Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers says the anonymous release Sunday of seven e-mails from 2007 with pictures of naked women and ethnic slurs are a “dirty campaign tactic.” There’s not a doubt in my mind: He’s right.
There’s the timing; just weeks before the election. There’s his opponent, Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Booker, who is facing disciplinary action following the official complaint by women in the department that Booker harassed them when he was working in the county’s 911 center. Booker’s defense appears to be “so, why am I being picked on when others were doing the same thing.”
(The answer: Formal complaints were filed against Booker. No formal complaints were made against the employees who forwarded the naked women pictures.)
There’s the oddly suspicious question of why someone would save these e-mails to begin with; obviously someone figured they’d come in handy some day for a bit of blackmail. If one is sincerely outraged, but afraid to go through channels, then that some one — assuming no ulterior motives — would have sent them to the media three years ago.
Nope, Meyers is 100 percent right. This whole thing is a “dirty campaign tactic,” as he told staff writer Mike Wiser yesterday.
But, that’s not going to get the yuck-it-up, good ol’ boy culture in local law enforcement a pass. A slap on the wrist and a you’re-a-naughty-boy-don’t-do-this-again don’t cut it. And, that’s what Meyers did when he turned over the mess in 2007 to Chief Deputy Kurt Ditzler. Ditzler in turn talked to, but did not reprimand Sheriff Deputy Chief Brad Fitz. Fitz, who runs the 911 center, forwarded the e-mails in question.
How ironic it is today that Ditzler’s memo to the staff in December 2007 has come back to haunt: “…Please remember that we do not want to be put in the embarrassing position of trying to justify a ‘questionable’ use of the department’s e-mail or defend someone’s poor judgment with Internet access. We are all adults in a professional working environment who are accountable to the public. …”
I was among the 97 e-mail addresses to which the seven “dirty campaign tactics” e-mails were sent. So were others in the News Tower, including our human resources director and an assortment of other non-news folks. I read the e-mails at home Sunday, but didn’t open the attachments because I wasn’t convinced they weren’t spam.
Monday morning I opened them — and immediately sent an e-mail to every News Tower employee: Don’t open the attachments; they are inappropriate.
I am no prude; one can’t work in a rough-and-tumble newsroom for 40 years covering school plays, courts, blood-and-body-parts, cop shops and emergency rooms and be easily offended. Those naked women photos aren’t going to make any list of hardcore porn. Think Playboy, not Hustler. Neither, however, would you want your daughter, son, wife or mother seeing them.
But, they are “up to and including termination of employment” offenses. Use of company computer equipment. On company time. Forwarding internally and externally non-work-related stuff. And, of course, perpetuating the idea that it’s perfectly OK to yuck-it-up with your buddies over unclothed women. If these guys worked for me, they’d be out on their ears.
There should have been a housecleaning in the 911 center back in 2007. That there was not says volumes about the boys-will-be-boys culture tolerated in the department — and I might say perpetuated and approved.
Yep, the release of the e-mails is a dirty campaign tactic. But, if I take that out of the equation, we’re left with “dirty tactic.” And, whether there’s an election or not, this needs fixing.
It’s a mess alright. The sheriff needs to get this house in order. Immediately. Or step aside. This isn’t going to go away quietly with a dismissive quote or two. And, that does not mean Aaron Booker for sheriff.
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Linda – You have completely lost all credibility with me. If you want to back Sheriff Meyers just come out and endorse him but don’t try to treat us all as a bunch of dummy’s. This whole merit commision hearing, the investigation, and the timing is orchestrated and you can’t see the forest for the tree’s.
Isn’t it ironic that timing is delayed until just prior to the election? Isn’t it ironic that Bookers testimony has been delayed until less than a week before the election. Isn’t it ironic that Pirages is hired to do the investigation? Isn’t it ironic that the complaint is initiated via an email to Brad Fritz. Maybe it fell into the batch of porn shipped by the same crowd.
Isn’t it ironic that and simple investigation that could be concluded within a week by any investigator was drug out for 8 months to conincide with the campaign season?
