08-03-2012, 11:25 AM
The Naples Daily News this morning did the same thing the News-Press did - they endorsed Tim Fisher. For those of you on Facebook please share this endorsement with your friends and ask them to do the same. We need a new sheriff for the sake of our agency and the county.
Endorsement editorial: Lee sheriff, clerk of courts, tax collector
Staff Reports
Friday, August 3, 2012
Election 2012: Lee constitutional officers
When early voting starts in Lee County on Saturday, all 167,000 Republicans countywide will be selecting nominees for three constitutional officers. Two of the openings for these seldom-contested posts are due to a retirement and a death. The other is due to a quest for a higher standard of public service.
Our endorsements for these GOP nominations:
Tax Collector: Larry Hart
Let there be no doubt about it: Hart, who has received a gubernatorial appointment to succeed the late Catherine Curtis, is the person for the job.
Local public service has been his mission since joining the police force of his native Fort Myers in 1979 and becoming its chief in 1995 for six years. He was appointed to the board of trustees at Florida Gulf Coast University — by three different governors — and served as assistant to Curtis, working in all phases of the public-service agency, for a decade.
He vows to take the tax collector's office to the next level. His plan: Listen to the people.
Also in race: Kyle Lee
What happens next? The winner faces a write-in candidate on Nov. 6.
Clerk of Courts: Linda Doggett
If there were a natural fit for any office in Southwest Florida this primary season, this would be it.
Doggett has risen through the ranks of the clerk's office for the past 28 years — the tenure of her mentor, Charlie Green, who is retiring.
She would take office with the confidence of knowing everything it does, from top to bottom, from record-keeping to auditing the spending of the Lee County Commission.
She already practices what she preaches about the office being "the hub of local government" for citizens and officials alike.
Doggett's specialty is technology and making it work for judges, lawyers and the public via online access and transparency.
Getting the job done: That's what counts for Doggett.
Also in race: Brian Bigelow.
What happens next? The winner faces a write-in on Nov. 6.
Sheriff: Tim Fisher
We like incumbent Sheriff Mike Scott's crime-fighting and efficiency record.
We like his approachability and good humor — when things are going his way.
We do not like his other sides: grandstanding, sarcasm, spite toward staff members who cross him and shunning the news media when questions and comments about matters of legitimate public concern — such as his relationship with a convicted launderer of drug money, the death of an inmate in the Lee County Jail or a deputy's fatal shooting of an armed criminal suspect — get under his skin.
We do not like to see him use political prowess, derived from the public trust, to endorse political candidates near and far.
A sheriff should be bigger than that. We have an example close to home, with Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.
All the community needs — and wants, we believe — is a credible, steady law-enforcement leader who we can trust to be consistently professional and act as if he feels privileged to serve.
In Lee, Tim Fisher can be that leader. Even better, as his campaign says, "I am a cop who will lead by example." He has been tested and prepared by 17 years with the Lee Sheriff's Office in diverse roles, including road patrol, detective, sex crimes, internal affairs, youth relations and SWAT. His experience compares favorably to that of Scott when the incumbent was first elected in 2004.
Fisher is a straight arrow who would cut the administration, starting with public relations, to get more cops on the beat.
The only star that is needed at the Sheriff's Office is the one on badges. Fisher just wants to be sheriff.
What happens next? The winner faces a write-in and no-party-affiliation candidates on Nov. 6.
Questions about voting? Call the Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office at 533-VOTE (533-8683).
© 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online
Endorsement editorial: Lee sheriff, clerk of courts, tax collector
Staff Reports
Friday, August 3, 2012
Election 2012: Lee constitutional officers
When early voting starts in Lee County on Saturday, all 167,000 Republicans countywide will be selecting nominees for three constitutional officers. Two of the openings for these seldom-contested posts are due to a retirement and a death. The other is due to a quest for a higher standard of public service.
Our endorsements for these GOP nominations:
Tax Collector: Larry Hart
Let there be no doubt about it: Hart, who has received a gubernatorial appointment to succeed the late Catherine Curtis, is the person for the job.
Local public service has been his mission since joining the police force of his native Fort Myers in 1979 and becoming its chief in 1995 for six years. He was appointed to the board of trustees at Florida Gulf Coast University — by three different governors — and served as assistant to Curtis, working in all phases of the public-service agency, for a decade.
He vows to take the tax collector's office to the next level. His plan: Listen to the people.
Also in race: Kyle Lee
What happens next? The winner faces a write-in candidate on Nov. 6.
Clerk of Courts: Linda Doggett
If there were a natural fit for any office in Southwest Florida this primary season, this would be it.
Doggett has risen through the ranks of the clerk's office for the past 28 years — the tenure of her mentor, Charlie Green, who is retiring.
She would take office with the confidence of knowing everything it does, from top to bottom, from record-keeping to auditing the spending of the Lee County Commission.
She already practices what she preaches about the office being "the hub of local government" for citizens and officials alike.
Doggett's specialty is technology and making it work for judges, lawyers and the public via online access and transparency.
Getting the job done: That's what counts for Doggett.
Also in race: Brian Bigelow.
What happens next? The winner faces a write-in on Nov. 6.
Sheriff: Tim Fisher
We like incumbent Sheriff Mike Scott's crime-fighting and efficiency record.
We like his approachability and good humor — when things are going his way.
We do not like his other sides: grandstanding, sarcasm, spite toward staff members who cross him and shunning the news media when questions and comments about matters of legitimate public concern — such as his relationship with a convicted launderer of drug money, the death of an inmate in the Lee County Jail or a deputy's fatal shooting of an armed criminal suspect — get under his skin.
We do not like to see him use political prowess, derived from the public trust, to endorse political candidates near and far.
A sheriff should be bigger than that. We have an example close to home, with Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.
All the community needs — and wants, we believe — is a credible, steady law-enforcement leader who we can trust to be consistently professional and act as if he feels privileged to serve.
In Lee, Tim Fisher can be that leader. Even better, as his campaign says, "I am a cop who will lead by example." He has been tested and prepared by 17 years with the Lee Sheriff's Office in diverse roles, including road patrol, detective, sex crimes, internal affairs, youth relations and SWAT. His experience compares favorably to that of Scott when the incumbent was first elected in 2004.
Fisher is a straight arrow who would cut the administration, starting with public relations, to get more cops on the beat.
The only star that is needed at the Sheriff's Office is the one on badges. Fisher just wants to be sheriff.
What happens next? The winner faces a write-in and no-party-affiliation candidates on Nov. 6.
Questions about voting? Call the Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office at 533-VOTE (533-8683).
© 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online