Corruption allegations roil Jackson County Legislature as members refuse comment
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Legislators emerged from a closed-door meeting and declined to comment.
- Abarca said he was offered $10,000 in campaign contributions for a favorable vote.
- Forté said that an outside agency will take over the investigation into the claims.
Jackson County legislators emerged from a closed-door meeting Friday, refusing to discuss corruption allegations made public by Legislative Chair Manny Abarca, who claimed that he was offered $10,000 in campaign contributions for a favorable vote.
Abarca said Thursday night in a statement posted to his campaign Facebook page, saying he had made whistleblower complaints after being “propositioned to receive a campaign donation in exchange for legislative action.”
“I have had to make whistleblower complaints regarding at least one legislative staff member and at least one colleague from being propositioned to receive a campaign donation in exchange for legislative action,” Abarca wrote in the post.
Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forté issued a statement Thursday saying that Abarca had contacted him Wednesday evening to report allegations of corruption involving elected officials and other individuals.
On Friday, the Legislature went into closed session shortly before 11 a.m. and adjourned about an hour later. Afterward, lawmakers declined to discuss what had occurred, saying they had been advised by the Legislature’s general counsel not to comment further.
They did give a brief statement outlining the next steps would be released Monday when the full legislature is set for its normally scheduled meeting.
“We wanted to have a unified message here and that message is we will not be able to talk about the matters pertaining to the closed session,” Abarca said after the meeting. “We’ve been advised by general counsel that a formal statement will come Monday as to what comes next.”
Legislators repeatedly declined to answer questions about the allegations, citing advice from their attorneys.
Legislator Sean Smith said personnel matters and criminal allegations should be allowed to proceed through the proper channels.
“We’d love to be able to share more, but at the end of the day, it’s important for the process to move forward and have integrity,” Smith said.
Questions remain on the allegations
The allegations surfaced less than three weeks before the Aug. 4 primary election. Abarca, who is running for Jackson County executive, announced Thursday that he was stepping away from campaigning, though not withdrawing from the race, to focus on the matter.
Abarca alleged in his post that the matter involves at least one legislative staff member and at least one fellow legislator. He also claimed he was told another legislator had been offered $50,000 under similar circumstances.
Abarca said the allegations were serious enough to place the “alleged staff on paid administrative leave immediately” and announced Friday’s special legislative meeting to begin what he described as an internal investigation.
Neither Abarca nor other legislators identified what vote was requested, who allegedly offered the campaign contributions or which staff members had been placed on administrative leave on Friday.
Sheriff’s office said it sought interview
According to Forté’s Thursday statement, he asked Abarca to document the allegations in writing and email them to him before investigators gathered additional information and determined what investigative steps should be taken.
Forté said sheriff’s office personnel then attempted multiple times to meet with Abarca to obtain additional information, complete a formal report and assess the allegations.
“As of the issuance of this statement, Legislator Abarca has not responded to those requests or made himself available to investigators,” Forté said Thursday.
Forté said the sheriff’s office “takes all allegations of public corruption seriously” and remains prepared to meet with Abarca while determining whether state or federal authorities should become involved.
On Friday, Abarca said he responded to Forté after seeing the sheriff’s public statement Thursday evening but did not elaborate on whether he had since met with investigators.
But Forté put out a statement later in the day reiterating that since the allegations were made, his office has yet to contact them about additional information they have requested.
The release said that the Sheriff’s Office had contacted another law enforcement agency to conduct any investigation to ensure it is handled without any appearance of bias or conflict of interest.
Recent tensions over immigration enforcement
The allegations follow recent disagreements between Abarca and Forté over a legislative hearing examining local agencies’ involvement in a federal operation at La Fontanella Foods.
Abarca called the hearing after Homeland Security Investigations executed a criminal search warrant at the food manufacturer, an operation that resulted in multiple people being taken into custody. Federal authorities have declined to say whether immigration enforcement occurred alongside the criminal investigation.
The hearing failed to reach a quorum after several legislators did not attend. Abarca later accused some of his colleagues of intentionally boycotting the meeting.
Forté, whose office was among the agencies drawn into questions about the operation, has repeatedly said deputies did not assist with the execution of the federal search warrant. Instead, Forté said deputies responded after federal agents notified them an unregistered sex offender was present and arrested that individual.
During the public hearing, Abarca publicly read an email from Forté that explained he would not be attending the hearing.
“Respectfully, I will not participate in attention seeking activities, especially on such short notice,” Abarca read from the email during the meeting.
Abarca would notify the Sheriff’s Office later that day of the alleged donation proposition.
