The Star's Sloppy Endorsements

I was early to make my endorsements during this cycle because. as I wrote then, "I'd hate for anyone to think that the Star's analysis influences me . . ." At the time I wrote that, though, I had no idea how sloppy the Star would be.

I'm not complaining about endorsing candidates other than the ones I support. I'm complaining of my disappointment with their ability to get facts straight and arguments lined up correctly. This season, the Star has erased its own credibility.

In the Sheriff's race, the Star had nice things to say about my favorite candidate, John Bullard, but wound up endorsing Mike Sharp. That's fine with me - reasonable minds can differ as to who is the superior candidate. But what made their endorsement laughable was their mistaken reasoning - the headline of their endorsement noted "Sheriff jobs require experience, solid administrative skills" and the text of their endorsement claimed "Mike Sharp has impressive credentials for the sheriff’s job, given his combination of service with the Kansas City Police Department and years of experience as a businessman". That all sounds pretty reasonable, but Mike Sharp has hardly any relevant experience! What happened was that the Star took at face value Sharp's claim that he has twenty something years of experience as a reserve officer, but, in fact, that's apples compared to oranges. That's like claiming that a kid who received a pair of pilot's wings on his or her first plane trip a dozen years ago has 12 years of experience as a pilot. It's absolutely fine to endorse Mike Sharp if you like him personally, or you think he will bring fresh perspective, or whatever, but it's just plain sloppy and embarrassing to endorse him because he has experience. He doesn't, and the Star should have realized that.

As sloppy as that endorsement was, though, they really shocked me with their endorsement of Jeff Harris - even when we agree that Jeff Harris is the best candidate! Clearly they reached the right result, but they gave him an edge "based on his leadership role [in the General Assembly] and prosecutorial experience". There are two things wrong with that statement - in an Attorney General race, prosecutorial experience is only important for those who do not know what the AG's office really does, and, second, Jeff Harris doesn't really have much irrelevant prosecutorial experience. Instead, Jeff Harris has experience as a division leader in the Attorney General's office itself - much better, and much more relevant!

Over the past several years, political insiders have been chattering about how fewer and fewer people pay attention to the Star's endorsements. Is it because of the rise of blogs, is it because of declining circulation, or some other reason?

I suspect the reason fewer people are paying attention to the Star's endorsements is because the Star is not paying attention when they are making them.

Meeting John Bullard, Candidate for Jackson County Sheriff

A while back, I posted "Can I Get a Little Help?", seeking input on what the Jackson County Sheriff does and which candidate would be best. 3 weeks later, having read up on the candidates and meeting one of them, I'm on board with John Bullard.

I met John for lunch on Friday, along with my friend Kanga. John reminds me of Andy Sipowicz cleaned up and with more hair. John is the model "good cop" - polite, modest, smart, informed and pleasant. Even with assurances that I wouldn't write about his response, he had nothing bad to say about his opponents, preferring, instead, to talk about what he would do in office. (Darn him!)

John Bullard is well-prepared to move the Jackson County Sheriff's Department forward. He alone has the credentials among real law enforcement professionals to build cooperation among the many law enforcement agencies in Jackson County. (Some of the other candidates puff up their resumes by listing "weekend warrior" reserve service, but John is the genuine article.) He has ambitious plans to seek Homeland Security money for upgrades to equipment and communications. He plans to open satellite offices to increase accessibility (Do you know where the Sheriff's office is? Could you get yourself out to Lake Jacomo by bus?) and visibility.

It's been fun but kind of frightening to learn about the Sheriff's Department and the candidates who seek to run it. We are blessed with a few good candidates, but one of them stands out because of his professionalism, experience, and vision. That candidate is John Bullard, and I'm looking forward to voting for him in the primary and again in the general election.

Can I Get a Little Help?

My knowledge of sheriffs comes entirely from reggae and Westerns. I know we have one here in Jackson County, but I've never seen him outdraw someone on Main Street, or string up any rustlers over yonder by the corral. In short, I reckon our current sheriff is a complete failure, but he's not running for reelection, so I see no need to pull a Bob Marley on the lowdown varmint.

More seriously, the Missouri Ethics Commission shows 5 active candidates for the job, and I have no idea who's the best candidate, or even what makes a candidate best for the position.

Please share with me who I should be supporting and why.