March 12th 2017 newsletter
Chamber of Commerce Looking
for the Most Liberal Sheriff
Last week this Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Sheriff Survey came out and as expected the Chamber wants another Whetsel Weasel to continue the policies of turning criminals out onto the streets and supporting the construction of a new jail ran by a "non profit" trust. Translated that means more six figure jobs for retiring legislators and political cronies.
2017 Oklahoma County Sheriff Candidate Questionnaire1. Are you familiar with the work of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Reform Task Force?
2. Do you support implementation of the task force's recommendations?
3. Would you support formation of an Oklahoma County Jail Trust? (similar to operations in Tulsa)
4. Would you support outsourcing management of the jail using an Oklahoma County Jail Trust?
5. Would you support more formal cooperation with Oklahoma City Police for patrol in the county's unincorporated areas?
6. What would be your top three priorities as Sheriff? (250 words or less)
7. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the next Sheriff? (250 words or less)
8. What specific skills or experience do you have that make you uniquely qualified to serve as Sheriff? (250 words or less)
9. Who should be in our county jail? And why should they be there?
10. Do you have any other concerns or comments? (250 words or less)
11. You can also complete the survey by going to – www.okcchamber.com/sheriffsurvey
Question #1 is about former Speaker Kris Steel and Oklahoma County Prosecutor David Prater's partnership with the New York based ACLU. The idea is to turn more criminals out on the streets using no bail bond and public defenders. Doing so grows Kris Steel's TEAM non profit empire, grows the public defender's empire, and ensures a steady stream of customers that pay a few hundred dollars per month with TEAM on monitoring and "pre trial services".
The public defender representation ensures that the criminals plead guilty for lower charges, ensuring a steady flow of parolees and deferred action sentences that again fund Kris Steel's TEAM organization.
Question #2 is a plan to strip the County Sheriff of his jail responsibilities, something that is constitutionally mandated by the Oklahoma Constitution. Replacing the sheriff with a new trust paying out six figure salaries to the favored political cronies and removing the accountability of those running the county jail as the trustees of the trust will be appointed political cronies.
Question #5 strips away the second leg of the County Sheriff's job, patrolling and investigating crime in unincorporated areas of a county. That means the rural citizens no longer have a Sheriff to hold accountable every four years, increases the number of highly paid Oklahoma City police officers (unionized), and brings us closer to abolishing the Sheriff in Oklahoma.
All that would be left of the sheriff duties is court house security which can be contracted out to private contractors similar to the TSA. Far harder to track corruption in a private contractor, impossible to hold them accountable at the ballot box, and more profits for political cronies across the state.
