The Hennepin County Sheriff's Deputies Association (HCSDA) has stooped to a level unworthy of those in their profession. While it is within their right to endorse a candidate for sheriff they should not engage in the spread of outright lies against the other candidate.
On September 13th 2006 the HCSDA published a letter stating they "took a vote of no confidence" in Stanek's opponent Juan Lopez. Once again I reiterate that Teamsters Local 320 has not endorsed any candidate for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, but I will not sit idly by while a friend, former co-worker in the Sheriff's Office of 10 years, and a Teamster is being attacked with lies.
Mr. Denman is the President of the HCSDA and I have a few questions for him I'll pose openly. If he chooses to respond in writing, I will publish those responses here.
Question 1: Your letter states a vote of no confidence was taken. Did that vote pass? What were the numbers? I heard it did not pass which is why your letter only states a vote was taken.
Question 2: Why does your letter lie and state that Juan Lopez is "not a cop and not currently licensed by the Minnesota Peace Officers Standard & Training Board," when he is? Juan Lopez's Post Board number is 16298 and expires 6/30/2008.
Question 3: Your letter states , "Despite Mr. Lopez's claim that he has significant experience in the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office..." This statement is a smear designed to call into question the fact that Juan Lopez has 10 years of experience in the Sheriff's Office while your endorsed candidate has none.
A further point to be made is the laughable quote from Mr. Denman's letter which states, "Has he ever answered a 911 call or walked down an alley as a peace officer...He is simply not qualified to lead the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office."
First of all the Minnesota constitution states the duties of the Sheriff are to keep the jail and patrol the waterways. Juan Lopez has 10 years experience in the jail. Mr. Stanek has none. Walking a beat is not constitutionally Sheriff's work, running the jail is. Patrolling the streets is covered by the many excellent police departments in the cities of Hennepin County. Furthermore most of the licensed sheriff's deputies in Mr. Denman's association will never walk down an alley as a peace officer or answer a 911 call because the majority of them basically work a 9-5 Monday through Friday schedule standing in court as bailiffs, most not even carrying a gun in that capacity, it's a position that doesn't even require a peace officers license in most states. It is the Teamster Detention Deputies that mainly staff and run the jail 24 hours a day, protecting the public 365 days a year of which Mr. Lopez was one. We have higher rates of assault on us and injuries then the licensed peace officers Mr. Denman represents. So this crap of answering 911 calls and images of walking down alleys is something most of them will never do in the course of their duties as sheriff's deputies. Juan Lopez has more experience in the duties of the Sheriff's Office then current Sheriff McGowan had when he took office 12 years ago.
Mr. Denman is assisting a campaign that has been engaging in questionable campaign practices and this "No Confidence" letter seems to be a continuation of those practices. The Stanek campaign has posted signs in illegal places (see pictures in the previous entries) and has even stated on their website that, "This is only the second time in forty (40) years Hennepin County residents have had an opportunity to elect a new sheriff." Not true. When Sheriff Omodt retired, Sheriff McGowan ran against Chief Deputy Laberge and then four years ago Juan Lopez ran against McGowan and received 102,000 votes! Stanek's campaign is trying to pretend this didn't happen. Fact: This is the third time the voters have had a chance to elect a new Sheriff.
I'll end this by saying the Teamsters have endorsed no one in this sheriff's race. I am attempting to keep this site neutral but will publish things that are newsworthy and facts if forwarded to me by our members. This is not an official Teamsters site and I will not remain silent when I see lies being perpetrated in this campaign. Members having facts about either candidate are free to post on this site.
Mr. Denman I welcome your comments in writing and will post them here.
THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NEWS SITE FOR CURRENT AND RETIRED CORRECTIONS OFFICERS! This blog will keep up on current events affecting Detention Deputies and Corrections Officers. SINCE 2006!
4 comments:
Wade, first and foremost, let me state that I - and the members of the HCSDA - have nothing but the utmost respect for the detention deputies, telecommunicators and all other staff members for the work they do. Each group is essential, equally valuable and all contribute to the outstanding reputation enjoyed by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. We all have the same goal in mind – we want an effective leader and a sheriff that will best serve and protect the residents of Hennepin County. I hope that in the future we can have a productive dialogue about the candidates for Hennepin County Sheriff without resorting to name-calling and false allegations. That said, please see below for my response to your inquiries:
Question 1: Your letter states a vote of no confidence was taken. Did that vote pass? What were the numbers? I heard it did not pass which is why your letter only states a vote was taken.
Sorry for any confusion. The motion was made at our general membership meeting on September 13, 2006. After discussion, it was voted on and unanimously approved. There were zero (0) “no” votes. Our meeting minutes will soon be posted on our website and that may take away some of your confusion.
Question 2: Why does your letter lie and state that Juan Lopez is "not a cop and not currently licensed by the Minnesota Peace Officers Standard & Training Board," when he is? Juan Lopez's Post Board number is 16298 and expires 6/30/2008.
Allow me to clarify my statement. Many have a driver’s license; though hundreds may be suspended, revoked, cancelled or restricted. In somewhat the same fashion, Mr. Lopez has not held an active peace officers license in Minnesota since 2001 (and then, for only a total of four months). If you look under the POST Board website, it states that Mr. Lopez has an inactive POST license and in fact, it further appears he needs to meet additional requirements that come into play when a license has been inactive for more than three years. The bottom line is his license status is inactive. He is a probation officer, and although it is an admirable profession, plain & simple- he is not a cop.
Question 3: Your letter states, "Despite Mr. Lopez's claim that he has significant experience in the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office..." This statement is a smear designed to call into question the fact that Juan Lopez has 10 years of experience in the Sheriff's Office while your endorsed candidate has none.
