Deputies for Garcia

This is a pretty remarkable letter to the editor in today's Chron.

The type of sheriff we need

Regarding Tuesday's Page One article "Sheriff aims to polish his star / Thomas takes the heat for mistakes but blames 'politics' for some criticism": In response to Sgt. Richard Newby's comment, he is either quite misinformed or totally out of touch with his membership. While it is true that the Harris County Deputies Organization has mailed letters to the membership requesting their choice in the upcoming sheriff's election, Newby incorrectly stated that our deputies are siding slightly with Adrian Garcia. The truth is, the members of the union are picking Garcia 3 to 1 over Thomas.

There are many reasons the deputies want a change at the top. However, the main one is they have lost faith in Tommy Thomas to lead the third-largest sheriff's department in the nation. They, along with a large number of the public, realize that Thomas cannot lead from the rear. We need a sheriff who will stand up for not only us but the public and lead from the front!

ED CHRISTENSEN
former president, Harris County Deputies Organization, Houston

Emphasis added. I confess, when I started reading this letter and got to the preceeding sentences, I thought it was going to say that the deputies were standing behind their Sheriff. Needless to say, this was a very pleasant surprise.

Meanwhile, Wayne Dolcefino has been poking through the Sheriff's department's emails, and finds a bunch of racist crap. And he makes a point that I am sure will come up again:

They are harmless jokes to some and racism to others. The sheriff's department prohibits inappropriate emails. Something that even top commanders seem to ignore. Of course we wouldn't have known that if the sheriff's office had gotten away with destroying them.

[...]

And the sheriff remains silent.

"It is very much a concern in the community that he is silent on this," said Houston councilmember MJ Khan.

Friday, top commanders, racist and anti-Muslim slurs may be just the beginning. And why the email trail will lead to major new investigations of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

I'm thinking the Sheriff won't be coming out of his bunker for more press appearances any time soon.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 27, 2008 to Election 2008