You talk about a dirty campaign tactic I have to say there is nothing dirtier than having the primary media source in the area in your back pocket and doing all the dirty work. Shame on you!
Dirty campaign tactics on both sides? Yes.
Paul, I am assuming you are a man. These emails were completely inappropriate at any level I can think of. Take the “campaign” out of it. They were just wrong, plain and simple.
Paul, not sure I’m understanding you on this. Are you saying the e-mails are OK and I shouldn’t be covering them because it’s election time? Or are you saying that I am playing favorites with Meyers? If the first, then we totally are on opposite sides on this one. If the latter, then re-read my last graph. I’m not endorsing either one.
Obviously Paul wouldn’t mind these emails being sent to his wife or daughter from men with whom they work. It’s great that he’s so open minded about sexual harassment in the workplace!
I’m sorry, Linda, I missed the part where you endorsed one of the candidates?
We live in a country where we are so desensitized by what we read in the papers, see on television, look at on the internet and hear in our music that many people find it ok to send and receive such trash. We also find it ok for our leaders to sleep with hookers, have affairs with interns and somehow get re-elected. It’s time to take a real close look at the values we have in our homes. We also need to take a real close look at the people we elect and place into positions of power.
Naked women emails? Hummm….Doesn’t surprise me that Meyers pushed it off on Ditzler. He wants to talk to no one about anything. I resigned from Winnebago Co Sheriffs dept 911 Center last week. I know that most of you reading this have no idea about what is happening in your county with public safety and the mismanagement of your tax dollars within this dept. I certainly do not want to portrait that I know everything about all facets of this entity, but what I do know is what has happened inside the 911 Communication center at 4511 N Main, since its opening July 2006. The PSAP (public safety answering point) that your elected sheriff pushed to build, open and run…separating HIS police dispatch and 911call center from city of Rockford, is completely imploding. This Sheriff has put your public safety in a state of great concern. He has let the staffing at the 911 center to critically dwindle down to below necessary staffing to effectively and safely run a 911 center for well over a year now. Your county board has budgeted the money for the 21 positions there from the day this center opened, adequate to minimally staff this center, but your Sheriff refuses to hire, train and maintain adequate staffing within to safely, and I mean SAFELY operate a PSAP center. At the end of this month, we will be short seven (7) employees in 4.25 yrs. he has only hired one (1) dispatcher replacement and that was over a year ago. We are short 6 employees, one full shift of workers.
So what you say? We have bigger fish to fry in this county with crime? What does that have to do with anything? Let me tell you why this is critical. This center has to remain open 24/7 for all of our safety living in this county. We as dispatchers have to work 12-16 hr shifts to cover the staffing shortage. When a person has to work this type of “high stress” job, wouldn’t you agree that this person could become tired and less effective at their job after 12 hours? Not as “on-the-ball” while dealing with your immediate police emergencies, your medical emergencies because of being overworked? Doesn’t that concern you? IT SHOULD, AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO WHAT I AM SAYING. What you should be asking is: What is our elected Sheriff doing with this money? Why isn’t he staffing the MOST important part of his department, the 911 call center where ALL public safety begins!!!
Your 911 center employees run police dispatch radio tacs, answer all 911 lines,all non-emergency lines, internal sheriff’s dept lines, private radio tac lines…all at the same time with less employees in the center…somebody has to answer them and respond. What does that mean? It means all remaining 911 employees have to pick up the slack with the employee shortages and are seriously getting beat up, over stressed, overworked because of it…NO days off, day after day of 12 hour mandates to work on their days off, stress beyond explanation causing little sleep, working day shifts, night shifts, on and on and on…and your elected Sheriff doesn’t care. When his supervision staff from the 911 center comes to him for over 2 years regarding this HUGE issue there….he presses the MUTE button and does absolutely NOTHING. He doesn’t care that even officer safety is at risk, he doesn’t care that you are short squads on the streets to protect and serve YOU. He doesn’t care that we don’t have enough call takers in there to answer your 911 calls or your non-emergency calls. He leaves your streets short of squads patrolling and staying present in your communities. He takes those squads/deputies off the streets, out of your communities and places them to be present at social events, county fairs and media events…making you think and believe…that he has YOU in mind for your public safety. I’m telling you the REAL deal. Many of you taxpayers call and complain about lack of squad presence in your area. Now you know the truth about where they are at when they are not patrolling your area. And when you call and complain about how long it takes for a squad to arrive at your emergency or non-emergency. It’s STAFF SHORTAGE…he doesn’t care about that. Listen up people, get to the polls and vote him out.
