Bauer files second tort claim
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SANDPOINT — Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bauer has filed another tort claim against the county regarding similar issues as the ones he included in his first claim, which was filed in 2023.
A tort claim may be filed by any individual who has been injured in some way by the wrongful or negligent act of a federal employee acting in their official capacity. The tort is a request for financial compensation for those injuries. In Bauer’s claim, he is requesting $500,000 for unlawful and negligent activity by multiple Bonner County elected officials.
Bauer’s most recent tort claim lists 11 instances of alleged misconduct that he believes have harmed him or his professional reputation in some way. Most alleged instances of tortious conduct involve Bonner County Clerk Mike Rosedale and Commissioner Luke Omodt but also mention Comptroller Nancy Twineham and former commissioner Dan McDonald.
“Each count alleges both defamation and false-light intrusion, asserting that these acts were carried out with actual malice or a reckless disregard for the truth, aiming to harm my professional reputation and privacy,” Bauer wrote in his claim.
All of Bauer’s allegations stem from issues regarding the 2022 external audit and how it did not contain the Bonner County Fair Board’s finances, although it allegedly should have. Many fingers have been pointed at various county officials about whose fault it was that the financials were not included. Some blame Bauer, who was overseeing the fair board and the commissioners as the legal counsel at the time. Others blame Rosedale and his staff, while others blame the county commissioners.
This dispute has caused division between county departments, and the issue does not seem like it’s resolving itself.
One of Bauer’s first complaints stems from a board of commissioners’ decision to remove him as the representative of the fair board in October 2023 amid the controversy over who was responsible for the omission of the fair board’s financials in the 2022 audit.
Bauer lists another one of his complaints as an email sent by Omodt to “Bonner County Daily Bee reporter” Soncirey Mitchell, who actually works for the Sandpoint Reader. In the email, Omodt told Mitchell that Bonner County was not using wrong laws in regard to the audit, but was given contradictory advice by its legal counsel that “has been completely reversed” over the past two years. Bauer claims that Omodt “knew or should have known that his statements criticizing [Bauer’s] legal advice was false and materially misleading.”
In another email, this time from Rosedale to Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall, the deputy prosecutor complained that Rosedale placed the responsibility of the 2022 audit on Bauer.
“... Therefore, [Bauer] was responsible for the county’s failure to audit the [fair board] in [fiscal year] 2022 and earlier,” Rosedale said in his email to Marshall. “He was the one advising the board and the clerk on all matters financial and budgetary. I know I detrimentally relied on his advice during the seven plus years he advised me, and I assume the BOCC did as well.”
In November 2023, Bauer alleged in his tort claim that Rosedale “recklessly or knowingly falsely accused [Bauer] of making derogatory statements against other county employees.” However, Bauer said he received nothing when he filed a public records request for documentation substantiating Rosedale’s allegations.
“We do not have responsive documents regarding your request,” said the response that Bauer received.
Additionally, the deputy prosecutor references a comment he believes McDonald made — but did not provide proof of — claiming that he can and will continue to control Omodt. This, according to Bauer, suggested that Rosedale, Omodt, and McDonald coordinated to “retaliate against Bauer both for providing legal advice regarding violations of law and for bringing tort claims and legal actions against Bonner County.”
He also cited a social media comment made by McDonald as damaging to his reputation, in which McDonald claimed that the legal advice given to the board of commissioners in regard to its relationship with the fair board was completely reversed in a matter of years.
“The first [legal opinion] was in 2017, that said the commissioners are over the fairgrounds and ultimately the [fair] board, however, financially, the commissioners only have authority over the taxpayer funds provided for fair operations …” McDonald’s post allegedly said. “The second opinion came from the same attorney at the prosecutor’s office in 2022, claiming the commissioners have no authority over the fair board [or] the funds other than those provided by the county.”
The deputy prosecutor listed numerous other emails in his complaints, mainly from Rosedale. In November, an email from Rosedale to Twineham and Commissioner Asia Williams references the prospective Hayden Ross 2023 audit, stating that, “They are 99% not going to bid due to the unbelievable harassment they have received from certain elected officials and a deputy prosecutor in this county.”
During a commissioners’ meeting also in November, Rosedale spoke about tremendous slander that has been thrown against his office — all of which Bauer claims are false and misleading statements.
“There has been actual tremendous slander thrown against our external auditor by an elected official and by a Bonner County employee,” Rosedale said in the meeting. “The one thing I have a hard time with is there has been an unbelievable slam against my office, against my comptroller and against our external auditor and it’s based on completely erroneous information …”
While Rosedale declined to comment on Bauer’s latest tort claim, Omodt said he is disappointed to see more money being thrown away.
"This lawsuit is the next chapter of the chief deputy civil prosecutor forcing taxpayer dollars to be spent on lawsuits instead of public safety,” the commissioner said. “I think this is a tragic waste of public monies."