Electing a new sheriff

Sheriff-elect Chris Abril’s big win last week, despite facing rape charges, sends a signal in several respects.

The principal, “presumed innocent until found guilty,” was certainly reaffirmed in a resounding way. More than that, Chris’s many friends and fans voted their faith in his character, a fact he said “brought me back to life.”

The vote was also a strong repudiation of the notion that any power brokers should ever be able to manipulate a local election. There is a widespread suspicion that outgoing sheriff David Satterfield had some influential backers with both the capability, and a cold enough disposition, to trump up terrible charges against a man just to win an election. Whether this is true or not, that voters who believe it to be true would reject this sort of corruption is a fine thing. Corruption certainly should be rooted out of public life, whenever possible, wherever it is found.

Less admirable were the voters who told us they simply thought it would be “more interesting” to elect Abril, as though law enforcement and political life in Polk County might fulfill their need for yet one more “reality show,” this one a test of human character in a particularly grueling set of circumstances.

The district attorney, Jeff Hunt, has already notified district residents, in a press release, that despite the “awkward” situation, he plans to work with all elected law enforcement officials in his district. Some Polk deputies apparently will not.

Perhaps, Abril’s election was in part due to the sweeping desire this year to unseat Republicans, to bring about a change in national affairs.

Whatever the reasons, we certainly hope that the legal circumstances clouding the new sheriff’s administration will be cleared up in a court of law, and quickly, so that Polk County can move on with confidence and unanimity in its law enforcement efforts. — JB