July 25, 2018 at 4:54 p.m.
Sheriff candidates face off at forum
Sheriff candidates face off at forum
Facing questions from a panel of area media representatives were sheriff's sergeant Greg Gardner and Oneida County Medical Examiner Larry Mathein, who are challenging incumbent Hartman as Republicans in the Aug. 14 primary, and Tom Wakely, who is running on the Constitutional Party ticket in November.
Asking the questions were Richard Moore, investigative reporter for the Lakeland Times/Northwoods River News, Eileen Persike, editor of the Star Journal, and Ben Meyer of WJFW. The forum was moderated by WXPR news director Ken Krall.
The discussion started with each candidate offering a two-minute opening statement, the order of which was determined by random drawing.
Mathein said this race is the most highly contested in recent memory.
"There are issues that need to be addressed, otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here tonight," he said. "I seek to be your sheriff because my community and your community have a choice in who represents us. The sheriff should be someone that the community feels best serves them; someone they have a choice in who selects them. Our current sheriff was not the choice of the community when he was appointed. This appointment was made at the request of, and supported by, the Oneida County Republican Party, not the voters. At the general election in 2014, Mr. Hartman was officially elected sheriff, virtually unchallenged. He had only been in office a short time, and we gave him a chance."
After a full four-year term, "many people are looking for changes" he continued.
"Community members comment on the disconnect between the leadership of the sheriff's department and the public," he continued. "There is a perception that most of the press coverage related to the department is negative. We know there have been really great things done by the department on a regular basis. We do have some of the best staff available. But what I keep hearing about in a negative light relates to mishandled or poorly managed relationships between the sheriff and his staff, the press and the public. These have been well documented in the press."
Mathein said these "public relations disasters" would not have occurred if Hartman had handled the underlying issues in a different manner.
"Another reason that I am running to be your sheriff is because I believe that there is an ongoing atmosphere of discontent and mistrust within the department," he said. "This is not something that I am pulling out of the air. At a public termination hearing of the important law enforcement grievance committee last year, one witness, (fellow candidate) sheriff's sergeant Gardner, basically testified that he was reluctant to testify because he was concerned about retribution at work."
Mathein said every member of the department, as well as the public and visitors, must be treated equally with "respect, dignity and fairness."
"There should be no fear in honestly voicing your opinion," Mathein said.
Hartman was next to give his opening statement. He summarized his long career in law enforcement and his network of community ties. He is a product of Rhinelander High School with a bachelor's degree from UW-River Falls in business administration.
"I have been your sheriff for almost six years now, and I have 24 years in law enforcement," he said. "I started my career as a police officer in River Falls, I moved to Baraboo, to Rhinelander and ultimately in 1999, I was hired at the Oneida County sheriff's office."
Hartman said he was promoted to patrol sergeant in 2006 and put in charge of court security, civil process and prisoner transport and the Special Response Team. Governor Scott Walker appointed him sheriff in 2013.
"I was also recently elected by my peers to the Badger State Sheriff's Board," he continued. "I represent seven northern county sheriffs at the state level for our association."
Gardner was the third candidate to explain why he was running and to touch on his qualifications, which include 24 years of service with the sheriff's department. A lifelong resident of Oneida County and a 1986 graduate of RHS, Gardner said the only time he has left the community for any extended period of time was while serving in the U.S. Army for four years as a military policeman and to attend college. He has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and an associate degree in police science.
"I'm running for sheriff for several reasons," he said. "It's been a goal of mine going back to my early days of my career, but I wouldn't run just for that reason if I didn't think I could do a better job. I've been encouraged by people in and out of the department to run. I know it is important, I heard Mr. Mathein say in his opening statement, and it is important to me, too, that the voters be given a choice."
"I think it is important that the voters have a say in who their next sheriff is going to be," he continued. "It's a very powerful position, a lot of constitutional powers and it is important to have a person with the right temperament in that position."
While he is approximately 18 months away from being vested for retirement from the department with full benefits, Gardner said he has a lot left to offer the citizens of Oneida County as sheriff.
"I don't think I would put myself through it if I didn't think I could do a better job," he said.
Wakely was the last to give an opening statement.
"The reason I'm running for sheriff is everybody seems to have the impression now that you should be a police officer to run for sheriff," he said. "I remember times here where we had businessmen running for sheriff, counties around us where they would have a private investigator run for sheriff. And I am convinced that there are certain people who don't get arrested, and it is part of the training to be a policeman; don't arrest anyone on the City Council or county board, you don't arrest the judge, you don't arrest the district attorney."
Following the opening statements, the panelists began directing questions to each candidate. The candidate directly questioned was given two minutes to reply while the other three candidates were given 30 seconds to respond.
The first question was posed by Moore to Mathein. It concerned an open records lawsuit filed by The Lakeland Times for records concerning some internal investigations that led to "some pretty explosive revelations," including a deputy sheriff being accused of sexually assaulting another officer. Much of this information was not made available to the county's public safety committee, which oversees the sheriff's department, or it took no action on increasing the committee's oversight. Moore asked if lawsuits against the department or major internal allegations should be brought straight to that committee for action or is the sheriff alone in charge of oversight?
"Yes, basically, the sheriff is his own entity, and he makes the decisions as to what comes into or out of that department," Mathein said. "That being said, I think, especially in this day and age, the more transparent, the more open we can be, especially with the powers that be within our committee of jurisdiction of our county board as it were, we keep everyone informed. It doesn't have to get out into the public right away, but when the time comes for something to be released, I believe you have a much better chance of doing it right if you can keep more people informed."
