Policy allows on-duty sheriff to take part in political activities

By John Wilkenson - Sunday, November 9, 2014

Uninfluenced by the general election just finished, huh? Does anybody actually believe that? Did all Mesa County voters supposedly fall off the turnip truck just yesterday? I can see no good reason for excluding the MC Sheriff from his or her own policy, other than to favor the re-election of incumbent sheriffs. That smells too much like Good Old Boy cronyism and unequal protection of law which raises more questions that it solves. For example, I can understand some rational purpose behind not using ones official title as an MCSD employee to promote a particular political race, but is the prohibited picture mentioned in the old policy the employees official MCSD picture, or any picture of that person? If the policy forbids any picture at all of the person, how would that be different from prohibiting the employees use of his or her own name as being attached to a recognizable political opinion? The new policy is allegedly: Employees, excluding the Sheriff, will not engage in political activities of any kind while on duty. No employee of the Sheriffs staff in an official capacity shall endorse or publicly oppose any candidate or issue without notification and approval of the Sheriff. Since when was a local sheriff given the constitutional authority to approve or disapprove of the public expression by his or her employees of their political opinions? What if a journalist asks, who are you voting for? Why is the sheriff allowed to answer that question while on duty, but his or her employees are not allowed to answer that very same question while on duty? In other words, if the sheriff publicly expresses his or her political opinion, is that supposed to create a fraudulent appearance that everybody in the department agrees with the sheriffs political opinion? It seems to me as though this policy arguably violates the 1st Amendment and equal protection of law on its face. I wonder what the Colorado ACLU would think of the policy. Hopefully one of the MCSD employees will ask them. I might consider asking them myself, but Im not an MCSD employee, and would lack standing. Problem is, does anybody believe that, in Good-Old-Boy-controlled Mesa County one of the MCSD employees could actually ask the ACLU that question without facing serious on-the-job retribution? It seems to me the easiest way to resolve any potential constitutional and/or public relations issues before they become problems is to subject the Sheriff to his or her own policy.

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Policy allows on-duty sheriff to take part in political activities