The Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted unanimously to dismiss a complaint filed against Sheriff Chris Kaber almost a year ago. It wraps up a public dispute involving the sheriff’s alleged beneficial treatment of his two sons who work in the same department. Kaber said this investigation has been looming over him for the past year.
“What made it worse was this wasn’t the end of it,” he said. “Once the complaint was filed, there were more and more decisions made that harmed my effectiveness as the sheriff as we went on.”
The complaint alleged that Kaber violated state ethics laws by reassigning his son Ryan to another position in the department and failing to disclose a conflict of interest.
The sheriff then got into a public dispute with county commissioners over the complaint. Commissioners threatened to fire his two sons. A separate county investigation found Kaber guilty of ethics violations.
In their report, investigators for the state agreed that the sheriff violated ethics laws. They recommended that the ethics commission find him in violation.
But on Friday, members of the ethics commission dismissed those charges. They said that any punishment resulting from their findings would likely be a letter of education, and Kaber has already shown that he’s learned from the incident.
"I'm moved by the fact that it sounds like when the sheriff was made aware that there was an issue, he dealt with the issue," said Jonathan Thompson with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. "He reversed course in order to avoid even the appearance of a problem."
Kaber said he hopes that county commissioners will apologize for their actions that resulted from the initial complaint, now that it’s been dismissed. He said he's looking into seeking reimbursement for out-of-pocket legal fees he paid during this OGEC investigation.
