A decision by the Pima County Merit System Commission in January to overturn a suspension imposed on a longtime member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) was the result of an intentional effort to embarrass Sheriff Mark Napier in an election year, according to a claim by County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
In a Feb. 25 memo obtained by Arizona Daily Independent, Huckelberry took the unusual step of chiding the five-member commission for not supporting a three-day suspension for Lt. Joe Cameron, who appealed the suspension even though he admitted to a minor department policy violation and to having a framed Letter of Reprimand visible in his office after being ordered to remove it from view.
Cameron, who has been with PCSD for 32 years, considers himself one of several whistleblowers attempting since 2018 to bring attention to malfeasance and misfeasance within the department. However, Huckelberry’s memo took issue with the fact some commission members felt Cameron was targeted by Napier or command staff.
“Given Lieutenant Cameron’s discipline record and conduct here, I frankly believe he targeted himself, and dared the Department to discipline him,” Huckelberry wrote in the memo he copied to the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
Huckelberry called the hearing on Cameron’s appeal “planned political theatre” and noted he believes Cameron and others may be working “in a coordinated, orchestrated and designed attempt to discredit Sheriff Napier.” He also suggests the commission, which acts as the county’s Law Enforcement Merit System Council, will hear more appeals relying on claims of purported misconduct by Napier and his command staff because “this is an election year.”
Another subject Huckelberry took issue with is the dissatisfaction expressed by some sheriff’s employees with how long it is taking an outside company to investigate 180 specific allegations and 25 general allegations made since April 2018 against the sheriff and high-ranking officers.
Storie says he finds it ironic that the efforts of Cameron and others to stop bullying and retaliation within PCSD are now being characterized by Huckelberry as attempts to unduly influence the outcome, when that is exactly what Storie believes Huckelberry is doing by directly communicating with the merit commission. “It is an extremely improper attempt to influence and intimidate what is supposed to be an independent commission,” Storie said.
According to public records, many of the allegations by Lt. Gary Anderson, Capt. Harold James, Capt. Russell Ponzio, Sgt. Kevin Kubitskey, and Cameron involve reports of bullying and retaliation. The county contracted Keith Sobraske of Phoenix-based Investigative Research Inc. to assist Cathy Bohland, the county’s Human Resource Director, in addressing the allegations.
In his Feb. 25 memo, Huckelberry noted the investigator’s report was still not complete. This, despite the fact Sobraske started his work in June 2018 and previously estimated he would be done with his findings in mid- 2019 and then December 2019.
Huckelberry suggests two of the complainants have themselves engaged in bullying behavior in an effort “to rush and intimidate” the investigator, who has promised his report will be “monumental in length for an administrative investigation” once its completed.
“It is clear they intentionally communicated with the independent investigator in an attempt to bias his report,” Huckelberry wrote. “As I have indicated to the Human Resources Director, the independent investigator is to take all the time necessary to adequately and thoroughly investigate each of these allegations.”
To support his contention that Cameron was among those trying to sway the investigator’s findings, Huckelberry’s memo included an email Cameron sent to Bohland and Sobraske in April 2019. In the email, Cameron expressed frustration that the investigation was lingering while he and the others remained unprotected from possible retaliation more than one year after the first allegations were reported.
“I have been to your mandated county bullying in the workplace training and we are specifically taught that part of the manager’s duty is to protect the accuser from the bullies,” Cameron wrote. “In short, I came to your department for help and I believe you have made NO attempt to protect me or the other commanders and sergeants that are alleging the bullying behavior.”
One person Huckelberry suggests in his memo is involved in an election year smear campaign against Napier is attorney Michael Storie. The high-profile attorney has represented many sheriff’s employees over the years, including Cameron.
Storie calls Huckelberry’s attempt to connect the whistleblowers’ allegations to the upcoming election “disingenuous,” noting that next month marks the two-year anniversary of when Cameron’s first allegations were reported.
“This is and always has been the county’s investigation, and it could have been wrapped up a year ago, long before there was any talk about elections,” Storie said Monday. “That memo really mischaracterizes what has happened.”
Storie says he finds it ironic that the efforts of Cameron and others to stop bullying and retaliation within Napier’s administration are now being characterized by Huckelberry as attempts to unduly influence the outcome, when that is exactly what Storie believes Huckelberry is doing by directly communicating with the merit commission.
“It is an extremely improper attempt to influence and intimidate what is supposed to be an independent commission,” Storie said.
According to Storie, none of the whistleblowers have been accused by PCSD of interfering with the investigation, despite Huckelberry’s suggestion that some of them engaged in inappropriate contact with the investigator.
Napier, a Republican, is running for reelection in November. He will face former law enforcement officer Luis Pimber in the primary. Meanwhile, current PCSD employee Sgt. Kevin Kubitskey is set to go up against former Sheriff Chris Nanos for in the Democratic Party primary.
If he wins reelection, Napier has pledged to not seek a third term.