06-08-2009, 06:54 PM
> Posted by Scott Wyman on June 8, 2009 09:00 AM
Does the County Commission have the political will to play hardball with the sheriff?
That’s the $109 million question that looms over the next couple months. Do commissioners hold firm and demand Sheriff Al Lamberti share equally in bridging the $109 million deficit or do they fold amid his argument that such cuts jeopardize public safety?
Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion raised the subject Thursday during the county’s latest round of budget workshops.
“Will you have the political courage to stand there and say: ‘Doggone it, I did it and am willing to go to the mat for it all the way’?” Eggelletion said. “And, you take that fight to the street. And, if you don’t have the will to do that, stop playing this game and go ahead and give the sheriff what he wants and cave.”
If commissioners want to know just how rough a battle they face, they should look back at news stories from 1991. Then-Sheriff Nick Navarro and the commission engaged in a bloody budget fight, and that commission had some heavy-hitters – Lori Parrish, Nicki Grossman, Scott Cowan.
Navarro proposed a record budget that year even though other government agencies were struggling with hiring freezes and cutbacks. “In a word, it’s the budget from hell,” Grossman said.
Navarro struck back hard in the budget fight. “I have cut my budget down below the marrow of the bone,” he said at one point. His organized crime unit suddenly requested years of meeting minutes, prompting questions of using criminal investigation for political purposes.
The commission had to move its budget hearings to high school gyms and used city police for crowd control as thousands turned out.
The current commission seems to be stealing pages from the playback of their predecessors.
County auditors both then and today have questioned the sheriff’s contracts to provide law enforcement in some cities. And salaries at the Sheriff’s Office have been an issue both times.
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Does the County Commission have the political will to play hardball with the sheriff?
That’s the $109 million question that looms over the next couple months. Do commissioners hold firm and demand Sheriff Al Lamberti share equally in bridging the $109 million deficit or do they fold amid his argument that such cuts jeopardize public safety?
Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion raised the subject Thursday during the county’s latest round of budget workshops.
“Will you have the political courage to stand there and say: ‘Doggone it, I did it and am willing to go to the mat for it all the way’?” Eggelletion said. “And, you take that fight to the street. And, if you don’t have the will to do that, stop playing this game and go ahead and give the sheriff what he wants and cave.”
If commissioners want to know just how rough a battle they face, they should look back at news stories from 1991. Then-Sheriff Nick Navarro and the commission engaged in a bloody budget fight, and that commission had some heavy-hitters – Lori Parrish, Nicki Grossman, Scott Cowan.
Navarro proposed a record budget that year even though other government agencies were struggling with hiring freezes and cutbacks. “In a word, it’s the budget from hell,” Grossman said.
Navarro struck back hard in the budget fight. “I have cut my budget down below the marrow of the bone,” he said at one point. His organized crime unit suddenly requested years of meeting minutes, prompting questions of using criminal investigation for political purposes.
The commission had to move its budget hearings to high school gyms and used city police for crowd control as thousands turned out.
The current commission seems to be stealing pages from the playback of their predecessors.
County auditors both then and today have questioned the sheriff’s contracts to provide law enforcement in some cities. And salaries at the Sheriff’s Office have been an issue both times.
POSTED IN: County Commission (274)
> Discuss this entry
Permalink | ShareThis| Sphere: Related Content
Comments