Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson announced he will seek reelection this November. Here are some questions for discussion:
- What is your understanding of the job of the Kootenai County Sheriff (that one specific position, not the entire office)? What do you believe the sheriff’s duties and responsibilities are?
- What are your expectations for the person elected to that position?
- What do you consider to be the most and least important personal and professional qualifications for the Kootenai County Sheriff?
- If you consider Watson to be qualified to be sheriff, what are his strongest and weakest qualifications?
- If you consider Watson to be unqualified to be sheriff, identify a candidate who has the qualifications you believe to be most important? Explain why that candidate is more qualified than Watson.
- Since 2000 what has been Watson’s greatest accomplishment and his greatest failure? Feel free to name more than one in either category.
- Over the next four years, what do you believe the most significant challenges for the Kootenai County Sheriff and the Office will be?
- If you could give the sheriff one piece of advice, what would it be?
First of all if you file a complaint against an employee of the local branch of government like a deputy – you have to file the complaint with the Sheriff’s office who turns it over to the prosecuter if applicable. If you file with the prosecuter’s office – they turn it back over to the sheriff’s dept. You can file with the State Police dept. and I understand if they want to freak out – they call/leak it to the news media first to thwart/botch the complaint.
If you have a sheriff and a prosecuter who see ‘eye to eye’ so to speak nothing will get done when you file a complaint in regards to a government entity. If you are ignored (that is a given) you have to file a tort claim which will be denied and you will have to hire a private att. while the accused is represented by your taxpayer dollar. It gets really tricky if the prosecuter himself has broken the law. Yes, that happens. This is usually handled in executive session where risk management is assessed and they are paid off to go away or retire quietly if the charge is substantial like sexual harrassment or special in house favors for special people.
When a public official runs uncontested and in the cases of judges as well, I always vote NO.
The AG’s office is only there to represent government officials/find loopholes/ and get them (officials who break the law) off the hook. ‘They’ have their own private law firm. It’s us – who pays their salaris.
Comment by Stebbijo — February 27, 2008 @ 10:01 pm