Oklahoma County sheriff upset over mailers
Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. Taylor is denouncing the involvement of an outside group in his bid for reelection.
The group, Defend US PAC, is critical of the sheriff in mailers sent to voters this month.
“It's a clandestine shell, dark money operation to blast people. That's all it is,” Taylor said Friday. “I'm not sure who put it together but they sent a large mail-out out full of lies, slandering me. And I have no idea how much more is coming.
“I don't know whether they put $30,000 in this PAC fund or $200,000. That's the scary thing. I mean, are they going to send out three more mail-outs? Are they going to buy $100,000 worth of TV and smear me? I don't know.”
The mailers repeat criticism of the sheriff made last October by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official over the release of an inmate. At the time, the sheriff's office was in charge of the jail.
“It is unconscionable that someone who is sworn to uphold the law would find it acceptable to release an alleged rapist who is illegally present in the U.S. back into the community when there are other options available under federal immigration law,” Marc Moore, the field office director for ICE Dallas, said last October.
ICE had lodged an immigration detainer on the inmate, requesting he be held up to 48 hours past any scheduled release so ICE agents could pick him up.
The sheriff's office released the inmate after Oklahoma City police said he was not going to be charged with rape “at this time.” The sheriff's office notified ICE by phone beforehand but agents did not come for the inmate before he got out about 3 a.m. Oct. 9. Agents tracked him down hours later and took him into custody.
The sheriff said at the time that he was following the law. He said he was protecting the county from lawsuits because federal judges had found immigration detainers unconstitutional.
An assistant district attorney later backed up the sheriff's position. In an official opinion, the assistant district attorney said that unless the sheriff's office has “probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime, other than that for which he or she was arrested” the “sheriff and/or the county may be subject to liability for unlawful detention” for holding that person additional days.
“What I was doing was exactly right, following the law” Taylor said Friday. “I cannot knowingly violate the civil rights of anybody.”
Taylor is on the Republican runoff ballot Aug. 25 with Tommie Johnson, a Norman police officer. The winner will face Oklahoma City police officer Wayland Cubit, a Democrat, in the general election in November.
Defend US is not registered with t he Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Its location on the mailers is in downtown Oklahoma City and is associated with a service that provides companies with a “professional business address” for $93 a month.
Calls for comment to a phone number on the mailers were not returned.
The group may be connected to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC with the same name registered with the Federal Election Commission at an address in Virginia. Super PACs do report their donors but they often are bankrolled by so-called dark money groups that keep their supporters secret.