If Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones announces he is running for Congress, he will have a lot to explain. As the people of California’s 7th District already know, Jones has proven himself an untrustworthy leader of a scandal-ridden department.
For nearly ten years, the Sacramento Sheriff’s department has used secret cellphone surveillance technology without obtaining warrants. Jones misled residents by saying the technology does not collect their calls or text messages – except that it can.
Jones also continues to face scrutiny for the increase in the use of deadly force, beatings, and the deaths of inmates and mentally ill residents under his watch. Jones even promoted one of his officers who was facing an $800,000 lawsuit for excessive use of force against a homeless man. The tolerance of his department’s misconduct is not only reprehensible, it has cost Sacramento County taxpayers.
“Scandal-ridden Scott Jones is launching a doomed Congressional campaign,” said Barb Solish of the DCCC. “If this is the best Republicans can do in California’s 7th Congressional District, voters will have an easy choice at the ballot box next November.”