Losing the Teamsters endorsement for supporting Donald Trump was just the start to Sheriff Scott Jones’ very bad, awful, not so good week.
On Tuesday, Scott Jones faced a few million dollars worth of bad news, as a jury found the Sheriff’s department “retaliated” against four women in the office, just the latest example of Jones’ abuses of power.
The $3.6 million judgment against Sacramento County and its sheriff’s department could have implications not only within the department but also for Sheriff Scott Jones’ political aspirations.
Jurors awarded more than $3.57 million in damages Tuesday to the four veteran female sheriff’s deputies who claimed their Sheriff’s Department superiors retaliated against them for speaking out against discrimination and preferential treatment in their ranks – conduct alleged to have occurred largely under Jones while he ran the Sacramento County Main Jail as a captain and later when he was elected sheriff.
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“We found a lot of retaliation,” said juror Sheryl Daverio, outside the courtroom Tuesday, next to fellow juror Margaret Griffin. Griffin said the deputies confronted superiors not about any relationship, but the benefits to the deputy that the perceived friendship produced.
Of course Jones denies responsibility, but the Sacramento Bee editorial board isn’t buying it:
From the jails to the top commanders, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department can’t seem to get past the notion that local law enforcement can still operate like some good old boys club. And the price always seems to end up in the lap of the public.
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Taxpayers can’t afford the litigation this kind of management engenders, never mind the moral arguments against the old bully-boy mindset. It’s serious money, $3.6 million. Jones didn’t invent the departmental culture, but he’s a product. His five-member senior management team includes exactly one woman. Adding a couple more might send a message. So would a full-scale effort to change the departmental culture. It may have slipped his mind, with all he’s got going, but voters know where the buck stops.
If Jones own employees can’t count on him to do the right thing, how could Sacramento County voters?