This week's Rogue is Commander Vera Pool. A charismatic Multnomah County corrections official, she held herself out as a reformer, but she has shown that she's all too willing to use her position to grant favors to a friend. Last week, at the prodding of Oregonian reporter J. Todd Foster, the sheriff's department turned over the records of an investigation into Pool's conduct. Pool, a top commander in the corrections office, had been accused of violating several office policies. The 2-inch-thick report reveals that a lot of people in the sheriff's office don't like Pool, who's been on the force for 26 years. Some of the accusations leveled against her were petty and found to be unsubstantiated. But regarding the most serious charge, the evidence is clear. On June 19, Pool used her position to allow Cleveland Brigham to be released from jail, even though a judge had specified that Brigham--in custody on contempt of court charges--was not eligible for early release. Pool says she looked into Brigham's status at the request of his employer, Wallace Scales. In her view, Brigham was a good candidate for release. "I knew that we were routinely releasing (because of overcrowding) people who were much more of a threat to the community," she wrote, in a memo to Sheriff Dan Noelle. Pool may be right. But, although she has the authority to release inmates early, she had not used that power for at least nine years before she set Brigham free. So what motivated her? It turns out Pool and Scales are friends. Even worse, Scales--who once worked for the Trail Blazers--told investigators that on several occasions Pool had called him to request basketball tickets and that he once helped her obtain tickets to a Bulls-Blazers game. Pool's release of Brigham may not have been quid pro quo, but it sure looks that way. The appearance of favoritism is particularly troubling given that Pool twice campaigned for sheriff, most recently in 1995, holding herself out as an alternative to the "good-old-boys" network that often based decisions on who was friends with whom. Now, it seems, she's guilty of the same. |
