Member of Multnomah County's Charter Review Commission Files Notice of Intent to Sue Sheriff Dan Staton

She plans to sue Staton for claiming he'd "had a full profile done" to gather information on her.

A member of the Multnomah County Charter Review Committee has filed a new notice saying she intends to sue Sheriff Dan Staton.

The notice, filed with the county on Feb. 22, says that Barbara Elizabeth Trojan, one of 15 members of the committee, is seeking damages arising from Staton's comments at a Jan. 11, 2016 meeting he called with county union leaders.

At that meeting, according to notes taken by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 88 Jason Heilbrun, Staton said that in order to find out more about the charter review committee members, he'd "had a full profile done of them"—i.e., on each of the 15 citizen volunteers on the committee.

Staton added, according to Heilbrun's notes, that his human resources director, Jennifer Ott, "had files on the committee members."

Although Staton has denied asking staff to use a specific law enforcement database to gather background information on committee members, details of the Jan. 11 meeting led to a criminal investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice. State law prohibits law enforcement agencies from gathering information about people's backgrounds for political reasons.

The charter review committee is considering whether the sheriff's job should be elected, as is currently the case, or appointed. Staton has expressed strong objections to his job becoming appointive in the future.

The tort claim filed yesterday says that Trojan became concerned about Staton's actions.

"Ms. Trojan has stress, fears retaliation and fears her protected private health information and financial information are compromised," wrote her attorney Jason Kafoury. (He is a cousin of Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury.)

Staton's spokesman, Lt. Steve Alexander, says Staton does not comment on pending litigation.

Multnomah County, whose attorney defends tort claims against all county employees, including the sheriff typically does not comment either.

But county spokesman David Austin issued a statement.

"We've been deeply concerned about this from the beginning," Austin said. "The Charter Review Committee members are an important part of the public process. To have even one of them feeling targeted is worrisome. This is why the Chair and the District Attorney asked for the Oregon Department of Justice to conduct an investigation. These are very serious allegations and having an independent review of the Sheriff's conduct is critical."

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