to discuss changes in the laws as well as general veteran's issues. It seems that some issues were arising with several deputies or corrections officers who were also serving in the military reserves.
One officer Matt Bunk, had been given an ultimatum by a sergeant to choose either the sheriff's department or the military some time before the election, Kidd told me. In January 2007, Jeremy Phfaulme chose the army over the department. Kidd started to press the issue with the department, considering the pressure to leave as a "constructive discharge" - essentially, a forced firing due to their military service. The upstream union representative did not support their complaint, Kidd said, so they filed complaints with the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office and the EEOC in early 2008.
It seems that Sheriff Meyers had enough. In what Kidd says is retaliation, in June 2008 and within 30 days of the complaint, he was fired. The disciplinary action included charges of excessive use of force, intimidation and conduct unbecoming an officer. Shortly after, Matt Ashman, a reservist and Bronze Star Medal recipient, was fired for excessive absenteeism while on military orders, Kid alleges. Both Kidd and Ashman were denied unemployment benefits, they say by the sheriff's office.
I should add that subsequent to his firing, Ashman and his family lost their home. Kidd had three homes - two which he would rent to deserving ex-prisoners trying to get their feet back on the ground, provided they got jobs and opened checking accounts - no cash. He lost them all. Kidd now operates a landscaping business. Recently suspended Sgt. Aaron Booker will have to deal with having no income for three months. He is the custodial parent of several children and a dog.
Kidd has dogged Meyers publicly for a reason why Ashman was denied unemployment benefits (not on his own behalf), and generally got only a cold shoulder. Here are a couple videos he took at campaign events:
Yes, Sheriff Meyers, "Is there a reason why you won't answer the question?"
At the Tea Party-hosted debate Thursday, he actually took a stab at it. He said that the decision to deny benefits was the responsibility of the county board, stating that it was a "county issue," not a "sheriff's issue." Yet on Saturday at the GOP/Booker rally, Scott denied giving that order and told Kidd to check with Human Resources. So much for that...
But what was most chilling was Kidd's response to a story I told him of someone I knew who had a bit of a run-in with the law on a routine traffic stop (the type of traffic stop which is far too routine in Winnebago county and its municipalities). Things escalated well beyond what was called for in the situation.
"Do you know why that happened?" Kidd asked me, almost rhetorically.
"Noooo...." I said.
"Officers can't use their own judgment anymore for fear of retribution," he said.
Think about that. What with dash cams and automatic radar, the days of "Go forth and sin no more," or "I'll let you off with a warning," are gone in Winnebago county, not for fear of immediate dismissal, but for fear that should they misstep sometime in the future, the Sheriff will have ammunition for retaliative disciplinary action.
At the debate, Meyers also talked about "progressive discipline," which is supposedly the policy of the department and the process by which he justified the action taken against Booker. Interesting that Booker had an actual suspension on his record prior to 2006 when he was given a shift command at the 911 center. Still, he received a near perfect performance appraisal. Just prior to his assignment at the 911 center was the incident with Paul DiVenti, which I discussed in an earlier post, resulting in a letter of reprimand in his file - not a "progressive" disciplinary action. Still, a near-perfect review. A number of other letters and such appeared in his file, while he continued to receive very favorable performance appraisals. Funny that only after he declared his intentions to challenge the sheriff for the job did he find himself dragged before the Merit Commission - a process which played out over many months resulting in a 90-day suspension practically on the eve of election day.
Funny how that "progressive discipline" didn't come into play when in 2006 a deputy was responding to a call at high speed on a busy street at night without lights and siren, and he t-boned another vehicle at an intersection, killing two people and injuring one. That little escapade cost the county (read that: taxpayers) $17 million in settlements, of which less than $5 million was covered by liability insurance. The county had to issue bonds to cover the rest, which will cost the taxpayers another $6.5 million by the time it's paid off in 2029.
But here's the kicker, from the article:
A statement from Bachman family members added: “Equally important is the sheriff’s commitment to finally conduct an internal affairs investigation into all aspects of this horrific crash. We believe this next phase of pursuing justice is critical for the future public safety of other citizens and proper accountability.”Well, I can't tell you if an internal investigation was conducted, but the officer involved didn't get 90 days off without pay. He didn't get fired, didn't have benefits denied. That kind of progressive discipline it seems is reserved for guys who bring puppies to work, speak harshly to disobedient employees, accidentally nod off in front of a computer screen at the end of a long shift, or go out on military reserve exercises.
Oh, and speaking of nodding off, it seems that Sgt. Booker isn't the only member of the sheriff's department who does that...
Oopsie!
Stay tuned for more... Interesting what one can find while looking up other things!
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