Breaking news: Hanky panky in Oregon prison system
The O sends its "Who had the pickle?" specialist, Les Zaitz, in to look at all the money sloshing around in the Oregon corrections department -- particularly, the money that's made from inmate labor. Combing through work done by state investigators, Zaitz finds lots of relatively little sins, including patronage jobs, corrections guys taking free furniture for their offices out of the prison furniture shop, thousands of dollars going to political fundraising dinners, that sort of thing. But nobody personally benefited, Zaitz concludes. At least, not that he could find.
Well, of course not. The Oregon prison administration is pure. And Frank Gable murdered Michael Francke over a car prowl.
The real problem here is that the money that's made from inmate labor isn't accounted for the way a normal state agency's revenue would be. It's parked in some sort of shady "quasi-public agency," where it's available to be skimmed for just about anything. Sort of like what OHSU has now, and what the University of Oregon wants. It's the Oregon Way -- the Goldschmidt Way. It's the tip of a much larger iceberg that you'd better not ask too much about, lest you wake up with a horse's head in your bed with you.
| Posted at 9:45 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (15)
Be careful Jack, you are treading on some powerful toes here.
That is why the O didn't get too tough.
Posted by Portland Native | March 2, 2013 10:17 AM
The real question Jack , is what is wrong with our oversight function? Why is the state AG and the US Atty. so incompetent? This crap is out in the open, almost flaunted in some cases. Are the law grads that bad or due to the fact they are in on the scheme?
It really is amazing, child rape by a mayor covered up by several AG's. Pedophilia by a sitting mayor covered over by a sloppy (some contend purposely) AG investigation. Theft of public funds over and over, CRoC, Tri Met construction pork etc. etc. etc.We have Senators from NY posing as our reps. Mayors who are voter felons or tax felons or possibly both.
Sorry to rant but this does not even scratch the surface!
Posted by BoBo | March 2, 2013 11:19 AM
The craziest part is how few people acknowledge what's going on. Most of the population here is pretty gullible, or lazy.
Posted by Jack Bog | March 2, 2013 11:29 AM
Holy crud! Can those investigators provide any more cover?
"Deputy Director Morrow told us OCE must make gestures of goodwill to DOC because the director's office cannot make the institutions that comprise DOC cooperate with OCE."
That puzzled investigators.
"No one we interviewed was able to satisfactorily explain why the DOC director could not simply order the institutions to cooperate,"
Let me fix that so that they can understand
...OCE must make gestures of goodwill to DOC because...the DOC director could simply order the institutions not to cooperate...
Where do I pick up my DOJ consulting check?
Posted by Andrew | March 2, 2013 12:08 PM
I particularly like the way no criminal activities were reported. Right after listing some.
Posted by G Joubert | March 2, 2013 12:43 PM
Most of the population here is pretty gullible, or lazy.
The lazy part is depending that others are watching out for them and working on their behalf.
The lazy and gullible part is that some think all they have to do to be a good citizen is vote once in awhile and all is good?
The lazy and gullible part is those who feel entitled while taking for granted our democracy/freedom.
Posted by clinamen | March 2, 2013 12:46 PM
Amen clinamen.
The problem then becomes when only a few of us stand up once in awhile and then are knocked down.
Posted by Portland Native | March 2, 2013 1:18 PM
Portland isn't real. It's smoke and mirrors. Always has been, always will be. Just getting worse. Desperate people do desperate things. Portland drives everyone away with greed, hate & envy. The state is rotten to the core. Run by sociopaths. They are scamming you the minute you cross the California border every year with the tire chain scam. The current system is so rigged it is destined to unravel. Gotta love that art tax, especially the retroactive part. 2013 is going to see more local government exposed for what they really are, kick back and watch the show. I never liked opera. The Pseudo-intellectuals have overrun the city. This town needs an enema.
Posted by Sheila Turcotte | March 2, 2013 2:02 PM
Most of the population here is pretty gullible, or lazy.
It's the water. Fluoridation might help.
Posted by Allan L. | March 2, 2013 2:04 PM
NYT and WaPo also "see no evil". Not necessarily a big city thing; small towns play it, too.
Posted by Sam T. | March 2, 2013 3:21 PM
2013 is going to see more local government exposed for what they really are, kick back and watch the show.
Is that a predictive promise?
Just kidding, seriously I do not see how this abuse can continue. Not only does local government need to be exposed, but who are those ruling and then we also need to be more aware of this term "veal pen."
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2011/03/activists-beware-the-veal-pen/
There’s an evocative term for this, coined by the blog Firedoglake: the veal pen. The veal pen is shorthand for the way that political leaders try to coopt and silence activists among their own base: bribing them with “insider access”, flattering them with empty rhetoric, and ultimately training them to accept meaningless symbolic gestures in lieu of actually doing something about the issues that matter to them. The analogy, of course, is to veal calves that are kept confined in darkness and fed occasionally to make them fat and soft. (The term was coined to describe the Obama administration’s behavior toward groups pressing them to take a more liberal stance on issues like health care and gay rights, but there are conservative equivalents as well.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/09/06/van-jones-a-moment-of-truth-for-liberal-institutions-in-the-veal-pen/
Posted by clinamen | March 2, 2013 4:43 PM
"Most of the population here is pretty gullible, or lazy."
Rubes are gullible, and proudly so.
But they'd be offended by your lazy characterization.
6B
Posted by Harry | March 2, 2013 4:55 PM
I have always felt that "Red Harvest" should be required reading in Portland Public Schools.
Posted by David E Gilmore | March 2, 2013 5:05 PM
Wow.. what Clinamen said.
The Veal Pen analogy is so right on. Seems nobody (except on this blog) asks a follow up question or can think through any of this BS press release propaganda.
Live from the island of the misfit toys.
Posted by BoBo | March 2, 2013 7:05 PM
It's the Oregon Way -- the Goldschmidt Way.
Truer words were never spoken!
Posted by al m | March 3, 2013 1:41 PM