The statement was in no way intended to be a smear against Mr. Lopez, but we were merely intending to point out that Lopez has less experience in public safety compared to his opponent. Again, I refer to the fact you must be a licensed peace officer to be the Sheriff of Hennepin County. I believe that some of Mr. Lopez’s statements and press releases have been misleading. In the Star Tribune’s Primary Voter’s Guide, under the Background Section the first item he lists is “Law Enforcement Officer,” when in fact his law enforcement experience was for four months in 2001. Most would put their current job assignment first. Mr. Lopez needs to be more upfront about what his experience and qualifications are. After we published our vote of “No Confidence” expressing our concerns about misleading statements, Mr. Lopez did clarify on his website that he was a detention deputy. While he was trained as a peace officer five years ago, this statement implies that he is currently a peace officer, when in reality he works for Hennepin County Juvenile Probation.
You also state: A further point to be made is the laughable quote from Mr. Denman's letter which states, "Has he ever answered a 911 call or walked down an alley as a peace officer...He is simply not qualified to lead the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office."
First of all the Minnesota constitution states the duties of the Sheriff are to keep the jail and patrol the waterways. Juan Lopez has 10 years experience in the jail. Mr. Stanek has none. Walking a beat is not constitutionally Sheriff's work, running the jail is. Patrolling the streets is covered by the many excellent police departments in the cities of Hennepin County. Furthermore most of the licensed sheriff's deputies in Mr. Denman's association will never walk down an alley as a peace officer or answer a 911 call because the majority of them basically work a 9-5 Monday through Friday schedule standing in court as bailiffs, most not even carrying a gun in that capacity, it's a position that doesn't even require a peace officers license in most states. It is the Teamster Detention Deputies that mainly staff and run the jail 24 hours a day, protecting the public 365 days a year of which Mr. Lopez was one. We have higher rates of assault on us and injuries then the licensed peace officers Mr. Denman represents. So this crap of answering 911 calls and images of walking down alleys is something most of them will never do in the course of their duties as sheriff's deputies. Juan Lopez has more experience in the duties of the Sheriff's Office then current Sheriff McGowan had when he took office 12 years ago.
I believe Sheriff Pat McGowan and his successful tenure as our sheriff speaks for itself. He had no experience in the Sheriff’s Office, yet was a long-time cop and an effective leader in the Minnesota Legislature. The Hennepin County Sheriff is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer for the most populous county in Minnesota. To be an effective law enforcement leader, knowledge of, and experience with law enforcement issues can only help make a candidate more viable. Regardless of what may be stated in the Minnesota State Statute, I don’t think that either you or Mr. Lopez believes that the duties of the Sheriff are limited to the keeping of the jail and the patrolling of the waterways.
Lastly, I must take exception to your disparaging comments about the licensed deputy group. Our deputies work side by side with law enforcement throughout Minnesota, and their assistance is often requested by local agencies. Regardless of their assigned unit, deputies have the opportunity to walk down streets and alleys working homeland security, Orange Alert at the Minneapolis Airport, special events, dignitary protection details and walking a beat in the downtown SafeZone.
Comments, which seem to divide our employees, rather than uniting them, have no place in a debate about the qualifications of our candidates for sheriff. Rest assured, the licensed deputies unit will continue to work as professional partners with clerical, TCs, civilians and detention staff, all of whom are concerned employees of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
Pat thank you for your response.
The only clarification I would like to make is that it was not my intent to disparage or belittle any of the work that is performed by the HCSO's licensed deputies. I was only trying to make the point that the majority of our Sheriff's Deputy's work is in the Court's Division not in patroling the streets. Therefore the part of your letter that questioned whether Juan Lopez had ever answered a 911 call or walked in an alley as a peace officer were irrelevant to "being a cop" or being the Sheriff.
From a detention deputy point of view the argument that Juan Lopez is not fit to lead the Sheriff's Office because he spent most of his 10 years in the Sheriff's Office in the Jail Division was seen as divisive. Especially since operating the jail is the main function of the Sheriff according to the Minnesota Constitution.
We are on the same team, but this does not mean we will not disagree at times. For the last 16 years that I have worked in the Sheriff's Office I have trained, been trained by, and trained with licensed deputies for work in the jail. I consider our job classes equals, both job classes performing functions essential to the operation of the Sheriff's Department. I have no doubt Mr. Stanek could transition in from the MPD just as Sheriff McGowan did. I just believe Mr.Lopez's experience in the Jail Division is more relevant to the job of a Sheriff.
As to the status of Mr. Lopez's Peace Officer's license my understanding is that all "inactive" means is that he is not currently employed as a peace officer, but is eligible to do so until his license expires on 6/30/2008. His license meets the legal requirement to be Sheriff. So the questions raised about the status of this license have no bearing on his fitness to hold this constitutional office.
Another example is Rich Stanek who is running for Sheriff. He is a devout GOPer, a Pawlenty man through and through. He is renown for his penchant for'tough' policing. Mention his Republican background and his supporters
immediately erupt in an inferno of recriminations. "This is a non-partisanvrace"!
When Bush/Cheney/Pawlenty come into town, Stanek will be there to
welcome them. He will be on the podium at the GOP national convention in '08.
He will endorse, support and enact the GOP agenda at every opportunity. He is a GOPer. He is going to bring the hammer down, he won't care on whom, but it
will come down. He won't think, he will just act. Will that help
Minneapolis?
No. Does he care? No. ...But he loves the DFL, his people even had the
audacity to ask if he could show up at the Hennepin County DFL Convention and talk to our delegates, presumably to show what a great supporter he is of the
DFL and how he agrees with our DFL values and platform
sangambayard-c-m.com
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