More than 150 people including the Hill Spirit turned out Monday night to hear candidates for local, state and national offices answer questions at a public forum in Athens.
The forum, held at Athens State University’s McCandless Hall, was a way for us to learn more about the local and state candidates running in the June 3 primary election. Moderator Adam Smith, former managing editor of The News Courier, asked relevant questions of each candidate. This forum wasn't a debate but a lightening round (30 second answers) format that provided sound bites.
SHERIFF - GOP PRIMARY CANDIDATES
Brad Pullum
Home: Athens
Age: 44
Family: He and wife Tonia have three daughters and a grandchild.
Career: Real estate appraisal and broker, Pullum Realty and Appraisals. Singer/songwriter and owner of a music publishing company. Worked almost nine years as a deputy and investigator in the Limestone County Sheriff's Department.
Education: Graduated from West Limestone High School in 1987. Earned an associate degree in criminal justice and political science from Calhoun Community College.
Political experience: Ran unsuccessfully for Limestone County sheriff in 1998.
Highlight Answers:
*Department should add satellite substations throughout the county. "The
nearest deputy is often 15 to 20 minutes away," Pullum said. "If
there's a harassment call or a domestic issue, a resident shouldn't have
to wait that long."
*Critical of department's Cessna Seneca airplane
*Sheriff's Department is "way too top heavy" with
administrative staff and needs more deputies.
"There are too many
people maintaining a website, running around taking pictures for the
rodeo and doing PR for the sheriff."
Eric Redd
Home: Elkmont
Age: 33
Family: He and wife Miranda have three children
Career: Instrument controls design engineer, Redd Line Inc.; U.S. Army, 2001-05
Education: 2000 Athens High School graduate.
Political experience: None
Answer Highlights:
*will focus on reducing the department's budget, which he said is 62 percent of the County Commission's budget."The Sheriff's Department takes up 32 to 35 percent of
other counties' budgets," Redd said. "I would start with an inventory
and audit to look at where we can reduce costs." Constitutional candidate; oathkeeper (for those who don't know what a oathkeeper is.... Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like minded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our Oath is to the Constitution)
Eric Smith
Home: Athens
Age: 37
Family: He and wife Adria have three children.
Career: Alabama State Trooper for 18 years
Education: 1995 Athens High School graduate. Graduated from Alabama State Trooper Academy in Selma.
Political Experience: None
Highlight Answers:
* critical of Cessna Seneca airplane; the department should sell the plane and buy a drug dog instead. "We need to cut back on wasteful spending. And there's better use of our money than owning an airplane."
Hot topic: Is law enforcement experience needed for the office of sheriff?
Candidates Thoughts:
Brad Pullum:
A deputy and investigator for 10 years, Pullum said he's
the only Republican candidate with experience in the Sheriff's
Department."I am the only one on the Republican ticket who is qualified to run for sheriff." Pullum said a sheriff does need management and budgeting skills, but he also needs law enforcement experience and training.
"He
needs experience in dealing with the public and the criminal elements
of society," Pullum said. "Anyone can read the code, but do they know
the difference in burglary and robbery? You've got to know the law to be
able to teach the people you're leading."
Eric Redd's Thoughts:
Law enforcement experience shouldn't matter. The Sheriff's
Department needs a chief executive officer who can run a large
corporation with a big budget."The Sheriff's Department needs
someone to be a real CEO," Redd said. "Being a cop on the street doesn't
qualify you to be the CEO of a $10 million company." Redd, who manages project budgets as an instrument controls design engineer,
said it's a common misconception that a sheriff has to be a certified
law officer. "Giving people tickets for 10 years doesn't make them
qualified. The military has the best leadership training in the world, I've commanded troops and I take issue that my military service doesn't qualify me to lead."
Eric Smith:
With
18 years as a trooper, Smith said he is the only certified officer who
is active in law enforcement. He pointed out that Blakely was a trooper
before he became sheriff. "Pullum's experience is 15 to 20 years ago," said Smith, who was a reserve deputy.
LINKS TO ELKMONT BLOG POSTS ABOUT 2ND AMENDMENT:
What Do They Think About Loaded Pistols in Car?
Where Do They Stand On the Second Amendment?
