Eminem and Rihanna...  
"On the first page of our story, The future seemed so bright.
   And this thing turned out so evil, I don't know why
   I'm still surprised."
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Aftermath:

The triumphant departure of Jackie Rose to a sunnier climate; The devastating fracture of the No Kill mission left behind.

Oregon citizens first learned of MCAS Director Jackie Rose’s April 12, 2019 departure to Ventura County Animals Services from California newspapers, where media reported that a joyful welcome awaits her scheduled arrival on May 01, 2019. There was no prior word or warning from local Multnomah government that Ms. Rose had moved on until surprised local citizens brought it to their attention.

The news splashed across media from Facebook to dog fanciers’ clubs in Ventura county emphasized that her “passion for animals will be a good fit for our [Ventura County’s] shelter’s no kill mission.”  

That was a shocking surprise.  Nothing in MCAS public records or her conduct in Oregon demonstrates either a “passion for animals” or a commitment to a No Kill mission.  While in Oregon, Ms. Rose demonstrated that she could always find a way around the No Kill ideal.

As Humpty Dumpty, an early savvy politician, smartly said in Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice and Wonderland:

•  “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.
  
  The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.
  
  The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

Ventura County is due for an unfortunate surprise.  After a 3 ½ year tenure, all that Jackie Rose left behind for Multnomah residents were unfinished audit goals surrounding continued well documented substandard care, and increased concerns about the welfare and well-being of staff and animals. Her legacy, multiple new policies that stripped away animals’, citizens’ and staff rights, continue. They are marked by a lack of empathy and passed unnoticed because of a lack of government oversight accompanied by apathy and indifference.  As Bob Dylan once said, “there is no success like failure and failure is no success at all.”

Everything about Ms. Rose rejects the core of No Kill – the basic principle that every life counts and requires every effort to find and implement humane solutions.   Under her leadership, “inconvenient” animals are routinely killed after being labeled “unhealthy/untreatable” even when the records demonstrate that they were only scared or had treatable conditions. Killing at MCAS has become an act of convenience, one taking place behind closed doors and disguised as “necessary” to create a perfect marketing vision. 

MCAS’s progressive path forward began with a 2000 MCAS Citizens’ Task Force and a commitment to achieve a No Kill mission by 2005.   After three and one-half years of Ms. Rose, MCAS could not be further from that goal.   Its claimed successes are belied by unverifiable “high live release rates” that have been promoted by low adoption standards, multiple free or nearly free adoption sales, revolving door adoptions and a high adoption return rate.  The mission is numbers only: “Any home will do.” Animals returned over and over again are traumatized, ultimately offered to rescue or killed. It is a factory goods model, not a humane shelter model.  

The peoples’ mission lost its way under Ms. Rose’s guidance.  Animals have become highly disposable: a widely supported community mission was discarded by politicians when inconvenient.  The need for change starts with government culture: public service must replace collegiality. When government prizes protecting colleagues from their mistakes over accountability, democracy itself is subverted. Rationalization of failure replaces correction, motivated by a desire to keep the issue off the elected leaders’ desks. The only check on re-naming failure as success comes from George Orwell’s comment: “…It is possible to carry on this process [ ‘impudently twisting facts’] for an indefinite time: the only check on it is sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.”

Multnomah County politics must change, if there is to be any progress forward. Questions and concerns about local government should not be treated as adversarial attacks; they present serious issues that must be addressed and corrected.  Problems kicked down the road worsen.   Too much power regarding the appointment of the MCAS Director is concentrated in one person’s hands.

The appointment decision of the MCAS Animal Services Director is left entirely up to one person, the Director of Community Services, a person whose other responsibilities are Bridges and Transportation, a person with no knowledge about sheltering. He provides no oversight.  The position of animal control director in Multnomah County is de facto independent. Citizen and staff concerns and complaints are ignored at both the MCAS and Department levels. Ask and there is no response. 

Abuse of power commonly occurs when supervisors abdicate oversight.  The citizens’ will to create a progressive sheltering mission beginning in 2000 has been easily tossed aside.  Department Director Peoples has steadfastly ignored mounting evidence and complaints about the hostile environment created by Ms. Rose’s policies, practices, and behaviors affecting animals, the public and staff alike. He didn’t listen. Neither he nor the county commission responded to concerns. The findings of the MCAS audit reports were treated initially as an affront. Prior to the formal release of the audit, Kim Peoples and Jackie Rose, instead of first meeting with the Audit Department to advance corrections, met privately with each county commissioner to pre-empt its impact.

Jackie Rose has departed MCAS to Ventura, California. The effects of her massive overhaul of all MCAS policies, many hostile to this community, will continue in Oregon. It will be a long and rough road home. Ventura County will be her next victim.

Gail O’Connell-Babcock, PhD

Citizens for Humane Animal Legislation/Watchdog

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More on Jackie Rose’s background

The legend of Jackie Rose
http://www.addisonindependent.com/node/2516

Jackie Rose departs Oregon
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/424021-329529-multnomah-animal-services-head-takes-job-in-california

Jackie Rose arrives in California
http://citizensjournal.us/jackie-rose-selected-to-run-countys-animal-services-department/

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Sources:

Gimmeshelterportland criticism & Kim Peoples' Response [Page 2]
https://drive.google.com/open?id=16LUXA7FhXrQWRyY7ZmcbXon30__4GqNH

County response to concerns about the deterioration of morale and performance at MCAS
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-TIbr05UlGdp70EwZXzU0a6oMy3MYgIu

MCAS Task Force Findings [June 29, 2000]
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1toKrRySetlCskz5T6ND-csZM6S6ILsvW