Marianne's Politiblog: Island County Sheriff

rickfelici@yahoo.com https://www.facebook.com/rickfeliciforsheriff/

Mr Felici is currently the #2 man in the Island County Sheriff’s department

Rather than try to re-write, I will let the man speak for himself:

I am running for Island County Sheriff because I believe in efficient, effective and integrated public safety across all aspects of life in Island County. I believe the Sheriff has a duty to protect and serve all who live, work and play in Island County. We live in a beautiful, dynamic and growing rural county. Growth has many positive benefits, however with growth comes additional strain on limited public resources and increased criminal activity. I see this election as an excellent opportunity for me to contribute to the citizens of Island County by sharing my experience, leadership and vision for new levels of integrated and effective law enforcement. I love what I do because I know it makes a difference to all members of our community.

Drug Enforcement & Quality of Life
Drug abuse, including the unprecedented use of heroin and other illicit drugs, homelessness and people suffering from mental health issues are some of the largest challenges to public safety today. Management of these issues requires an effective combination of enforcement, education and treatment. As your Sheriff, I will work tirelessly to combine the strengths of all available resources to combat these problems as they relate to public safety & quality of life. There is not one perfect solution. However, I believe that collaborative work with fellow governmental agencies, concerned citizens and community organizations will yield positive and measurable results.

Cyber Crime
Internet and Web-based technologies bring new opportunities for criminal activity such as identity theft, sexual exploitation, fraud, and harassment. While the Island County Sheriff's Office currently has a cutting edge team investigating computer crimes, I believe the threat of cyber crime is still in its infancy. We must continue to grow in this area to combat this emerging type of crime. I am proud of the work our Office does in investigating these crimes and I believe education is key to personal safety online.

As your Sheriff, I will work to ensure that resources are dedicated to internet safety education in our schools & community, as well as supporting investigation and enforcement of cyber crime laws.

Property Crime
Theft, fraud, burglary and other "property crimes" continue to be an unfortunate reality in our society. There is no doubt these crimes have a direct relationship to illegal drug use. We must find ways to dedicate resources to more proactive drug investigations to effectively address property crime. As your Sheriff, I will work to ensure that available resources are focused on proactive narcotics enforcement.

Traffic Safety
In my experience, traffic safety is one of the most frequently voiced concerns of our community. Serious injury and fatal collisions occur far too often on our roadways. We must continue to work with our enforcement and education partners to combat this public safety issue.

In 2015, Rick was appointed to his current position as the Chief Criminal Deputy for the Island County Sheriff's Office. He is responsible for the leadership and management of Patrol, Investigations, Marine Safety and Animal Control Divisions. Along with these responsibilities are budgeting proposals, office development and hiring of new employees. Rick focuses on fostering an environment of leadership, accountability, fiscal responsibility and customer service.

He is endorsed by retiring sheriff Mark Brown – which I don’t necessarily consider a benefit. Mr Brown and I have had our clashes over the years, mostly having to do with his refusal to deal with critical area damage violations and his support of specious private property claims over the rights of the public. I wish I had had a chance to question both candidates. Given that this is only the primary, and that there are only 2 candidates, I will most likely get that chance.

I have not met Mr Felici nor had the opportunity to hear him speak. I do, however, have several mutual acquaintances who speak highly of him. More than anything, the job of sheriff is one of administration. Mr Felici has that background, and while he is a law & order kind of guy, he is not a law’n order fanatic. There is a difference. Mr Felici seems to know that there is more than one tool in the box and that throwing people in jail is not necessarily the way to deal with all issues.

Lane Campbell https://folkc.com/

lane@folkc.com

In fairness, I will post at least some of Mr Campbell’s excessive verbiage.

Sorry about the italics. They weren't there in my Word draft and I can't figure out how to get rid of them. So in the interest of getting this posted, we're stuck with the italics.

“I Pledge to ALL Citizen’s when Elected Island County Sheriff, I will be your best Advocate for Building Community Trust by ensuring that laws are enforced with respect, compassion and absolute resolve; with complete transparency to everyone.”

Mr Campbell has been a front-line deputy, without any administrative experience. He considers this an advantage, claiming that his decades of experience afford him “the knowledge necessary to effectively supervise and manage the position of Island County Sheriff.” He’s got great slogans: “serve through experience, lead by example.” But then he commented disparagingly about the county’s drug court, claiming that it is ineffective. Both judges Alan Hancock and Vickie Churchill took strong exception to those statements. Mr Campbell seems to lean toward the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” philosophy when it comes to drug offenses. He claimed that the drug court was really a “lets make a deal” game in which offenders were routinely turned loose. The judges, in an op-ed, gave piles of facts and figures demonstrating the effectiveness of the program. In his filing announcement Mr Campbell emphasized his intent to go after drug dealers, and to hire a special drug detective.

There was an angry letter to the editor this week to the effect that Mr Campbell was violating the law by using the American flag as part of his campaign. Many of his large red and white signs have US flags attached. The letter writer pointed out the specific section of the US code which this violates, and questioned a code violator running for law enforcement officer.

I was frankly without a way to gauge these two candidates, until people I knew and trusted told me about Mr Felici and I started seeing the locations of the signs for Mr Campbell. I checked the campaign contributions of both candidates and they have taken in very nearly the same amounts, but Mr Campbell’s has come in some large lump sums which Mr Felici’s has come in a whole lot of smaller donations. I recognize the names of friends in Mr Felici’s donor list. I don’t really recognize any of the names for Mr Campbell, but his signs are showing up in the classic right-wing locations.

I find it telling that Mr Felici has worked his way up the ladder from patrol deputy to detective, to detective sergeant, and then to chief criminal deputy. I note that Mr Campbell has remained a patrol deputy for all these years.

I admit to a lack of firm knowledge about these two individuals, but given what I can verify and what I have heard, I will be voting for Rick Felici.