Sheriff candidates respond to critics

In the final edition of a series of interviews with all candidates seeking elected office in contested races on the county level, The Western News attempted to speak with all three sheriff candidates. In the past two weeks, every candidate in the justice of the peace, clerk and recorder and commissioner race answered tough questions.

Incumbent Sheriff Roby Bowe faces Bill Clark and write-in challenger Darren Short in the Nov. 4 election. Three voicemails, three emails to two different email addresses and a message to Bill Clark’s campaign page on Facebook seeking comment during the past week went unreturned. In an email, Clark’s campaign treasurer, Amy Thomson, confirmed hearing a voicemail requesting comment from Clark. She said he was out of town.

Sheriff Roby Bowe

The biggest knock on you is that you spend too much time out of the office. Why should voters believe you are a committed sheriff? 

I’ve proven my commitment through a lifetime of faithfully serving this county — only this county — for over 25 years. I have never left for better money. I’ve never left because of a personality conflict. I’ve never left when things got tough or stressful.

My time out of the office has been grossly exaggerated for others’ political gain and the rhetoric has taken on a life of its own.  I am the sheriff of a very large county, and few folks are aware how much travel and odd hours that requires. I am continually on the phone, changing both personal and work plans to adjust for ever-changing daily demands of the county. My job is absolutely not to sit parked behind a desk every single day, all day long so that others can simply take inventory of my presence.  

Make no mistake about it; I do not turn work off when I leave the office. My priorities are responding to the needs of the public and my staff.  I’ve spent a career sacrificing many weekends, holidays, anniversaries, birthday’s and other personal days working to help people in their time of need.

I work tirelessly for you, but not only as your sheriff.  I work as a productive citizen of this county; trying to make a difference, to be part of the solution - not the problem, and to walk the talk, rather than just gripe about how tough things are or will be. I have always been heavily invested in this county whether as a law enforcement officer, a volunteer or as an owner of a small seasonal business bringing out-of-state money to our struggling economy. This gives me and my family a chance to have balance in our lives.

I’ve demonstrated my commitment to the future of our youth by helping to bring together several hundred community partners from throughout the county as the executive director of the Unite for Youth Coalition. I’ve introduced positive community programs like the annual Shop with a Cop event and volunteered to mentor at-risk kids.

I’ve proven my dedication when I respond to serious incidents at all hours of the day or night to provide leadership, guidance and resolution. I’ve proven my loyalty through the good times and bad, never giving up — always striving to help make this county a great place to live.

You have my sincere promise that my primary life’s work has been and always will be to serve and protect you. That will never change, and no agenda-driven gossip, exaggerations or calculated distractions will ever take away this truth.

Lincoln County cannot afford to dwell on the past, and how it “used to be” many years ago, or how many hits we’ve taken over the years, when in actuality we live in a county that is transitioning and adjusting to a new reality. I’m committed to the belief that we must have hope, we must be persistent, and we must keep moving forward by being positive and creative rather than negative and tearing other folks down at every turn.  

Lincoln County was built by a culture of hard work and volunteerism —  it is in our blood. I’m committed to the challenges that lay ahead. I have, and always will have, both feet planted firmly in this community, and as Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

Your challengers have criticized the way you utilize your personnel. Do you believe your agency could make better use of its employees? If so, how?

Regardless of recent budget cuts that forced one layoff, we are still organized to serve the public extremely well. We are not alone in that we are now expected to do more with less. After several waves of internal reorganization we still have the exact number of deputies and investigators working the street that we’ve had for years.  We all had to step up as a team and share more responsibilities. It’s pretty easy for challengers to toss some criticism out and see if they can get it to stick.  For instance, a challenger claims I’ve got a top-heavy supervisory staff has zero merit; in the last four years we’ve actually cut supervisory staff nearly in half.

The sheriff’s office has four men and four women assigned to the jail as detention officers. They are well-trained professionals dedicated to their important work and are also cross-trained to help out in other areas if needed.

We are fortunate to have five dispatchers who are masters of multitasking. As I’ve said in the past, dispatchers are the anchors in the storm of emergency services. Nearly everything that happens in the sheriff’s office filters through them, whether emergency or non-emergency.

We are privileged to have four great administrative professionals. After a staff and supervisor change a year ago, they have transformed into a highly motivated, highly engaged team. They are trained for each other’s job and keep the office moving forward even when one or two are absent. One of them acts as a certified backup dispatcher when needed.  For about the last year, we have been open to the public for administrative business Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. We even travel north to Eureka to offer some of our services.  To my knowledge this has never been offered before in local county government services.

Lastly, we have 19 very well-trained and equipped sworn deputies, your front line, dedicated to your safety and security throughout the county.  They handle it all, day in and day out —  just read the sheriff’s reports in all the papers. They are the face of the Sheriff’s Office and I’m proud of the work they do to protect and serve the community both on and off duty. By staying light on our feet and making smart staffing adjustments, we have the same number of patrol deputies and detectives on the street, regardless of the recent budget cuts.

 The law enforcement profession is a tough career.  We are all held to a high standard and are under a lot of scrutiny in a high-pressure 24/7 operation. We don’t always agree on how things should go, but we always get the job done and always will.  Your Sheriff’s Office employees are well trained, well-organized, well-utilized, and dedicated professionals. I am extremely proud of them all.

 Write-in Challenger Darren Short

If you believe yourself the best man for the job, why did you not announce your candidacy for sheriff before the primary election?

 The reason I did not file for candidacy earlier was out of friendship and not wanting to split the primary vote four ways. Duane Rhodes and I were partners in the detective division while I was employed with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. Duane came to speak with me last spring and expressed that he was interested in filing for sheriff in the primary election. 

At that time I chose to not file myself but to support Duane. After the primary election I was approached by a large number of people who were not happy with the remaining choices in the election. I met with numerous people and was urged to file as a write-in candidate. I considered the options for some time but based on the support and input I was receiving, I decided that it was possible to win the election as a write-in candidate and chose to file.  

It came out during a public forum that you have been arrested. How many times have you been arrested? And what for?

It is true that I have been arrested three times in the past. Twice for driving under the influence and once for driving while suspended as a result of a DUI arrest. I made some stupid mistakes when I was young, and was 21 years old the last time in 1987. 

After serving my time and paying the fines, I decided to make some changes in my life. I began training as an emergency medical technician and joined Libby Volunteer Ambulance. While volunteering with LVA, I applied for and joined David Thompson Search and Rescue and am still a member today. 

I have been asked this question in every interview for a law enforcement position since 1997, when I applied for and was accepted as a reserve deputy with the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office. That is when I started my law enforcement career that I continue today. 

I hope that the voters of Lincoln County can forgive the mistakes I made when I was young and allow me to give the people of Lincoln County the service they deserve.

 Challenger Bill Clark

Clark was the only county-level candidate who did not respond to numerous interview requests. Below are the questions Clark chose not to answer. 

Some voters view you as an extreme candidate. You rub elbows with individuals preparing for war with the federal government and you were suspended from your last job for overspending your budget after purchasing military-style weapons. Why should voters believe the local issues of Lincoln County, not external concerns, will be your top priority?

You took disability retirement from your last job in law enforcement. To do that, you signed paperwork confirming your inability to adequately perform the duties of the position. If elected, would you forfeit those benefits? And why should voters believe you are now capable of being sheriff?