Nick McCann reports that perceived courthouse politicking and manipulation may come back to bite you as Adam Colby files suit against the county and Bob Main.
Squabbling in a county assessor’s office has gone nuclear in southern Oregon, where the recalled assessor claims the Coos County Board of Commissioners released a scorching letter criticizing his “dictatorial” and “hostile” management style to retaliate for his release of “thousands of sexually explicit, racist and offens[iv]e emails” that came from the assessor’s office while his predecessor – now a defendant commissioner – was the assessor.
Adam Colby sued Coos County and Commissioner Robert Main in Federal Court.
Main preceded Colby in office. Coos County in Southwest Oregon.
Colby was elected Coos County Assessor in May 2008 and took office in January 2009. He fired Christina Karsen in March 2010.
The Board of Commissioners immediately rehired her, put her on administrative leave, and asked Portland attorney Jill Goldsmith to investigate the firing.
Colby says the Board of Commissioners rejected his request for a meeting to discuss “litigation and potential litigation,” and his performance as assessor.
In June 2010, Colby acknowledges, he “released to the public thousands of sexually explicit, racist and offense [sic] emails that were generated by Coos County and Coos County Assessor’s office employees while Defendant Main was Assessor.”
The Register-Guard newspaper reported that the emails included “racist material targeting African Americans and Latinos, crude sexual jokes, and photos of cute animals.”
On June 29, 2010, the Board of Commissioners sent Colby a letter outlining its concerns about his actions as assessor. The scorching letter, which was a result of Goldsmith’s investigation, was made public a week later.
Main does have a reputation for ‘getting even’ if the number of people who have warned me regarding my criticisms of late are any indication. It is also not hard for me to envision how Main, with his subtle and not so subtle innuendos might have fueled a flame that helped increase tensions in the assessors office and incited the recall.
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No one is forgetting anything here. Main maneuvered the picks of Parry and Messerle which is a daily reminder of idiocy.
What everyone is forgetting here is that Bob Main is a complete idiot. He never accepts responsibility for what he does wrong, always finds someone to blame. He hired Colby and endorsed him for Assessor; everything was peaches & cream until employees started complaining about Colby. Then Main made a 180 and condemed Colby for the same attitude/management style that he was praised for 6 months prior. Actually Main was the one who hired the “alledged” sexual predator that started in the Assessor’s office before Colby even came on board
Main knew how Colby behaved and Main created this monster. It is fitting that he AND the county are being sued.
Get over it. The complaint and problems which occured as soon as Mr. Colby gained the power to “supervise” other workers occured speedily. They were, for the most part, ignored by the Board of Directors previous to Main’s swearing in as of Jan2009. He was placed on PAID Administrative Leave for three months or more prior to his taking office by the previous HR Director with the blessing of Kevin Stufflebean, Nikki Whitty and oh yea, John Griffith. There continued to be problems for the entire year which gradually had to be acknowledged. How many well paid employees in THIS market QUIT. Something is wrong with the management one might say – even large Corporations would find that amiss and “secretly” investigate and using a risk assessment would “eliminate” the offender One must, of necessity minimize “RISK” right. WIth an elected official that IS NOT the case especially when he is your buddy. Now one wonders why Bob Main didn’t seem to know what was going on in his own department back in 2008 because everyone else seemed to know. He’s good at “playing dumb,innocent” if he needs to. Not my fault he’d say – similar to others who served the Board for many years.
Not until he fired a “management” person who happened to be an active duty person did it really matter to Mr. Colby. If you follow his history he has done this in every locale he has ever been hired by if he is given any measure of power. He is just, for lack of better description, a bad egg, maybe a sociopath would be more accurate. I heard that he is now working at the Dunes he so pleasantly didn’t bother to assess as a caddy. If I were the management there I would beware of giving him any ability to supervise. Where is he getting the money to hire Jr. Gould? Interesting on a caddy’s salary don’t you think?
There is some hyperventilating going on here, and I wish everyone would think before pushing the POST COMMENT button. I have been enjoying the interchange going on at this site (thankyou MGX), but if we aren’t careful it will become a side track for the like-minded. Less shouting please.
From Colby’s perspective, what does he have to loose?
He has been demasculinized by leaches.
Look at it this way, if you employ someone to perform a task based upon monetary compensation per hour & they spend that time humping the dog, then not only the dog is getting screwed but so is the employer. How do you justify “thousands of sexually explicit, racist and offens[iv]e emails” during work hours on my nickel?
Here is one to ponder… How about suing the employees for the money they stole from the taxpayers while engaging in these activities, as well as the costs associated with this entire fiasco?
Interesting to watch everything around us implode in slow motion.
I agree with you, Gene, there is a distinction and again not having read the Colby suit I can’t comment on its merits
You scoff, but we the public may have to file a civil suit to get the Port to release information via discovery that they refuse to release through open meetings/records laws.
That’s completely different, from a public employee suing the government for having an ass as a boss.
The public will not walk away with a free check in their pocket. That type pf lawsuit will be a course correction that we will all benefit from.
Not having read the lawsuit, ( I have asked for a copy ) I can’t comment on its merits. Further, I should declare that I chose not to vote in the recall election because, while a couple of employees confirmed that Colby was an ass, I could see how courthouse politics might blow a bad situation into a gunfight in the OK corral. Not being involved and not having had any personal reason to believe that taxes weren’t being assessed, etc… I felt I was not qualified to cast a vote either way.
Sometimes, however, when state and federal agencies refuse to do their job, i.e. not prosecute Donald Rumsfeld, civil remedies are the only way the public can find relief. You scoff, but we the public may have to file a civil suit to get the Port to release information via discovery that they refuse to release through open meetings/records laws.
To date the County has incurred expenses in excess of $200,000 dealing with Workers Compensation stress claims, tort claim notices, legal fees and other expenses related to employee claims in the Assessor’s office.
Another way to drain off tax dollars into personal pockets, without working.
This is another fine example of incompetence in government. Why do people feel it is their just right to take tax dollars from the system without working. If your boss is a bum, you shouldn’t get tax money for that. The people didn’t raise these fools, why should they pay you like they did. The lawyers involved will tell you your justified getting this money ( less their cut). Sure you where harassed, get over it, he’s gone.
Colby is just another slacker trying to steal the money we all work hard for.
We keep seeing this crap in all our levels of government. How many have received checks in this county, by staying home, with hurt feelings. Maybe we should all sue the government for the stress their putting us through.
We’ve seen thieves get caught, then sue us for ruining their reputation by making it public. Jackie Gleason would say, How sweet it is.