Dear Editor:
On Monday, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors committed an atrocious act of disservice to the citizens of Calaveras County by appointing an under-qualified candidate
to the position of County Sheriff.
Despite the good work of the Sheriff's Office and its deputies, it is no secret in the County that this department has been torn by dysfunction under the former Sheriff Gary Kuntz and badly needed to be revitalized under new leadership.
The untimely death of the former Sheriff presented the Board with the task of appointing a new Sheriff until the next election; an appointment that provided the Board with an opportunity to fill the position with a candidate that was highly qualified to perform the functions of the office and address and cure many of the ongoing problems.
Of the responders o Board request for candidates, two were highly qualified, one was adequately qualified and to were under qualified.
Their qualifications were based on their law enforcement experiences, their education, their community involvement and their responses to questions asked by the Board during the open to the public interview process.
Based on that criteria the Board should have had a relatively easy choice to make regarding the appointment; a choice that would have been a giant leap forward for Calaveras County and the office of Sheriff.
Instead, they chose to appoint a protege' of Kuntz, a probationary status sergeant and, although a good deputy, one of the least qualified.
This leaves the Sheriff's Office with the same cast of fraternity brothers and leaves in place the same dysfunctional elements and philosophies, that have caused so many problems in the past few years.
It is glaringly obvious that politics had a major role in the Board's appointment. There is a group of citizenry in this county that unfortunately is comfortable with inferior services and a belief that the status quo is not to be changed.
The Board is aware of this and because they are elected officials, they cannot afford to upset the "Good Ole Boy" faction that has a major role in local politics.
This was obvious when, despite the fact that the initial polling of the Board did not produce a majority for any candidate, a vote was taken that quickly selected the new appointee by a four to one margin.
All under the false and self-serving guise of "doing what is best for Calaveras County".
What an insult to the other responding candidates, an insult to the intelligence of the citizens of Calaveras County and a disgrace to their sworn pledge...!!!
The big loser here is the citizens of Calaveras County. Because of this terrible and irresponsible decision by our Board of Supervisors, we have been deprived of the opportunity to install a real professional, a problem solving law enforcement leader and instead have been saddled with a well-intentioned, under-qualified sergeant and the continuing legacy of a poorly led Sheriff's Office.
We are also burdened with the knowledge that in future elections for this office, qualified candidates for the position are going to be very difficult, if not impossible to attract, because of the far reaching stench of our local politics.
Monday was a sad day for our County. With a high degree of certainty, one can assume that we will one day soon rue this day...!!!
An Irate Citizen
Mike Hansen, Mokelumne Hill
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