The Sheriff of Multnomah County Oregon is 70-year-old Bob Skipper. Prior to his 2008 appointment to this position (and subsequent election in November, 2008), Skipper had been out of law enforcement for 13 years. Since an elected Sheriff in Oregon is required to hold a basic police certification, as determined by the Board and Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (BPSST and DPSST) and they typically require anyone who has been out of law enforcement for more than five years to repeat basic training in order to get their certification, Sheriff Skipper is scheduled to begin repeating the 16 week Basic Police Academy on June 22, 2009.

Although having the Sheriff away from his elected duties for four months is, obviously, not ideal, it seems like an inconvenient necessity (a relative of “an inconvenient truth”) considering Sheriff Skipper’s time way from law enforcement, as well as his age, in light of the BPSST and DPSST regulations. But, if you take just a moment to look up from those pages of regulations, you easily see that there are some other relevant and contradictory factors to take into consideration. These include:

When Bob Skipper retired from law enforcement 13 years ago, HE WAS SHERIFF OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY! In fact, Skipper served in the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office from 1960 to 1994, holding positions including: Deputy, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Chief Deputy, Patrol, Records, Narcotics, Detectives, Corrections and … oh yes … did I mention? ...  FROM 1989 TO 1994, HE WAS SHERIFF OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY!

Sheriff Skipper’s age is consistently mentioned as a factor in this matter but I haven’t come across a single instance where his physical capabilities, including his capabilities with firearms, are seriously called into question. By contrast, it’s fairly common to hear Skipper’s supporters compare his physical abilities to those of a man half his age. For me, the most telling anecdote was to hear that he’s able to wear the same uniform he wore before he retired 13 years ago, requiring only some tailoring to modernize the insignia.

We’re talking about Multnomah County here, not Mayberry! Multnomah County is the most populous county in the State of Oregon. Its County Seat is Portland. The Sheriff of Multnomah County is more akin to a CEO of a Fortune 500 company than to someone whose daily concerns don’t go beyond “Is Barney on duty at the crosswalk, making sure Opie gets to school OK?”, “Is the key in place so that Otis can let himself into a jail cell when he gets drunk tonight?” and “What is Aunt Bee fixin’ fer supper?”

In disagreeing with the BPSST and DPSST ruling on this issue, Sheriff Skipper’s central theme has been the negative impact of taking him, as the CEO of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, out of action for four months during a critical time … a time when he was called back to duty to clean up a scandalized department that is now facing a $9.4 million budget cut and large scale layoffs. But, he has been anything but defiant in voicing his disagreement. On the contrary, he offered to work with the BPSST and DPSST to develop a plan that would allow him to take any needed “refreshers” while staying on the job as Sheriff. Since the BPSST and DPSST rejected Sheriff Skipper’s offer, as an exemplary public servant, he is planning to begin repeating the 16 week Basic Police Academy as scheduled.

The most important factor, though, is that Bob Skipper was appointed Sheriff by elected officials and then he was elected Sheriff overwhelmingly, garnering nearly 79% of the votes cast. On the other hand, the BPSST and DPSST is a 23 member board of appointees.

All this seems pretty ironic to me, to see this happening in an area that is so predominantly Democrat Blue … the party that believes more government is better. I have to admit that I’m tempted to say, “Well you’re getting just what you asked for and thus, what you deserve.” But, I’d rather use it for what my Blue friend’s worst nightmare, Rush Limbaugh, would call “a teaching moment.” You see, when having more government versus less government debates with my Blue friends, it can be hard to make a clear cut case for either side when dealing with hypothetical situations. In this case, of the BPSST and DPSST requirement for certifying Bob Skipper as Sheriff of Multnomah County, there’s nothing hypothetical and the lesson couldn’t be clearer. You have a board of unelected appointees, to whom governmental authority has been handed, insisting on adhering unwaveringly to regulations they have developed, ignoring the will of the people and doing so to the extent that they’re even unwilling to consider a reasonable and relevant compromise offer from the duly elected representative of the people. If Multnomah County was a Red County, I’d expect to see a movement rising up to make some changes to the BPSST and DPSST rather than have the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office bear the added burden that the BPSST and DPSST stance is requiring. But, Multnomah County isn’t a Red County so I’ll be watching with interest to see what they do, what they learn and what impact this has on the county’s political complexion.