Sheriff under fire for $75,000 report
County supervisors vote 4-1 to approve document on jail reform written by handpicked consultant
SAN JOSE >> Santa Clara County’s embattled sheriff came under fire Tuesday for spending $75,000 in taxpayers money on a report written by a handpicked consultant who praised her for trying to fix problems in the jail that erupted under her management.
The report, which critics claim gives Sheriff Laurie Smith too much credit, is the latest flash-point in an increasingly bitter election campaign for Santa Clara County’s top cop. The five-term incumbent faces five challengers in the June 5 primary.
Earlier this week, the veteran sheriff came under fire from critics after a report in the Mercury News about her questionable conduct in a gender discrimination and sex harassment scandal more than two decades ago.
On Tuesday, county supervisors voted 4-1, with board president Joe Simitian opposed and no discussion, to approve the report written by retired Boise, Idaho, sheriff Gary Raney.
“It’s clear that we have made progress and we will be moving forward,” said Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
Simitian, however, wasn’t sold.
“I just didn’t think the report was a serious or constructive contribution to our jail reform efforts,” he said.
Smith’s office hired retired Raney to write the report without putting the project out to bid through what’s known as a “single-source” contract, based on the notion that only one known source exists or can fulfill the requirements of a project.
The document, entitled “The Santa Clara County Jail System: History and Status of the Sheriff’s Reforms,” refers glowingly to Smith, contending
that she is “making reforms at a highly commendable pace,’’ and is “committed to forward-thinking practices and programs that improve community safety outcomes.”
Raney also recognizes the board of supervisors’ role in the drive for reforms that was touched off after three jail guards fatally beat mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree in 2015. The county has been spending about $80 million more a year on jails and about $250 million in one-time costs, according to county officials.
His report also advises the Board of Supervisors to allow the sheriff to keep working on jail reforms for an unspecified amount of time without creating independent oversight of the jails. But late last month, the board approved the extra scrutiny, in the form of
“The board should require Sheriff Smith to reimburse taxpayers for this useless document. This report simply advances her agenda.’’ — LaDoris Cordell, retired judge
an independent monitor and advisory board, which will oversee both the jails and the law enforcement wing of Smith’s office.
Independent oversight also was the top priority of a blue-ribbon commission that evaluated the jails after Tyree was beaten to death by three jail guards who have been convicted of second-degree murder.
The chair of the commission blasted the report Tuesday at the board meeting, calling on supervisors
to reject it.
“The board should require Sheriff Smith to reimburse taxpayers for this useless document,’’ said LaDoris Cordell, a retired judge and San Jose’s former independent police auditor, who has endorsed retired undersheriff John Hirokawa for Smith’s seat. “This report simply advances her agenda.’’
The Rev. Jethroe Moore, president of the Silicon Valley chapter of the NAACP, said the reforms cannot be fully effective until independent oversight is in place.
“It takes someone who is not part of the system,’’ Moore said, “to help you see problems in the system.’’
Hirokawa also criticized the report, calling it “propaganda’’ and suggesting that the sheriff commissioned it in hopes of using complimentary excerpts to sway voters in her campaign literature.
However, Smith’s political consultant Rich Robinson
called that a “bogus charge’’ and said Smith will not use the report in her campaign. Smith did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
“Reforms have been a process under leadership,’’ Robinson wrote in a text, “and she is proud of all members of the team who have contributed to the process.’’
Raney defended his report, saying he was trying to show what the county has done with the millions it has spent to improve the jails.
“I certainly did not write it for propaganda purposes,’’ Raney said, who noted in his report that the sheriff took over the jails during the devastating economic downturn, leaving the jails underfunded and understaffed.
The report is the first phase of a bigger project Raney was hired to complete, including officer training, organizational planning, and surveys of inmates
and correctional deputies. The total contract is for about $160,000.
This is Raney’s second report on the jails. In 2016, he and another peace officer wrote a report on Santa Clara County’s lockups for the National Institute of Corrections, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice. That report traced the origin of many of the problems to the existence of two separate organizational cultures, which developed decades ago when the Board of Supervisors took over the jails.
Raney said he was chosen because Smith was looking for someone who understood how to use “operational data.’’ However, because of antiquated computer systems and poor coordination between the county’s custody-health department and the jails among other problems, his report notes there wasn’t much data for him to analyze.