Oregon state agency asks the Dept. of Justice to investigate militant-friendly [Rogue] Grant County sheriff Glenn Palme

Oregon state agency asks the Dept. of Justice to investigate militant-friendly Grant County sheriff

By Jen Hayden





Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer

Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer may soon be the focus of an investigation by the Department of Justice. From The Oregonian:

The state agency that licenses Oregon police officers has asked the state Justice Department to investigate Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer, who met with leaders of the armed occupation of the wildlife refuge and then was scheduled to speak at a community meeting featuring the occupiers.

The state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training recently recommended that the Justice Department investigate after it received several citizen complaints about Palmer's conduct in recent weeks.

Sheriff Palmer met at least twice with the Ammon Bundy-led militants during the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. In fact, Ammon Bundy and his crew were on their way to meet with Sheriff Palmer and some Grant County residents when they were apprehended by Oregon State Police and the FBI. Sheriff Palmer was such a big fan of the armed militants, he asked Jon Ritzheimer and Ryan Payne to autograph his pocket constitution. Both men now face federal conspiracy charges. 

Sheriff Palmer belongs to to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, an anti-government association of right-wing police officers headed by Cliven Bundy pal Sheriff Richard Mack. Palmer was once named "Constitutional Sheriff of the Year" by the organization. 

Sheriff Palmer has had his own conflicts with the federal government:

Palmer has drawn such a line in Grant County, where more than half the land is in federal ownership. Palmer has opposed orders closing U.S. Forest Service roads for conservation and expense reasons.

He deputized 11 citizens without public notice to create a plan for managing the forest. And he has declared that the Forest Service has no authority to enforce laws on the Malheur National Forest without his permission.

"Your jurisdiction as I see it is limited in nature to the federal building in John Day," Palmer wrote in a March 31, 2011, letter to the national forest's supervisor.

Sheriff Palmer cannot be removed from office, but he is up for re-election this year and recently gained an opponent—former Grant County Undersheriff Todd McKinley:

In a written statement, McKinley said he decided to run after witnessing the “audacity of individuals who think they can dictate the course of Grant County, without the input of all.”

“When I took my first oath of office as a reserve deputy on April 3, 2000, it was that I would support the Constitution and the laws of the United States and of the state of Oregon, and to honestly and faithfully perform the duties imposed upon the member under the laws of Oregon,” he said in the statement. “I do not remember that there were any clauses that told me this was optional, and up to my interpretation of the Constitution and laws.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/02/18/1487287/-Oregon-state-agency-asks-the-Dept-of-Justice-to-investigate-militant-friendly-Grant-County-sheriff?detail=facebook