Fellow Democrats,
I was extremely disappointed when I viewed Kevin Coppinger’s response to a question on his campaign Facebook page. A constituent of Essex County asked the canidate why we had an elected Sheriff. In response Coppinger explain that many people throughout the years have been trying to figure out the answer to that question and that until the legislature makes it a government appointment for the governor the voters will have to “sort it out.” I’m extremely astonished that candidate Coppinger could not come up with one good reason why we have an elected Sheriff. Why would he even run? It seems to me that Coppinger would gladly like to take the voice of voters away and stifle democracy. He obviously believes that being Sheriff should be an appointed position. This statements policy view could be a sneak preview of how Mr. Coppenger deals with the public, inmates, and organize labor working for the department. After seeing this post on Facebook I had to join BlueMass group and post a statement. I look forward to posting again about many other races and issues.
Life Long Democrat
C. Cahill
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I agree, he is not the right man for the job.
head and shoulders above the pack that’s running for sheriff in Essex…
Thank you Holly. If he is elected we will have a big problem.
By your reasoning, anyone who objected to electing judges would be “stifling democracy”. Personally, I think electing law enforcement officials creates all the wrong incentives to be “tough on crime” and score big headlines, rather than actually reducing crime beyond the next election.
Then again, I’m someone who still isn’t sure why we have county government in the first place, so…
Hi, sabutai, very long time since I was at BMG…but not surprised that you saw through the post right away.
Have not been by BMG for a while. Used to be a regular participant. Tonight I decided to check in on the POTUS race and Boston City hall stuff. BUT, got detoured right off the bat by CCahill and cohort Hollyshorten16. The Essex County Sheriff’s race is interesting. There are so many candidates (13). The one that has been selected for attack in these posts is Lynn Chief of Police Kevin Coppinger, an incredibly qualified candidate who would probably do the best job getting rid of the politics that has clouded that department for many decades. On Coppinger’s facebook page referenced (and distorted) by CCahill, Tom Tilas a well known person from Peabody posed the question “Why isn’t the Sheriff and appointed position?”…legitimate question…Coppinger’s Committee responded that that question had been asked for a long time…that’s correct. When previous Essex County Sheriff were sent to jail themselves, many North Shore taxpayers were calling for an appointed Sheriff. BUT, as Coppinger explained, until the legislature decides to do that it remains and elected position. NO WHERE does Coppinger call for it to be an appointed position. So CCahill and Holly…NOT TO WORRY…if Essex County is lucky enough to get Coppinger as the new Sheriff everything will be fine. If you want to discuss the Sheriff’s race then do so based on facts not slings.
First, the High Sheriff doesn’t get to decide whether his office is elected or not. He is running because he wants to be Sheriff and for now that’s how one gets the gig. I too, have long wondered why many of our “county” offices on the merits. The legal reason is because the Constitution says so, which even transcends the abolition of many of our county governments. I would elected a County Executive responsible for making these appointments, subject to the confirmation of the County Legislative Delegation. (NH counties are governed by their County Delegations.) Same goes for Registers of Deeds and Probate, District Attorney, and Clerk of Courts.
I live in an active county, which has a county-level legislative body. We have 3 county commissioners, who hire an executive director, but he is not an appointing power except for routine personnel, the commissioners and legislature are.
A a couple of years ago, the state subsumed our Sheriff’s office – the sheriff is elected still, but is now funded via the state budget. The state got a nice little real estate bump out of it, albeit incomplete. There are telecommunications towers at the county complex which collect significant rents, and the county says they belong to them while the state says it was part of their taking. But, the state did not specify the towers, so it’s debatable. Overall, it’s an awkward split.
I met him and Russell at the Salem pride parade, glad to see law enforcement back him that community and their presence and the absence of many others has helped color my vote. He does have very annoying sponsored ads on Facebook though.