Today's papers brought us the headline news that CC Sheriff Dave Smith will resign his position by the end of the week. We all know the story of Smith's indiscretion with his arrest last fall for DUI.
His resignation should come as no surprise. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that it would probably come sometime before this fall's elections. He's got his 30 years which makes him eligible for a nice pension and another job lined up at Mountaineer. Overall he has served us well with a distinguished career in law enforcement.
This latest move is nothing more than playing politics. With Smith's early retirement as sheriff the County Republicans have the right to name someone to fill out the unexpired term. As the papers noted that will be Republican candidate for sheriff Ray Stone. That means Stone will be an incumbent candidate for the position when we go to the polls in November. Don't be surprised if you see "Sheriff Stone" mentioned in a lot of press releases and news stories in the next couple of months. There may even be some "Re-elect Sheriff Stone" political propaganda. That will get us - the voters - thinking "Sheriff Stone" by the time we go to vote. It's politics plain and simple.
That also means that the ville's John Soldano will face an even more uphill battle in his bid as the Democratic candidate for sheriff. It can be done but it will keep him and the Democrats hopping. Both candidates are well qualified for the job but I'm still pulling for the guy from the ville and this end of the county. I think John will serve the county well and that includes us down this way. I'm hoping that "Sheriff Stone's" career in that office is short lived, just to the end of December.
In the meantime thanks for a job well done Dave Smith. Good luck...
ole nib
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3 comments:
Nib,
Not the first time that the sheriff retired and a replacement was named. If my memory serves me correctly the last two did the same exact thing.
As for the Re-elect Sheriff Stone, the election laws are clear if you were not "elected" to a position, you cannot use "re-elect". You can use "retain" or "keep" Ray Stone as Sheriff.
The way the MJ is Republican controlled, you will see lots of headlines with his name in bold print.
Just my - I think you are correct. I thought that happened too but couldn't recall for sure and had no way to research it on short notice. I did have in the back of my mind that Van Fossen left before the end of his term for Brassy and Brassy did the same for Smith later on. It's politics.
Wouldn't it be nice if our libraries could digitize their microfilm of newspaper archives and make it available on their web sites?
nib
Ole Nib: Seems you forgot about Richard Koffel! The history of the Sheriff's Dept is on the County's Web Site.
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