It’s a money/numbers game. He has to play his cards wisely. If it wasn’t he would hire the employees needed to effectively staff his 911 center because again, your county board has budgeted this money for staffing at the 911 center. It’s in the budget, it’s there….What is he doing with this money we ask? Why can’t we get help in here? Somebody, anybody, taxpayers please listen to our cry!!!!
Current Sheriff Richard Meyers is a Politian who surrounds himself in nepotism. Ever look the meaning of that word up? I did… Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives or friends, with no regard to merit. Figure it out for yourself. Nepotism is against the law here in Winnebago county. Why is it allowed? Wouldn’t they arrest you for something unlawful you were doing? Richard Meyers is ever vigilant his every waken hour, structuring his sheriff’s department to keep his immediate family and friends in line for his job/ income…when he retires one day. Hummmm! Richard Meyers has no time to think about public safety…he’s thoroughly exhausted after his full day of keeping all his “ducks” in a row, structuring his upper command, being ever vigilant regarding his immediate family/ friends in his chain of command regarding their income they will receive when they retire. That is a “mind-taxing” game. PUBLIC SAFETLY?? Quit your whining taxpayers your elected Sheriff has got no time for that and doesn’t hear you. Durand neighbors are you reading this?
Listen to the workers who are there, endless hours responsible for your public safety as they take come to work and take a seat to start their shift at the 911 center. We know what’s going on in there. Don’t’ listen to what he or his people are telling you. We are living this nightmare. I am the voice of the 911 dispatchers that cannot express how they feel, risk losing their job if they speak out. Is this the public official you want representing and running your counties public safety? This IS NOT public safety and if YOU don’t step up and go out to the polls and vote him and his nepotism out of office…this is what you are AGREEING to pay for.
I can only speak of the most important entity of this sheriff’s department, where PUBLIC SAFETY BEGINS, the 911 center. The Winnebago County 911 Communications center has clearly never been tended to or even taken care of. I started work there the day it opened. There has never been routine computer maintenance in there, the equipment is in disrepair. The chairs we sit on 24/7 for 4.5 years are falling apart/parts missing/arms missing/stained fabric/cushions deteriorating and foam falling out on the floor. Broken phones, sticky keyboards, stained frayed mouse pads, static bearing headsets, parts missing on the partitions dividing the consoles, county maps taped and falling off the walls…a disgusting mess. The air quality in there is poor….Uncontrollable dust. YOUR Sheriff doesn’t care….why he’s only been inside a handful of times since he opened the doors in 2006…that being for media shoots only. Many have only seen him on the news. He clearly doesn’t care. Did you know this? Do you care? I sure hope so. I do, that’s why I am writing this letter to you, the Winnebago county citizens, taxpayers and voters!!!. THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE YOU VOTE…OR IF YOU’RE NOT A VOTER….YOU’D BETTER RECONSIDER FOR THIS LOCAL ELECTION!!!
