Category: elections

About a week late, but for those of you outside the area who might not have heard, Chief Deputy Greg Graver won the special sheriff’s election mentioned in the previous post.  Although Graver was nominated by petition and was running against the two major party candidates, he walked away with an impressive 72% of the vote.

Congratulations Sheriff Graver!

Here in Jones County Iowa we will be having a special election to choose our sheriff this Tuesday.  Our long-time and well liked sheriff Mark Denniston retired this summer.  Besides being a good all-around law enforcement officer and administrator, county gun owners liked Denniston because of his friendly stance on Second Amendment issues.

Sheriff Denniston maintained a “shall-issue” policy on weapons permits back when the state left issuance solely to each sheriff’s discretion.  After the statewide shall-issue law (which Denniston championed) passed, Jones County supervisors considered passing a carry ban in the county courthouse.  Sheriff Denniston threw cold water on their idea (in the form of common sense), pointing out that signs with a line through a picture of a gun don’t stop deranged shooters and that a true “gun-free zone” would require additional personnel and screening stations at each entrance, costing scads of money that the county didn’t have.

When he decided to retire, Denniston initially asked his Chief Deputy Greg Graver if he’d be interested in finishing the balance of his term.  Graver discovered that if a special election was called during that time, and if he lost, the appointed sheriff would lose his employment with the county.  With a wife and three kids at home, Graver passed but expressed interest in running in the next election (which he assumed would be in 2012).  Denniston then turned to long-time deputy and jailer Harvey DeSotel, who accepted.

The Jones County Supervisors approved DeSotel as the new sheriff and he has served in that office since June.  The transition from Denniston to DeSotel was pretty seamless and smooth.  Indeed, most Jones County residents probably never noticed.  However, supporters of the other candidate that the Supervisors considered for the job, Rick LaMere, successfully circulated a petition calling for a special election to fill the spot.

That election will be this Tuesday, October 4th.  On the ballot are Rick LaMere (Republican), Harvey L. DeSotel (Democrat), Greg A. Graver (Nominated by Petition) and Scotty Shover (Nominated by Petition).  I wanted to ask the candidates their positions on some Second Amendment issues.  I was only able to dig up email addresses for Sheriff DeSotel and Chief Deputy Graver.  Thankfully, they’re the only two I was considering voting for anyway.

LaMere is a retired DEA agent.  The pragmatist in me says that the experience of being a federal agent doesn’t directly translate into being a good local law enforcement officer.  The libertarian in me says that the federal war on drugs has been one of this country’s biggest, most expensive, unconstitutional failures leading to increased crime, corruption, and violence and decreased civil liberties, especially Fourth Amendment protections.  If that’s where this guy cut his teeth, no thanks.  The other guy, Scotty Shover, has no law enforcement experience whatsoever and his main qualification seems to be that he collected the requisite number of signatures to appear on the ballot.

I asked DeSotel and Graver the following three questions via email:

1. Do you support Iowa’s current “shall issue” weapons permit law as written?

2. Will you push for any additional carry restrictions in the county, such as on county property?

3. Would you support a permitless carry system (“Constitutional Carry”), such as been adopted in Vermont, Alaska and a few other states?

Here are Sheriff DeSotel’s responses:

Question 1. Just as the former Sheriff, Mark Denniston, I fully support the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Mark would not have supported me without sharing the feelings.

Question 2. No I will not push for additional carry restrictions in the county. I believe there are too many restrictions as it stands.

Question 3. Should a state “Constitutional Carry” laws be brought up for adoption I am not certain. I still think there needs to be some sort of accountability. I’m not saying a big brother or myself needs to know, but any way we can keep the guns out of the bad guys hands is better than the other. I feel that every law abiding citizen that can show that they know how to handle a weapon safely should be given the right guaranteed to them by the constitution to carry that weapon as a matter of personal defense. I feel that the more that the public and the criminals know that the citizens of Jones County are carrying weapons for personal defense, I think that the amount of personal impact crime will stay down to where it is now. Jones County has long been known as a heavily carrying county, and the criminals know this too.

Here are Chief Deputy Graver’s responses:

Question 1. I do support the “shall issue” law, but I would like to see a few minor changes. For example. If a retired vet brings in a DD214, he is issued a permit. Even if he has not been in the military since 1948. Yet a active war vet back from his 3rd tour of duty in Iraq, needs to show small arms quals. To me, although I support our vets, the 1st vet may not have held a firearm for 60 years and yet the law makes more of an issue for our active vets. It offends me, can’t believe how they must feel!

Question 2. I spent 8 years of my career working mostly felony crimes. I know the criminals I sought out had access to firearms, no matter what the law said. Unless the county is willing to man 1 entrance with a metal detector and make it a safe zone, not going to happen. A sign on the door restricting firearms is not going to affect those looking for criminal activity. Those who are carrying lawfully should be permitted to carry on county property. Shootings at a court house have happened in the past and I would hope someone I issued a permit to, could intervene and stop the threat if I can’t!

