The saga of a now-departed Clark County employee would count as a comedy of errors if it were not so embarrassing. James Sauls’ three-day tenure with the county represents an easily avoidable systemic failure on the part of officials.
Moving forward, we would recommend that county leaders improve the process for vetting prospective employees. They can start with Google.
On March 2, Sauls began work as economic development specialist at an annual salary of $86,652, following what has been described as a two-month-long hiring process. The position, which had been vacant for several years, is tasked with advising and representing the county council and administering council policies.
By March 5, the position was vacant again.
As Jack Heffernan reported in The Columbian: “In 2017, Sauls admitted to managing a Twitter account called ‘Hot Rod Earl,’ which had insulted local politicians and made a sexually demeaning comment about conservative political pundit Tomi Lahren, according to The News & Observer” of Raleigh, N.C. Sauls, who was working as the economic development manager for the City of Raleigh, apologized but was demoted.
All of this can be found by typing “James Sauls Raleigh” into a search engine. Sauls told The Columbian that county chair Eileen Quiring, a human resources staff member, a representative from the Columbia River Economic Development Council and then-county manager Shawn Henessee had participated in the interview process. The fact they did not seek information on a job prospect — or conduct a more extensive background check for a high-profile position — defies common sense.
Or perhaps one or more of them did find the information but did not consider it to be important. That would be an incorrect assumption; whether or not his previous actions would have disqualified Sauls for the position, those involved with hiring him should at least have been aware of the situation and asked him about it.
Instead, according to emails revealed by a public records request, County Councilor Temple Lentz brought Sauls’ past to light, alerting Henessee to The News & Observer article. There is some irony in that: Long before she ran for office, Lentz anonymously wrote a “Daily Couve” blog that frequently skewered local politicians.
Lentz asked how Henessee planned to proceed. “I obviously did not know about this during the time of the interview since it would have clearly played an important role,” Henessee responded. That afternoon, Sauls resigned.
It is likely that chaos in the Clark County offices played a role in the shoddy hiring process. Henessee was under pressure from county councilors — who are the county manager’s supervisors — and resigned on March 13; no official reason has been given for his departure, and Lentz said it was not related to Sauls’ hiring and abrupt departure.
Sauls’ previous transgressions are relatively minor. While creating an online alias to post incendiary comments is foolish, it is not criminal. But the failure of county officials to conduct due diligence should be noted by everybody charged with hiring in either the public or private sectors.
As one employment service recommends for vetting job candidates: Verify education credentials; perform a background check; conduct thorough reference checks; administer skill tests and behavioral assessments; and search the internet.
Following that simple advice could have prevented an embarrassing situation in the Clark County offices.
