APPENDIX M
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
MARIA CATERINA ROSENFELD, et al, Appellant No. 12-10165
v
James Hackett, Linn-Benton Housing Authority, Appellee
AFFIDAVIT of Linn
County Commissioner JOHN
K. LINDSEY
I, John K. Lindsey, attest my affidavit to be used in the Supreme Court of the United States in
support of the writ of certiorari in
the previous mentioned case. It is my belief that a case of administrative
retribution was brought onto Ms. Maria Caterina Rosenfeld for her discovery of housing
entities failing to enforce federal laws.
I have, therefore, prepared the following statement:
On July 20 and
25, 2005, I received telephone calls from a person identifying herself as
Caterina Rosenfeld. She said that she was having problems with the Linn-Benton
Housing Authority and the enforcement of housing rules. The call was lengthy
and documented. Over the next few months, I followed up by attempting to
contact the Executive Director of the Linn-Benton Housing Authority James
Hackett. My calls were not returned. These actions resulted in me formulating
two questions:
1)
Is it illegal to knowingly house violent felons and sex
offenders in federally funded housing projects?
2)
Who actually oversees the housing organizations and who
can take corrective action?
I discussed
these issues with local law enforcement including Corvallis City Police Chief
Gary Boldizar who was in charge of the criminal reports in the Rosenfeld
complaint. He informed me that everything that Ms. Rosenfeld said to me was
accurate and that this willful violation of housing law dated back to 2000,
this also included a death. After these revelations, I wrote United States
Congressman Peter DeFazio and HUD Under Secretary Floyd May.
Mr. May was
helpful in laying out the policy issues and legal issues of this complaint but
non-committal on enforcement. Congressman Peter Defazio mailed back the federal
statutes that he believed were being violated. It was made clear to me, by both
the Under Secretary and the United States Congressman, that the Linn-Benton Housing
Authority and the neighboring entity Willamette Neighborhood Housing were
willfully violating federal law.
I verbally requested
that the Board of the Linn-Benton Housing Authority investigate the incidents
and terminate those responsible. It was then communicated to me by Mr. Hackett
in a letter dated October
5, 2005 that the Linn-Benton Housing Authority had engaged in no
wrong doing and insinuated that all the police investigations were false. This denial
was in paragraph three. He also communicated that the County of Linn
no longer had jurisdiction over his agency.
I then contacted
Oregon State Senator Frank Morse to have a legislative opinion of this interpretation
of these rules and that Linn County Attorney Thomas Corr issue an opinion.
Senator Morse and County
Counsel did not agree on
the authority. I then approached the Linn County District Attorney Jason
Carlile on enforcing these laws. The District Attorney said that DA’s do not
enforce federal statute as a rule and in fact lawsuits were being filed against
counties for enforcing US immigration laws. It would not be in the financial
interests of Linn
County to get into a turf
war. I then requested on November 9, 2005 in writing that HUD start an official
investigation in this matter. At this time it was apparent to me, given the
enormous stack of criminal records and complaints that Mr. Hackett and those
involved were being untruthful and deceptive. I continued following up on this
issue and in the following year again confronted Mr. Hackett and Jim Moorefield,
Director of Willamette Neighborhood Housing about this case in an
electronically recorded meeting of the Linn County Board of Commissioners. On
the record both men denied ever knowing who Ms. Rosenfeld was even though it
was my understanding there were ongoing legal cases and that Mr. Hackett
oversaw a hearing with Ms. Rosenfeld and numerous executive sessions.
Over the next
two years, I contacted the staff several times of Congressman DeFazio and
United States Senator Ron Wyden. Congressman DeFazio’s staff indicated this is
a legal issue and Senator Wyden’s staff basically indicated they were not interested.
I kept in contact with the Under Secretary of HUD’s office and discussed the
ongoing problems with other individuals. I then contacted on several occasions,
the office of US Attorney Karen Immergut. I was informed that they only could act
if a report was filed by a federal investigator or the Oregon Attorney General.
I contacted the office of the Oregon Attorney General Hardy Meyers several
times and was informed by staff attorneys that these were federal laws, they
did not have jurisdiction. I was interviewed by the FBI over the phone during
this time. In the fall of 2008, I checked the sex offender registry against
Linn-Benton Housing addresses in Corvallis.
It appeared that no action had still been taken on protecting children in those
developments. During the fall and into the spring of 2009 I talked with State
Senator Morse on having a legislative hearing addressing the issue of sex
offenders and felons being protected and shielded by state housing officials. Unfortunately,
I fell ill in the March of 2009. At no time up this to point had I ever been
questioned or interviewed by a federal housing investigator. My recovery
extended through the summer.
During the
summer of 2009, I learned that Ms. Rosenfeld was still pursuing justice in this
case and protections for those disadvantaged children. I supplied Ms Rosenfeld
a notarized statement for that case confirming I was an actual person and that
these things happened. I told Ms. Rosenfeld to forward me information and
documents on her case so that I could keep abreast of the issues she was pursuing.