Current Sheriff’s running opponent is Sgt. Aaron Booker. Sgt. Aaron Booker has been living this nightmare as night supervisor at the 911 center for over 4 years. He is currently running for sheriff to start the process to “right” all the “wrongs” within the county’s sheriff dept. and dispatch center. Currently as you know Sgt. Booker is under-fire/all politically oriented. I want to tell you these allegations are HIGHLY EXAGGERATED and I know that to be true because I was there AND ate, drank and dealt with that nightmare for over 4 years. I also worked under the command of Sgt Booker at the 911 center. These issues are only brought to light now because of the upcoming election. No one would have known about these issues (issues that happen in every dept of every business, everyday) referencing verbal disputes involving the acting 911 center supervisor Sgt Booker vs several insubordinate workers. Had it not been for Richard Meyers grasping for anything he can use against Sgt Booker, in an attempt to hinder his chance at becoming the next sheriff, barely a sole would have known about these extremely minor “tiffs” between employees being reprimanded by their supervisor. They are only minor disputes that the union can handle and resolve quickly…as they do regularly in the sheriffs department. But Meyers wanted this to be full-blown in an attempt to wipe out Aaron Booker’s chance at being elected. Where are you Sheriff Meyers to deal with the REAL problems you have created within the 911 center? Staffing shortages? Where’s the money allotted that center? Why aren’t you helping and handling those problems?
The reason he chose this type of nasty attack on Sgt Aaron Booker is because Sheriff Meyers knows his own employees that currently work for him in every single dept of Winnebago County Sheriff’s dept have strong opposition against everything he has done to and for the dept since he took office. Those employees are worth hundreds and hundreds of votes against him when it includes their family and friends that will head to the polls . Those votes against him have now multiplied and are in the thousands and very critical to Meyers re-election. Sheriff Meyers promoted Aaron Booker to Seargant for the job he did at the sheriff’s dept. Now feeling the heat and pressure from within his sheriffs dept Richard Meyers is spearheading an UGLY attack on his own sgt just to get re-elected? Doesn’t that say anything Winnebago county?
Meyers whole campaign is nasty politics at “ best” and an all out, last-ditch-effort to grasp at anything to save his “empire”.
Sgt. Aaron Booker is running against his boss to win the election and begin to “right” ALL of the “wrongs”. Sgt Booker is a sgt at the Winnebago County Sheriff’s dept that knows PUBLIC SAFETY and knows the critical state our county is in today because of the lack of interest your “elected” sheriff has in your public safety.
This is NOT my opinion…it’s the truth and I thought you should know.
In the good ol’boys system of control anyone not going with the flow ends up out in the cold. The lack of any complaints about the emails is a example of this. Coming to the aid of this Sheriff with the excuse that it this should have come out earlier lowers your prestige as an independent editorialist. Had these emails been released to the public three years ago the whistle blower would have dismissed as a disgruntled employee and it would have been called an internal matter and then swept it under the rug(like it was three years ago). When fighting corruption you sometimes have to wait for the best timing, or do you think turning a blind eye to the huge amount corruption that is going on in the local, state and federal levels of government the best thing to do?
Linda – Just to set the record straight and address some of the bogus assumptions that you and Kris mentioned based on my response earlier. Sexual harrassment in any form is not acceptable and I do not condone it. And to answer your questions, yes I do think you are playing favorites with Sheriff Meyers and you have already made your endorsement in a very non-professional manner.
My purpose in writing was the manner in which you handled it and again you are making many bogus and absolutely baseless assumptions. You start by quoting the Sheriff as saying that this whole email thing is just a “dirty campaign tactic” and you follow that up with your own quote, “There’s not a doubt in my mind: He’s right.” You also state later, “Nope, Meyers is 100 percent right. This whole thing is a “dirty campaign tactic,”…
I would like to know what facts you have to base your editorial opinion on? You are assuming that it was Aaron Booker that sent all these emails and if you have a single shred of evidence I think you should share that with us.
Here is a Sheriff that did nothing when the incident originally happened three years ago and did nothing about it. He can say he does not run the department on a day to day basis and he told Chief Deputy Ditzler to handle it. Now Ditzler says he gave Lt. Fritz, the person that received the emails and later forwarded them, an oral reprimand because it was neverofficially reported.
There is no evidence that it was ever handled by Ditzler, and no documentation to support his or the sheriff’s claim, yet that is perfectly acceptable to you. It apparently was such a harsh oral reprimand that they had to promote Fritz to Deputy Chief after the incident.
