The investigation into Michael Speck’s contract awarding process (first questioned in this WWeek article) has concluded (article in The O today) – and it turns out that Speck authorized over 85 thousand dollars’ worth of contracts to a company owned by his son.

How did he pull this off? By slicing and dicing the RFPs small enough so that they’d skirt by the requirement for a competitive bidding process, that’s how.

The 21-year Fire Bureau veteran managed to keep his job – garnering a 4-week unpaid suspension instead. Slap on the hands, you think? Absolutely – and this quote confirms it:

Lt. Allen Oswalt emphasized that Speck, whose base salary was $68,744 last year, did not steal money from the city.

“He did make a mistake,” Oswalt said. “But on the same token, we got work done in a satisfactory manner.”

No, Lt. Oswalt. He didn’t make ‘a mistake.’ He made at least 28 of them. That you’ve found, that is.

And given Oregon Revised Statute 244.040 (1)(a) which says:

“No public official shall use or attempt to use official position or office to obtain financial gain…for any business with which the public official or a relative of the public official is associated.” Under statutory definitions, Speck qualifies as a public official. (quoted from the WWeek article)

I ask again: Why in the world does this guy get to keep his job?