Sac Sheriff’s Race Turns Personal Early
Sacramento law enforcement candidate Bret Daniels relived his past and addressed the charges that go ’un-reported’ surrounding his two opponents in the Sacramento Sheriff’s campaign.
As HOGUE NEWS reported yesterday, the three candidates to replace John McGinness as sheriff all have an individual brush with the law; one of them having their investigation falling from importance due to the statute of limitation.
I spoke with Sheriff Candidate Bret Daniels about his 2000 termination from the force, and his thoughts as to the sexual harassment charges directed toward Elk Grove City Councilman and Captain Jim Cooper, and the US Attorney’s investigation into the behavior of Captain Scott Jones.
Both candidates, along with Daniels, are battling to replace John McGinness as Sheriff of Sacramento County.
With the early fray of past illegalities, the Sacramento Sheriff’s race may be an interesting jaunt to the finish-line.
Daniels had much to say as to his treatment in Sacramento media, and the un-reported charges that surrounded his two candidates, Jim Cooper and Scott Jones. Wednesday, on the “Capitol Hour”, Daniels turned the spotlight on his opponents, Cooper and Jones.
Hear my discussion with Bret Daniels here at HOGUE NEWS:
Thursday at 12PM, I will speak with Sheriff Candidate Scott Jones about his brush with the law, and how it impacts his race for the top badge in Sacramento County.
You can ‘listen live’ at HOGUE NEWS starting at 12-noon.
There is also some breaking news surrounding the cash-strapped department.
The next candidate “may” have a tad bit more money than McGinness’ current pauper budget, courtesy of Republican Congressman Dan Lungren’s announcement today:
Dan Lungren (R-Gold River/Sacramento) wrote a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, to enable the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to rewrite their application for *COPS funding (Community Oriented Policing Services).
Congressman Lungren released the following statement:
“Today I wrote to Attorney General Holder requesting that his office allow the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to amend their application for COPS funding. As we are all painfully aware, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office received no monies from the COPS stimulus funding and with the budget shortfalls at the county level, the department has seen a huge cut in essential services.
“I have not seen cuts to a public safety department of this magnitude. We’re talking about 333 full-time positions eliminated, aerial support grounded, SWAT teams cut and K-9 units shut down.”
“If the Department of Justice does not allow for the Sheriff’s Department to amend its application to reflect these changes, the application will reflect levels of service that date back to April of this year before all of these cuts were made.”
“How can officials 2900 miles away make future spending decisions based on inadequate information? I will continue to fight for my constituents and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to see that their story is told here in Washington.”
The Sacramento Sheriff’s race will be one of California’s most interesting.
The past two sheriffs’, Lou Blanas and current holder John McGinness have endorsed two different candidates; Blanas endorsing Cooper, and McGinness endorsing Jones. Daniels has no support from within the force, which has made county citizens very interested in his campaign.
Congressman Lungren’s involvement only increases the interest for the community and the media covering this all important campaign.
Sorry folks, the “politics” of the Sacramento Sheriff in years past didn’t fit the mold of the Clinton/Biden COPS Program. Now, it did fit that of SPD’s Chief Arturo Venegas and the two previous liberal mayor visionaries, Joe Serna and “Better red than Dead” Fargo. The bottom line, US DOJ was more than willing to lie about the 439 to 468 new cops that never appeared on the City’s payroll in spite of the nearly $50 million in various COPS grants the city took. They whole ugly story is on the website link attached to this comment.
FRAUD SHOULD BE A CAMPAIGN ISSUE!
The facts of the matter is this: Who do you trust? I know Albert Najera, he was Venegas Jr. and lied right to my face. Cooper… what way is the political wind blowing today? Jones, unknown quantity or quality. Daniels… I judge him by his record and I see it is mostly good. He stands up for what he believes in, even under fire. He may be too honest for this job. He won’t lie to his public to gain brownie points with Joe Biden or Eric Holder.
Given the climate today, where no law enforcement professional in the country (At the DA or States Attorney General lever) will take on blatant bribery of Congress members to sell their votes over the objection of their constituents, who will care if the Administration plays favorites with the “Get Along – Go Along” crowd in Sacramento.
Sacramento has always been full of political under hand tactics, from our City Council to our County elected Sheriffs. Cooper and Jones are nothing more then the same under handed puppets we’ve had in office for the last several elections. My vote is for Daniels, he is the only one of the three candidates who stands above the rest. He also is the only candidate who openly supports Shall Issue CCW’s, which considering the decline of our law enforcement agencies in the region, we desperately need in order to protect ourselves, because lord knows we can’t count on the Sacramento Police of Sheriffs to be there.