Could it have been someone in the 911 center that was dissatisfied with the way it was handled, or not handled, three years ago and has been angry about that ever since. Could it be someone who was the victim of that sexual harrassment that is angry enough to step up to the plate and do something rather than see the sheriff cover it up again.
There is no way an email is completely anonymous and they can be tracked back to the originator. Any effort made to do just that? I guess there is no need because you as the Managing Editor have just taken it on yourself to say that the the guy that is ultimately responsible for this being allowed to happen n the first place and did nothing to correct it that can be documented, is 100% correct in saying it is a dirty campaign tactic.
Of course the sheriff is going to try and deflect accusations of wrongdoing and he knows the best way of doing that. Talk to the RRS because he knows they will never fact check anything.. Do you really think this whole thing with the merit commisssion charges against his opponent and especially the timing and delays is not a carefully orchestrated plan to discredit Aarron Booker at precisely the right time. Talk about sleazy or dirty campaign tactics.
You have absolutely no business even wrting an article like this without checking out the facts. You have effectively deraiied the entire Booker campaign by your complicity and irresponsibility and worse yet, you are using the power of your office to do it.
Your entire article is as dirty and sleazy as I have seen in any campaign. Your rush to judgement based on no facts whatsoever is beyond comprehension and if you want the respect and trust of your readership you are going to have to get it the old fashion way…you have to earn it. And after this article you have your work cut out for you.
Paul,
Not that I totally agree or disagree with you or Linda, I do find some very compelling questions in your rant that need to be addressed by Linda.
There is no evidence that it was ever handled by Ditzler, and no documentation to support his or the sheriff’s claim, yet that is perfectly acceptable to you. It apparently was such a harsh oral reprimand that they had to promote Fritz to Deputy Chief after the incident.
??????????
This will make one ponder
Paul- Your post is dead on and I could not have said it better myself. Linda, you should be ashamed of yourself. I don’t always agree with your opinions, but you lost my respect on this one. The public looks to you for information and FACTS so they can form an educated opinion on matters. I question your integrity and common sense.
Like Paul said, where is the proof the Aaron Booker or his camp had anything to do with the e-mail being sent? There are countless numbers of current and former employees of Sheriff Dick’s department that are at their frustration boiling point. However, the e-mail being sent in 2007 is a FACT. You cannot deny that. The Sheriff and his boys got caught with their pants down and are now trying to justify. You and the RR Star already have Booker convicted of the ALLEGED misconduct (trumped-up witch-hunt is the opinion of most) merit hearing. Can’t we all admit the reason and timing of this hearing smells nastier than a ten-day dead rat? Now you and Sheriff Dick are in cahoots in convicting Booker again without any proof to back up your claims that he was responsible for the leak of the e-mails.
Where is your editorial about all of the nepotism and corruption going on within the Sheriff’s department? Much of that is FACT. If you and the RR Star are willing to print opinions and editorials based on rumors and speculation, please address those topics. If you did previously (and I overlooked it), please reprint as it is election time and the public has a right to know. Look at the rumor about the Sheriff holding the first amendment rights of his employees hostage with the fear that if anyone should speak out against the Sheriff or show public support for Booker, his administration will find a way to terminate employment. Example..look at the case of James Kidd, former corrections officer and sheriff candidate. His employment did not last long after his bid against the Sheriff. Of course, the Sheriff (and administration) creatively doctored the paper trail to make the termination look justified. Again..another stinky rat.
I do have to agree with you (Linda) when you said the Sheriff needs to step aside. It appears he has zero credibility and respect with most of his subordinates (except for his unjustifiably promoted family members/friends and the snake-in-the-grass rank climbers that are willing to suck up). If you and the RR Star would dig a little deeper into and report about how he runs his department, he would find himself with no credibility among his constituents. An effective leader needs respect and credibility to accomplish his tasks. Winnebago County needs to clean house in the Sheriff’s department and it is time for a change. GOOD LUCK TO AND VOTE FOR AARON BOOKER ON NOVEMBER 2!!