Oklahoma sheriff defends 'patronage' jobs he gave friends

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Oklahoma sheriff defends 'patronage' jobs he gave friends
| May 8, 2015 | Updated: May 8, 2015 3:58pm

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Some friends and family members of Tulsa County's sheriff, including the daughter of a reserve deputy who shot and killed an unarmed suspect last month, have each received tens of thousands of dollars per year for part-time property appraisal work the sheriff gave them, court records show.

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz told the Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/1cvYCjv) that the appraisal jobs are a form of political patronage that sheriffs throughout Oklahoma hand out and that it's perfectly legal. There have been calls for Glanz to resign over the April 2 shooting of Eric Harris by Glanz's longtime friend Robert Bates, who is a reserve deputy.

Glanz told the newspaper that he appoints people to the sheriff's appraiser positions as a reward for supporting him and serving the community. Each of the 12 appointees made more than $30,000 last year doing the part-time work, but workers have netted more than $70,000 a year in the past, according to Tulsa County District Court records.

"I'm sure there's maybe a perception problem, but I don't consider it one," said Glanz, who didn't respond to a phone message or email from The Associated Press requesting comment Friday.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Oklahoma-judge-allows-group-to-call-for-grand-6251118.php

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[center]

Sheriff Stanley Glanz[/center]

[duhneece]

1. DU Okies-wtf nt

[beemer27]

2. ???

It came as a surprise to us too. They usually lie about this kind of thing. This sheriff is either very honest, or very stupid.

[duhneece]

9. He made it sound like it was par for the course...

...that everyone knows about this, it's legal even...or it is when he does it.

[Bradical79]

16. yeah

Hopefully it triggers a more wide scale investigation from journalists and the FBI.

[heaven05]

3. talk about privileged!!!!

this is privileged. Along with a lot of other ugly, ugly thoughts I have about this type of money passing through hands.....

[Cracklin Charlie]

10. Sounds more like theft to me.

They are stealing the county(?) treasury.

How many appraisals does the Sheriff's office need to order every year? Are all appraisals ordered through the Sheriff's office? That seems like either a: a lot of appraisals, or b: someone getting paid for work not performed.

Ten bucks says these grifters get together and hate on welfare recipients and immigrants.

[heaven05]

20. theft? that also

[procon]

4. The word is cronyism.

What kind of appraisals... like anyone buying a house or needing insurance appraisals in the sheriff's district will get a completely worthless report written by one of his untrained property appraiser pals... is that how it works?

The sheriff admits that he appoints people to be appraisers as a reward, that sounds like quid pro quo, so how the hell is this legal? if In terms of structural integrity or market value he's not just screwing over homebuyers, but insurance companies and mortgage lenders too, all of whom are basing significant financial transactions on the junk appraisals churned out by the sheriff's crony friends and family members.

[okaawhatever]

14. I was trying to think of what they could be appraising. It really couldn't be houses, but then I

thought of the second biggest scam sheriffs use ASSET SEIZURE. When cars and other items are seized they appraise them and give the owner a chance to buy it back for the appraised value (or something similar to that process). I'll bet these people are the ones who handle that work. I doubt they actually appraise things like cars, I'll bet they take the car to one or two car dealers to get an appraisal.

I could be completely off base, but it makes sense to me.

[procon]

17. that makes more sense, but

It still looks grossly unethical and is an obvipus conflict of interest to place the sheriff's BFFs in positions where they get paid to enrich the police department as an expression of appreciation for getting a cushy job.

[okaawhatever]

18. Absolutely and one of my thoughts was how much are they charging each of these people

for the "appraisal"? I'll bet it's little more than extortion from the poor people who get their property confiscated (and remember you don't have to be proven guilty). I had a friend who lived n a smaller town and had a nice car & she said whenever she was out at night the cops were always looking to give her a DUI so they could confiscate her car.

[Major Nikon]

5. I lived in Oklahoma for 9 years

The entire state runs on corruption and seemingly always has. The FBI's largest political corruption investigation happened in Oklahoma.

http://prowlingowl.com/Comments/OKScam.cfm

[onethatcares]

6. hey, it's only tax dollars

it's not like he's taking money away from schools or anything like that.

[dbackjon]

7. But he goes to church every Sunday!!

He can't be corrupt.

[erronis]

8. It would be so satisfying to have a cam of him in jail for 24x365x10

He looks so smug now with his neatly coifed head-dos. I'll bet after the first year mingling with some of his previously incarcerated prisoners that his coif could be a bit "ragged".

Assholes that abuse social trust deserve what happens to their things.

[freshwest]

11. Every bagger does this. Walker, Scott, Lepage, Christie, Perry, etc. It's the spoilage system.

[Historic NY]

12. Wonder just how many of them have been involved in incidents???

In my county for yrs the sheriff would hand out badges and there was no accountability from administration to administration. Well when one turned out to be stopping young females in cars etc and it made the news, the bottom dropped out of that. All badges were revoked and were ordered turned in those that didn't faced arrest. That ended the decades old practice. The doors opened on the political fundraising schemes etc.

[left-of-center2012]

13. "Tulsa County’s Republican sheriff, Stanley Glanz"

Holy cow ~ he's a Republican.
I'm shocked (not) !!!!
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/nonpartisan-elections-for-sheriffs-gets-committee-nod-despite-tulsa-county/article_480817a5-69f7-5c0c-82cd-4651f6f3a0b9.html

[okaawhatever]

15. Oh this is rich:

“If you look at the direction that law enforcement has taken under the current (U.S.) attorney general, I think if a candidate for sheriff had a ‘D’ beside his name, I’d have to look elsewhere,” said Tulsa County Undersheriff Tim Albin, who represented Glanz at the committee meeting.

Can you believe this undersheriff has the audacity to criticize Holder with their record? To my knowledge Holder hasn't had any of his friends he gave a badge to shoot an unarmed person in the back.

[Paladin]

19. Buh-bye, shurf....... (nt0

[yellowcanine]

21. "I'm sure there's maybe a perception problem,..." Ya think?

[libdem4life]

22. Probably not able to keep it down after Bates and decided getting ahead and "playing it" was his

best chance. Time will tell...but like so many scandals these days, the People want to know, and everything is on the internet or public one way or the other. I'd say he's worried about his job, at least a bit.