As medical examiner, he said he reports to the same committee of jurisdiction as the sheriff and it is not uncommon for him to put in a call to the chairperson to seek input on a matter.
"I can't know everything, I can't know the right and wrong of everything. So the more people I can necessarily get involved with some of that decision-making process, I feel the public has a right to know a lot more then what we're letting them in on," Mathein said. "And I also think there are times we probably give a little too much."
Hartman said he believes the sheriff's department can be more open with the public safety committee.
"When I found out that information (about the alleged sexual assault), I consulted with numerous attorneys, the committee chair knew what was going on, our county board chairman knew," Hartman said.
Gardner agreed that the committee does have some oversight responsibilities.
"And I would certainly be willing to have them scrutinizing what we're doing," he said. "I would not shy away from any scrutiny from them. Just notifying them doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to get out to the media members or the public. You guys (the media) have responsibilities, too."
Wakely said he thinks law enforcement sometimes uses the cover of an ongoing investigation to avoid releasing information.
"Sometimes it goes on for two years or more and nothing is taking place," Wakely said. "We see this going on up in our federal government, we see what is going on."
Meyer asked Hartman what he would do to help the department be more fiscally responsible by cutting one area to reduce spending.
Hartman said one area that always receives considerable scrutiny is the cost of health care for people incarcerated in the county jail.
"We are constantly looking at other options to try to minimize the cost," Hartman said. "We have to be creative to try to keep a zero-based budget, which we have done for the last 13 years; we have to absorb those costs into other areas of the sheriff's department to try to be as efficient as possible."
Gardner also cited the cost of inmate health care as one area he would look at if elected. Although he isn't directly involved with the budgeting for the whole department, he noted he put together his own budget last year.
While he did not disagree that inmate medical costs need to be reined in, Mathein said he would look to other parts of the budget to make reductions.
"We have to make sure that we are serving all of our constituents first, in the most appropriate manner possible," he said.
Wakely said he believes that the sheriff's department has more personnel than is needed and some staffers could be cut without impacting public safety.
In response to another question, Gardner, Mathein and Wakely spoke out against a recent proposal in the state legislature to allow concealed carry of firearms without a permit. Wakely went so far as to say anyone who wishes to have a concealed carry permit should be required to demonstrate some proficiency with the weapon, to include basic marksmanship.
Hartman said he had not read the bill in question, however he said he would support the change if it comes up again in the next legislative session.
"What I've found in my career is most people that have a concealed carry don't carry very often," Hartman said. "So if that bill were to pass, I don't see where we'd see much of an increase in people who would actually carry. I'm strong in the Second Amendment, and I believe that people have a right to carry."
Mathein was asked why voters should vote for him over Hartman or Gardner, both of whom have decades of experience with the department and in law enforcement in general. Mathein has served as an EMT, firefighter and fire chief before becoming the medical examiner.
"The sheriff, although he is the top law enforcement officer in the county, is primarily an administrative role," he said. "The sheriff, as we have heard, is responsible for making sure the jail is operating and that the various functions of the department are taken care of. The day-to-day operations of the sheriff's department are primarily managed by the chief deputy, and it has been set up that way for very many years."
Mathein said he has quite a few years experience working with the sheriff's department and area police forces in his capacity as medical examiner.
"(We work) hand-in-hand on many incidents including homicides and suicides and crime scenes where evidence is being gathered and witnesses are being talked with where they are maintaining scene security and those kinds of things," he noted. "But the sheriff isn't the guy who is out there pulling cars over and making arrests. The sheriff is the person who is making sure that the people doing those things are trained, funded, are managed properly."
He likened the sheriff to the captain of a ship. While he doesn't necessarily know how the engines work or many other specific tasks, he puts people in place who know how each system should be run.
"That's what this job is, to make sure that the operation is running as smoothly as possible," Mathein said. "He has good, quality people that have been trained to do those jobs."
Hartman was asked about reports that the sheriff's department has been described by some employees as a "hostile work environment" and what could be done to change that perception.
"Lawsuits in the police profession are becoming much more common," he replied. "The past two sheriffs have faced lawsuits, as well as I have. It's hard to get through a shift working the road without someone saying 'I'm going to sue you.' I think the workplace environment at the sheriff's department is a good one. I think the vast majority of people are happy. And I think they have confidence in me and my administration."
Gardner said one thing he would change would be the monthly posting of how many tickets each deputy has issued.
"There's no posting about how many papers they have served, how many crimes are solved, it's just citations," Gardner said. "And we evaluate deputies based on these numbers."
Gardner was asked about any reorganization or staff changes he would foresee making if elected, particularly the balance between deputies on the road versus administration.
"One thing I noticed in the jail in particular is that we have all these extra inmates. We house Department of Corrections, state inmates. We more than doubled the size of our jail without adding any more corrections officers," he said. "And I just think that's a safety issue, we're kind of walking the tightrope there. It brings in a lot of money, but it's a safety issue."
In addition, he said county deputies have to transport prisoners to and from Stanley Correctional Institution, which takes two deputies off the road for each trip.
Hartman was asked what could be done to make area schools safer. He noted that the sheriff's department provides liaison officers to Rhinelander schools and said he recently worked with the schools to do safety audits so they could qualify for the recent round of school safety grants.
"I think a bigger deal that you will see coming in the future is threat assessment for all buildings, government buildings and private businesses," Hartman said, adding that he recently sent one his deputies to a threat assessment school and that individual is now qualified to do those types of studies. Hartman said he would like to have more deputies trained to do these assessments.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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