Sheriff Pollock under fire for ‘Brown Santa’ program
Pollock, who for years championed the local Brown Santa toy-drive initiative for needy children largely staffed by sheriff’s volunteers, this year withdrew his support and said he wanted to fund another seasonal charity program.
Recently, volunteers from the Sheriff’s Office and the Burnet Chamber of Commerce have established the Burnet County Santa’s Helpers Program in place of Brown Santa.
Brown Santa funds and toys will not go to Santa’s Helpers, said Pollock, who has one month left on his term after being defeated in the March Republican primary.
“I told them back in May, I can’t do that, unless they got registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and they haven’t done that,” Pollock told The Daily Tribune Wednesday. “I have some disgruntled employees who are upset that I won’t turn over the checkbook to them.”
The Attorney General’s Office announced this week investigators plan to seek “reimbursement to the fund” of any amounts “inappropriately expended from the fund,” according to a Nov. 24 letter sent to Pollock’s Austin attorney Kenneth Lerner by Assistant Attorney General Katharine Hodgins.
The Brown Santa portion of the Joe Pollock Hill Country Fund is being as a civil matter, officials said.
“I haven’t seen that letter,” said Pollock, who has been sheriff for 16 years.
The Brown Santa program, administered for many years by Pollock, collected and distributed toys for needy children during Christmas.
Pollock indicated he would no longer manage the Brown Santa charity earlier this year.
“I am shutting the charity down, and I’m trying to get everything inventoried,” Pollock said.
All Brown Santa surplus toys will be inventoried and transferred to the Marble Falls toy drive Christmas Is For Kids, Pollock added.
“We have surplus toys every year,” Pollock said.
There is a question regarding whether Pollock can spend funds remaining from Brown Santa to pay attorney fees related to the attorney general’s investigation, according to Hodgins.
“It is a legitimate expense,” Pollock said.
However, the attorney general objects to spending the leftover Brown Santa funds for lawyer fees, the letter indicates.
“The remaining amounts in the fund were specifically solicited for the Brown Santa program,” Hodgins said.
Also, Hodgins contends, “The total remaining funds in the account fall short of the amount that should be remaining and available to support the Brown Santa Program.”
The attorney general has asked Pollock through Lerner to provide invoices, receipts and other documents to confirm the distribution of Brown Santa toys.
“If the fund is holding any toys or other items which have been purchased with money from the fund and have not yet been distributed, please send this office an accounting of such toys or items if you have not done so already,” Hodgins said.
County officials on Wednesday stressed Brown Santa is not a county-mandated program.
County Judge Donna Klaeger called the Brown Santa program a “private foundation.”
“The county is not involved with it,” Klaeger said.
County Eddie Arredondo said the Brown Santa charity is “not a county department or county function.”
“It was something Sheriff Pollock did outside of his duties,” Arredondo added. “Hopefully, the whole issue will get cleared up soon.”
Following his defeat to W.T. Smith in the Republican primary last March, Pollock saw his rival become sheriff-elect with no opposition on Election Day.
During the County Commissioners Court session last week, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards presented Pollock with a certificate of appreciation for his 16 years as Sheriff.
raymond@thepicayune.com