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Sheriff Charlie McDonald sacked six deputies a week after he was overwhelmingly elected to the office for the first time, telling the employees in termination papers that their services were no longer needed.
McDonald has said publicly and told his employees that loyalty to the department's goals was paramount, and in an interview Tuesday he reiterated his view that as sheriff he is entitled to staff the department in a way that advances departmental goals and upholds what he describes as a newer and higher standard.
"The bottom line goes back to what I've said and that is I have the right to hire and supervise and discharge folks as I see fit and I do that within what works," he said. "I have an obligation to the people that have elected me in now two landslides that I staff the office with people that will do the job and are committed to the vision. They know what my moral and ethical standards are and what the code of conduct is."
In response to a public records request filed by the Hendersonville Lightning last week, the sheriff's office, Henderson County's personnel office and its attorney provided the information on the employees McDonald discharged. The employees ranged from a 22-year veteran who had been a captain to a jailer had been with the department for two years.
The employees, age, date of hire; last rate of pay and rank were:
• Lowell S. Griffin, 48, May 1992, $53,789, deputy, shift supervisor in jail.
• Philip Andrew Starling, 37, October 2005, $44,158, sergeant.
• Robert J. Martin III, 31, March 2009, $34,570, deputy 2.
• Crystal L. Phillips, 53, October 2008, $33,501, detention officer 2.
• Alan H. Corn, 45, December 1994, $55,411, sergeant.
• Daniel L. Matz, 38, February 2008, $35,589, provisional deputy, court.
When McDonald is sworn in as sheriff on Monday, all sworn deputies will take their new oath of office as well. Might the sheriff take that opportunity to terminate other law officers?
"I don't know," he said. "Certainly we're still looking (at personnel) and still fixing things. Everybody will know (their status) by the close of business tomorrow (Wednesday).
Griffin, who was demoted on May 19 from captain to shift supervisor and took a $10,155 a year pay cut, said in an interview that McDonald gave him no reason for the dismissal. Like the five others, Griffin receive a one-sentence notice separation that read: "After careful deliberation, your services as a Deputy Sheriff are no longer needed by this agency."
"Rumor has it that I wasn't loyal enough politically," Griffin said. "What I would say is that my loyalty is with the citizens and with the institution that I serve and not necessarily the politics. There's parts of North Carolina law (that allow employers to discharge employees for no reason) and this sheriff has chosen to push to the statutory limit to dismiss people at will without listing a cause whatsoever."
"I've served and won numerous awards," he added. "I've been with the fire department in Edneyville for nearly 33 years. I've been in law enforcement for 22 years."
Griffin said his record was clean of any disciplinary actions.
Under state law, local and state government agencies must disclose "the specific acts or omissions" that led to a discharge for disciplinary reasons. None of the six personnel files the county turned over contained a letter of dismissal based on a disciplinary action.
The "headline of the campaign" was about McDonald's progress in stopping burglaries, Griffin said, noting that "the division I was over helped propel the sheriff to re-election."
Because he had contacts around the region, Griffin said he had been in contact with other law enforcement agencies and had tentatively accepted an offer.
"It's sad because I'm going to have to move my dedication that I've had for the people of Henderson County to another county," he said. "I want the citizens of Henderson County to know that there was absolutely nothing illegal and nothing immoral that I did" to cause his discharge. "I guess I just didn't agree enough with the current authority and I'm going to have to move my dedication."
Alan Corn, a 20-year veteran who had been a sergeant since February 2010, was the deputy who filed a complaint last year against consultant Les Poole. A veteran law enforcement administrator and management trainer originally from England, Poole had made an obscene gesture during a presentation, Corn says. The deputy said in an interview on Monday that McDonald's account of the episode in an Oct. 15 story in the Lightning was not what happened.
"He said it happened in a hallway and it didn't happen in the classroom," Corn said. "I know it happened in the classroom because I was sitting right beside him. ... I reported it immediately to two ranking officers in professional standards. One of them told 'I'm glad I wasn't in the room because I wouldn't want to be part of the lawsuit.' The other one never said anything to me about it."
As he had in an interview on Oct. 10, McDonald said he strongly condemns Poole's action. He added that the officer who filed the complaint against Poole had also written a glowing evaluation of the consultant's presentation that said "all supervisors should come to it."
Corn responded: "The only thing I said was the material in the class was good."
Corn called Poole a "bully" and acknowledged that he had "had words with him" after one of the sessions.
Corn said McDonald brought Poole back twice more after the episode of the sexual gesture but made him hold the management training sessions outside the sheriff's office.
Aside from their unpaid vacation time, the deputies who spoke to the Lightning said they received no severance.
"I worked there for 20 years and for 20 years I never had a writeup, never had a verbal counseling, nothing," he said. "It makes me mad because I looked up the man for 15 years."
In an hour-long interview last month, McDonald steadfastly stood by his prerogative as sheriff to surround himself with people who are committed to departmental themes and goals.
"Basically what I did was re-emphasize that politics notwithstanding, one of the things any organization or business needs, and especially a sheriff's office needs, is to know that the folks that are working in the organization are loyal to and supportive of the organization in its vision," he said, describing one of his meetings with deputies after the May 6 primary. "I've made it quite plain people can vote their conscience and do whatever they want to on the political side but not to bring that to work ...."
"I have to make decisions that people outside don't understand and never will understand," he said on Tuesday, "but people that put me into office all know that I'll make decisions to the best of my ability and for all the right reasons."
Both Griffin and Corn denied that they had ever brought politics inside the office. But both share the view that politics has become more intense than ever in a sheriff's race.
"In the past year I've met with more negativity than at any time in the past 21 years," Griffin said.
The 2014 election was the sixth campaign Griffin has seen while wearing a sheriff's uniform and this one "became more political than any race I've seen since the Ab Jackson-George Erwin election" of 1994.
"If you're in office and you take care of the people of the county politics will take care of itself," he said. "But for some reason Henderson County has just become a political hotbed."
Griffin suggested the experience has made him look at the future. Business owners, friends and others, he said, have been supportive.
"They may see my name around the next election," he said.