A defiant Patrick Hollinger accused the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association (OSSA) and Curry County Sheriff John Ward of trying to intimidate and silence him “through the deliberate twisting of state law.”

The Curry County commissioner’s statement Wednesday comes after the sheriff’s association issued a letter stating that a presentation Hollinger gave at a May 20 Board of Commissioners meeting incorrectly implied that OSSA supported the commissioners in their ongoing conflict with Ward.

“This is an attempt to discredit an elected official advocating for accountability and transparency, which is all I have ever done,” Hollinger said. “Oregon law is intended to ensure justice and fairness. What we are witnessing is a deliberate distortion of the law intended to discredit an elected official and erode the public trust in those who are sworn to uphold it.”

Hollinger’s statement, which included accusing the sheriff of intentionally misinterpreting state law to avoid answering difficult questions, comes as Curry County’s motion for a declaratory judgment against Ward is scheduled for a court hearing July 1. 

According to Board Chairman Jay Trost, the county’s attorneys had made four attempts to reach out to the sheriff’s office. After receiving no response, the county filed a motion to compel communication with the sheriff, Trost said.

“Depositions will come and we will get to the bottom of this to where it will be reducing drama because there will be a finite answer handed down by the judge,” he said.

The Curry County Board of Commissioners and the sheriff have been at odds with each other for about nine months. The defeat of a tax levy in May 2024 forced the county to make cuts to several departments, including to the sheriff’s office, to alleviate a $3.8 million deficit.

On Wednesday, Trost said the conflict was the result of he and his colleagues asking Ward for information in order to make decisions regarding the county budget. 

The two parties have differed over the K9 program, whether or not Ward could enter into agreements without the Board’s consent and whether commissioners should have allocated more money from its Road Department Reserves to fund the sheriff’s office.

After the sheriff had failed to show up to Board of Commissioners meetings for about five months, Curry County filed a declaratory judgment suit against Ward in an effort to “resolve long-standing disagreements over both parties’ roles and responsibilities.”

The Board’s dispute with the sheriff came up during a question-and-answer period OSSA Executive Director Tim Svenson led following a presentation he gave during an Association for Oregon Counties County College event that Hollinger attended.

Hollinger said he had recorded the session and had asked Svenson if he could share the recording with his colleagues. While Svenson asked Hollinger not to play the audio recording, he said the commissioner could report back on what he learned and quote from the presentation. 

This led to Hollinger reading a transcript of the question-and-answer session to other county commissioners on May 20, which in turn prompted OSSA’s rebuke in a letter posted to the sheriff’s Curry County Justice Facebook page on Monday.

In their letter Svenson and OSSA President Mark Garton said Hollinger failed to notify the speakers or Association of Oregon Counties leadership that he was recording the presentation. They accused Hollinger of violating Oregon law, which prohibits recording someone without their consent.

“The transcription of the Q/A was done in a way to attempt to… show a theme where OSSA is supporting Curry County’s position with their argument they’re having down there with the sheriff,” Svenson told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “And OSSA as a whole has not taken a position on any of the things going on down there.”

In a Tuesday press release, Curry County states Hollinger had in fact not violated Oregon state law, noting that ORS 165.540 allows for recording a speaker as part of “regularly scheduled classes or similar educational activities in public or private institutions.”

On Wednesday, Hollinger pointed out that the OSSA presentation was held at a public university.  

According to Trost, nothing in Svenson’s presentation at AOC’s County College event was inappropriate except that it “defied the stance of one of its members, Sheriff Ward.” Trost said Hollinger shared the content of the question-and-answer session with Ward and his deputies as part of an attempt to put an end to the conflict between the Board and the sheriff’s office.

Trost said while Svenson’s presentation wasn’t intended to address Curry County specifically, when the first question was asked, the OSSA executive director asked if a Curry County representative was in the room.

“Commissioner Hollinger immediately announced himself,” Trost said. “Therefore it is reasonable to believe that Director Svenson did know that he was responding to topics that have been in question and could be related to subjects being litigated.”

According to Trost, Hollinger honored Svenson’s request not to play the recording of the question-and-answer period to the Board of Commissioners and the public on May 20. Hollinger wasn’t wrong for reporting what he had learned to his colleagues, Trost said.

“I perceive that the majority of this dissension may be an effort to shield Sheriff Ward from the awkward situation of the Sheriff’s Association agreeing with the Curry County Board of Commissioners,” Trost said. “And that is unfortunate and not a reason for there to be any [accusations] of criminal wrongdoing or broken relationships between two entities that have worked together for an extremely long time.” 

The Board’s newest member, Lynn Coker, who was appointed last month, said that both parties should look to Oregon statute in order to try to get to a point where both can get along with each other. 

“In Oregon Statutes Chapter 206, 203, 204 and 241, each of those complements the arrangement that our state legislature wanted to create between the sheriff’s office and the county,” he said. “It defines how we’re supposed to get along.”

In a conversation Tuesday with Redwood Voice Svenson said it’s not OSSA’s responsibility to step in and educate a county sheriff on what his or her responsibilities are. In addition to following county policy, most sheriffs have policies within their own offices that are often more stringent.

He also pointed out that while the county Board of Commissioners control the budget for the sheriff’s office, the Board does not control who the sheriff hires.