By way of introduction, I am the treasurer of the Elect Bob Sergi for Sheriff campaign in Jackson County, Oregon. We have a Sheriff here who has been in the job for 12 years. It's time he find another job, precisely why Bob is running. Now, I could go into why Bob is the best candidate (34 years experience, has the support of local law enforcement, all around good guy), but that's not what this diary is about.
On Tuesday, April 1st, a little after 8 p.m, there was a knock on my door. I opened it to find an investigator from Oregon Department of Justice. He says there is a criminal investigation into Bob and can he come in and ask some questions? Of course, my first thought is, "it's an April Fool's joke"....but no, that was not the case (although a fool is certainly involved).
A little background is necessary, I guess. The current Boss Hogg in Jackson County is a person by the name of Mike Winters. Hogg...I mean, Winters, has a history of bullying and intimidation. The current Sheriff's deputies are afraid to speak out against him because they fear, with reason, for their jobs. Last year, he handed out 66 pink slips to his employees as a bargaining tactic. The deputies that Bob works with asked him to run against Winters, they respect Bob and know him to be a good leader. Bob stepped up to the challenge, which has lead to his being placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a criminal investigation.
What is this investigation about, you might ask? Well, the Sheriff's department has opened an investigation with the Department of Justice about Bob using an employee list to send out campaign letters. He didn't, Bob utilized a campaign database available from his political party to send the letters (while this is a non-partisan race, registered party members have access to campaign tools). However, this seemed to be too good of an opportunity for Winters to pass up...therefore, the State investigation.
Winters is utilizing public dollars to discredit his opponent. He also seems to have a super PAC financing him, as he has claimed no money in his election filings and yet his website is sponsored by "the committee to elect Winters For Sheriff 2014".
I have a couple of questions to ponder...... Why is Winters so afraid of Bob he is willing to open an investigation into a nothing event? (Which, by the way, has resulted in paid time off to Bob which is being used to campaign against the Sheriff, Brilliant!).....Why is Winters not willing to show the public who is contributing to his campaign?
It's time for Jackson County to have a new Sheriff....and we need help! We need local support to vote, if we can get Bob elected with 50% +1 vote come May 20, this is over. Winters is gone. In order to that, we need money! Please, please, please, no matter where you are, if you want to effect a local election with a responsible candidate, please consider throwing some money Bob's way. Elections are expensive, and there is television ad time to buy. We also need volunteers for phone banking and canvassing and yard signs. And, again, we need Jackson County voters to send in their ballots come May.
Thanks for your time, Kossaks. I'm a proud Daily Kosser and a proud part of a political campaign that I believe in and know will affect Southern Oregon in a positive manner!
Tue Apr 22, 2014 at 6:53 PM PT: OMG.... Rescued! Amazing. Did want to say that Winters HAS now posted some expenses...seems someone notified the elections department. Which begs another question...this is the 4th election this guy has run in....you'd think he'd know about election laws and reporting criteria!