During the
period of 2009 through 2010, I learned that throughout the State of Oregon the act of
housing dangerous felons and registered sex predators with HUD money was taking
place. In fact, it had become written state policy as laid out in the 2005
Oregon Governors prison plan. To many, this is an obscure policy document
generally not known. This policy was and has been resulting in more violent
confrontations between law enforcement and individuals with a history that law
enforcement is not aware of. It was during this time I had written and verbal correspondence
with Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon. He was at the time, President of the
Oregon Sheriffs Association. The association had put out a signed release from
Dec 2007 on the felon question. Today there has been no change in that position.
It appears that no state law prevents it and only federal agencies can enforce
federal law. I passed some of this information onto Ms. Rosenfeld. I had realized
at this point the issue had become much larger than Ms. Rosenfeld’s initial
complaint.
On June 1, 2010, I
missed a call from Dennis Raschka at the HUD Inspector Generals Office. I
returned the call and talked with staff. They believed that all of this case
was made up. I assured them of who I was and that Police Chief Gary Boldizar
was real.
Later in July
2010, I received an anonymous call from someone who said they had knowledge of
contract audits by HUD of the Linn-Benton Housing Authority and abnormalities.
After learning this I submitted a request to the Housing Director Cleo Klepzig
on August 17,
2010. She would contact me a few months later by phone and tell me
the records had been “accidentally” destroyed. A short time after that Ms. Klepzig
had to resign due to outstanding child abuse warrants in another state.
While working
though the year 2010 I had continued to learn more of the housing of felons and
sex predators in HUD sponsored housing projects throughout the state of Oregon. A new twist was
using Psychiatric Review Board prisoners to “fill” gaps in public housing
without notifying neighbors, law enforcement and public officials. This
practice is counter to federal law. At the year end I submitted a legislative
request for a fix in state law with Linn County State Representative Andy Olson, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
I also forwarded it to Senators Frank Morse, Brian Boquist, Lee Beyer and Representatives
Phil Barnhart, Sherrie Sprenger and Jim Thompson.
On Feb 4, 2011, my
office of counsel received a public records request from Martin W. Jaqua of the
Rickles Law Firm. The request was extremely vague and didn’t have a “direction”.
Linn County Attorney Thomas Corr contacted the firm to ask what they were
looking for. He tried to explain that Commissioners handle their own calendars
appointment and functions individually and the County had no formal review of Ms.
Rosenfeld's case. A blanket public records request could become expensive. It
was also explained to an “unidentified female” who returned a call back to Mr.
Corr that as a matter of process for example; Linn County Commissioner Roger
Nyquist does not use a computer and that myself (John Lindsey) does not own a
portable electronic device. I prefer paper, and written signatures. She became
indignant and threatened the county with lawsuits if “Commissioner Lindsey does
not stop snooping”and that the Rickles Firm would take action against the
county. When I learned of this from Mr. Corr, I showed him the threat letter
the Rickles Firm issued to the one attorney that tried to represent Ms.
Rosenfeld. As a public official, lawyers constantly threaten us with lawsuits
so I take it with a grain of salt.
In spring 2011,
I had a conversation with Rep. Olson on why he had not drafted the legislation
[Feb 14?]. He stated that I was lying about the issue and that there were no
felons and sex offenders in public housing and that the PSRB individuals are
“protected” along with other individuals, under federal rules. No proof of
rules have ever been provided to me after six years at this point. I then approached
State Senator Jason Atkinson about a similar bill he had introduced because of
the proliferation of criminal housing problems in his district. Sen Atkinson
showed me a legislative council interpretation saying it would be a violation
of criminals’ rights under federal fair housing law and “medical privacy”. This
was Deputy Legislative Counsel Joshua Nasbe dated November 3, 2010 with no legal references.
I pointed out that in my previous discussions with the United States Attorney
Generals office, they stated otherwise and on the A.G. website they state “the
act does not extend to such criminals”. I had learned that behind the issue was
the outrageous amount of money involved in these contracts and the pockets
being lined. I hand delivered a copy of my correspondence in this case to every
member of the Oregon Legislature offices.
That caused me
to write the ranking member of the United States Judiciary Committee, Senator
Charles Grassley on May
18, 2011. A few days previously I had contacted his staff who had
said Sen. Grassley was outraged about this activity because he had learned
about it several months before. The Senator’s staff informed me of documents
entitled HUD Semi-Annual Report to Congress. It became apparent to me, after
reading the 2009 report, that no one was watching housing money and still
isn’t. I was shocked that the South American gang MS-13 was a qualified
provider of housing services.