Question 3. I do not know enough about that to make an opinion. Since other states have gone to this, I would like to know from their experience, does the good outway (sic) the bad and how. I could base my opinion on their experience and this would give me great insight to make an informed decision.

In my humble opinion, Graver or DeSotel both are fine for sheriff.  They both have plenty of experience in local law enforcement and neither appear anti-Second Amendment.  Since I can’t vote for them both, I’ll be marking my ballot for Greg Graver.   I believe Graver’s wide-ranging experience (from patrol officer, to EMT, to supervisor, to criminal investigator) edges out DeSotel’s.  But if DeSotel wins, I’ll sleep just fine at night too.

Thanks to the miracle of the absentee ballot, my wife and I are done voting.  I’ll tell you who I voted for and why.  I won’t call these my “endorsements” because I don’t think that any of these candidates probably need or even want the endorsement of some nutty blogger banging away on a keyboard in his pajamas.

Iowa Governor:  I voted for Eric Cooper (Libertarian).  No, he’s not going to win the governorship, that’s Terry Branstad’s job… for some reason.  Cooper and his Lieutenant, Nick Weltha (and the rest of us Iowa Libertarians), will define victory as getting at least 2% of the vote.  If we achieve that benchmark in a statewide race we will achieve “major party” status under Iowa law.  Then, it is hoped, we can become a big enough fly in the ointment for the two major parties that they will adopt many of our policies just to get rid of us.  To see the plan, go to Cooper’s website and read the section titled, “We need 2%.”

Secretary of State: My vote went to Jake Porter (Libertarian). Although he’s only 22, Porter is already a heavy-lifter in the Iowa Libertarian Party. He and a handful of others do all the work while the rest of us sit back and watch (or blog about it as the case may be). In addition to his work for the party, Porter works full-time in retail, is working on his degree in Business Administration, and owns the Des Moines Free Press. I wish I had his energy!  The Secretary of State, among other things, oversees Iowa’s elections.  It would be nice to have an impartial third-party referee in elections between the Republicans and Democrats. 
US Senator:  I voted for John Heiderscheit (Libertarian).  I used to like Chuck Grassley but the guy is bragging about being the one who wrote the Medicare Part D (prescription drugs) bill.  Social security and medicare are going to bankrupt the country and the Bush-era Republicans poured gasoline on that fire when they were in charge.  Now they’re criticizing Obamacare?  The difference between Medicare Part D and Obamacare is a matter of degrees not principle.

US House of Representatives, District 1:  Although there’s a Ben Lange sign in front of my house, I voted for Rob Petsche (Libertarian).  (Certain others in my house may have voted for Lange however, hence the sign.)  I like Petsche and agree with him on the issues, unfortunately, as a third party candidate he lacks the political big guns to unseat incumbent commie Bruce Braley, only Republican challenger Ben Lange has any chance.  So I voted for Petsche just out of quixotic principle, but secretly I hope that Lange kicks Braley’s butt.

Attorney General:  I voted for Brenna Findley.  Although I voted for a few Republicans for Secretary of this or that and for some of the county-level dog catcher-type positions out of a lack of options, Findley was one Republican that I was actually excited to vote for.  Findley was one of the few Iowans who thought highly enough of the Second Amendment to show up at the Second Amendment March in Des Moines in April and spoke at the event.  Although numerous other states have signed onto a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, our current AG has refused.  If elected, Findley says she’ll get Iowa in on the legal action against this unconstitutional federal usurpation.  You go girl!

Iowa House, District 31:  I voted for Lee Hein.  I’ll admit I don’t know much about the guy.  I heard him speak once at an event.  He didn’t rattle the rafters with some Pattonesque speech like I crave, but he seemed like a common, competent farmer running for office, and that’s fine with me.  Although it wasn’t the determining factor, the incumbent Ray Zirkelbach’s comments equating the Tea Party movement to the KKK didn’t help earn my vote.

Retention of 3 Supreme Court Justices:  Since I’m not opposed to gay marriage, it might surprise some that I voted against all three judges.  Incumbents in the legislative and executive branches are taking hits in what hopefully will be “The Great Voter Revolt of 2010,” so why not the judicial?  The message is simple:  If you’re in a position of governmental authority, be afraid, be very afraid.

Iowa Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund Amendment:  I voted no.  According to BallotPedia.org, “If the measure is approved by a simple majority of Iowa voters, the next time the Iowa Legislature approves a sales tax increase, the measure would allow 3/8ths of one cent to be used in support of the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. This would establish permanent revenue for natural resources and outdoor recreational programs in the state.”  If the state legislature raises the sales tax to fund some urgent need, a certain percent will automatically be syphoned away to the DNR, whether they need it or not.  That doesn’t make sense.  As we’ve seen at the federal level with Social Security and Medicare, putting programs on budgetary “autopilot” is not a good idea.

Iowa Constitutional Convention Question:  The question is simple: “Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution, and propose amendment or amendments to same?”  My vote was, “Yes.”  I explained why here.