On June 2, 2011 I
wrote a reply to State Senator Jason Atkinson about his bill. I then sent
copies of that letter and the correspondence with Senator Grassley with the HUD
report certified reciept mail to State Senator Ted Ferrioli and State Representatives
Bruce Hanna, Dennis Richardson, Kevin Cameron, Wally Hicks. These were all self
proclaimed “tuff on crime” republicans. I was hoping for some legislative
response. I also sent this packet to several media outlets.
During the month
of June 2011, I started receiving phone calls from TV reporters at KVAL (Molly)
and KEZI (Heather) in regard to predators in public housing. Heather from KEZI
said that state politicians were upset with me. I declined interviews having an
idea of where this was going. As political pressure mounted onto me to stop
helping Ms. Rosenfeld I wrote Micheal Stephens of the Office of the Inspector
General of HUD requesting “whistle blower” status for Ms. Rosenfeld. There was
no reply. Around August
12, 2011 I talked with Lynn Ray at Oregon Department of Health
Services who told me that criminals in public housing are protected by HIPPA
and in fact “locking” criminals up and electronically monitoring them in public
housing is OK. I pointed out that this violates the Social Security Act sec.202 [42 U.S.C.] (x)(1)(A).
On November 7, 2011,
I again wrote United States Senator Charles Grassley about updated issues with
the expanding issue of criminals in public housing “group homes”. The Oregon
legislature had passed two bills (SB420 & HB 3100) that directly violated 42 U.S.C. chapt 135 sub V sec 13663 on
placements of nationally registered predatory sex offenders and felons in
public housing while violating the previous mentioned SSDI issue. It was, and
is my view, that the State of Oregon
had now crossed into Social Security fraud. I was also invited not to testify
on these bills. I called the office of the Social Security Administration on November 7, 2011
to report this but still have no record of a returned call. I sent the Senator
Grassley correspondence to several state and federal legislators.
I spent the
following year 2012 researching more on the growing issues. The number of
person-to-person violent crimes involving public sponsored housing continued to
do a brisk business despite violent crime declines overall. This confirms the
discrimination of kids who find themselves living in these arrangements. I
wrote the United States Attorney Charles F. Gordon about a complaint that Ms.
Rosenfeld had about being denied an electronic recording of a hearing that took
place in Eugene
during the fall 2011 in front of the Honorable Michael Hogan. The comments recorded
were of derogatory nature in reference to myself and former Benton Circuit
Court Judge Goode and other officials by the Rickles Firm. I then had a short
phone conversation a few days later with FBI Agent Mick Fennerty. Nothing
memorable came from the conversation except a personal opinion he shared with
me that the government money is to big in this case. Although I cannot remember
the agents’ name that I talked with in 2008 (my phone notes are misplaced) he
told me that it would be a good idea to let this issue die, the money was too
much and powerful. Ms. Rosenfeld had stayed in contact through the year on and
off.
I contacted State Senator Betsy Close about
this issue in Dec. 2012. My discussion with Senator Close was an idea to just
address a piece of the issue. The federal agencies have proven they have no
intent to ever enforce their own laws so we must do something to protect some
of the kids involved. Senator Close had SB 506 drawn up. A hearing on the bill
occurred on April
4, 2013 in hearing room A of the State Capitol. Present were Chair
Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson and Senators Jeff Kruse, Tim Knopp, Chip Shields
and Elizabeth Stiener Hayward. Senator Close joined me. Also Ms. Rosenfeld
testified with another abuse victim of the Linn-Benton Housing Authority. Once
again, staff of the State of Oregon Housing
lied to the committee and stated that the law does not apply to public housing
in regard to issues brought up. Later the next day, Ms. Rosenfeld contacted me
and asked how it went. I told her it would depend on if the money people got to
those in charge, but remember this is almost all federal money under federal
jurisdiction.
On April 29, 2013, Senator
Betsy Close contacted me and said for reasons she can’t understand, it appeared
the bill had been blocked by the committee chair. I will continue to pursue a
state remedy for this misappropriation funds with regard to housing. I told
Senator Close “I am eight years into this, why stop”.
It is my belief
that Ms. Rosenfeld had been the victim of administrative retribution by the
Linn-Benton Housing Authority along with Willamette Neighborhood Housing
Services for reporting ongoing violations of federal law. I further attest it
is my belief that the State of Oregon
and agencies working within Oregon
have continued a pattern of behavior “skirting” federal law. In particular Title 42 Chapt 135 sub V sec. 13663 (provided
by congressman DeFazio) and Social
Security Act sec. 202 [42 U.S.C. 402] (x)(1)(A). I also believe the court should grant
Maria Caterina Rosenfeld her petition for writ
of certiorari as a part of the remedy for retribution taken against her by
the Linn-Benton Housing Authority and to order that the Department of Housing
and Urban Development enforce the laws passed by the Congress of the United States of America.
s/John
K. Lindsey
Commissioner
Linn County, Oregon