Transcript of Questions:
Question:
Two-part question: What is your understanding of the
administrative role of the county sheriff? Also, please give a brief overview
of how your background makes you the ideal candidate to assume the
responsibilities of the day-to-day operations of this critical county
department.
Redd:
I thinks it's important to remember that the sheriff ... we all have an image
of him as the top cop. He is, for the most part, but he does not run around
writing tickets. The sheriff is a project manager overseeing an almost $9
million corporation and up to 150 personnel. Project managers need people
skills and the ability to lead, in my opinion, soldiers. That is the best way
to approach that issue.
Pullum:
You need to be able to deal precisely and directly with each situation and deal
with people. You have to be a people person. Understand the laws, yes, Title 32
or Title 13, but it's very important that a sheriff be able to not only read
what's in the law books and make sure you are able to process a crime scene and
that sort of thing but you also have to lead a group of people with an $8.6
million, around there, budget right now for the sheriff's office and the jail.
A whole lot of it is being a manager.
Smith: A sheriff is an administrator. He oversees his employees — making
sure he surrounds himself with qualified candidates — qualified people to help
him run the sheriff's office; making sure he has the people's best interests at
hand; making sure he has the voice of the people. He needs to have an open-door
policy so people can voice their concerns that they have in their neighborhoods
and their communities. I am an Alabama state trooper and I have a great working
relationship with the current people who work with the sheriff's departments
and also surrounding agencies. I work with the volunteer fire departments and
emergency personnel. I believe that gives me an advantage over the others.
Question:
The Sheriff's Department budget for fiscal 2013-14 was approximately $4.37
million, not including $3.6 million for the jail, $219,000 for courthouse
security and $399,000 for the school resource officers. Do you believe this is
an appropriate funding level for the sheriff's office? Why or why not?
Smith:
I can't sit up here and tell you that we need to cut this, this and that. I
need to be in that position to make those decisions. I would hope that the
county commission would let the upcoming sheriff look and see where he can
trim. I know personally that there are some issues with one of the airplanes.
Limestone County doesn't need an airplane. I don't know if you knew they had
one, but they've got one. That's a waste of money. Limestone County is not big
enough for that. A canine program — a drug dog program. I used to be a canine
handler with the state. The current administration bought a drug dog and gave
it away after having it just 1 1/2, two years. There are issues with some of
the people — some of the employees — driving county vehicles who are not
certified personnel. I have no issues with those people operating the county
vehicles during the performance of their duties during the day. However, there
is room to trim — a little here, a little there makes a big difference.
Redd: I would say no. This is based on other counties of comparable size
and population that have about 35 percent of their (general fund) budget going
to their sheriff's departments, where we have about 62 percent. They want to
argue about how well our sheriff's rodeo does and how much revenue it creates.
If this is a fact that the sheriff's rodeo produces so much revenue, then why
are we allowing our sheriff's department to get 62 percent out of the county
(general fund) budget? This is not just irresponsible but this is stuff we need
to address. I propose that there needs to be an audit and inventory done in
order to get toward something that can be manageable. Obviously it's too high
... these are high numbers.
Pullum: To be re-certified as a police officer, it would take me two weeks to go
back to school. (Pullum said this in response to Smith saying in his opening
statement he was the only candidate on the panel who is a certified law
enforcement officer.) I think it would be foolish, I think it would be a little fool-hearted, a
little naive to go into an office and, right from the get-go, say I'm gonna go
in and I want less money than what this department already has and I'm gonna
make it better with less money. I do believe that there are much better ways to
manage the current resources — the dollars that are available in the budget as
well as the manpower, especially the manpower. But, all the resources within
the sheriff's office could definitely be used to better serve the people of
Limestone County.
Question
for Redd: The office of sheriff has long been held by a Democrat,
and an active member of the local Democratic Party. In your opinion, how does
political affiliation shape and guide the daily duties of a sheriff? How would
a Republican sheriff's approach to the daily duties differ from a Democratic
sheriff?
Redd:
I think that a lot of times we believe there is not much difference on a local
level. I think, in some cases, there isn't much of a difference. It's local and
people tend to, here in the South, be conservative. At the same time, I believe
there is a defining issue between Blakely and myself — where he has advocated
against our Second Amendment rights, I have been a staunch Second
Amendment supporter. I've gone to rallies and down to Montgomery to argue and
defend our Second Amendment rights, where he has argued opposite that — that we
need registration and we need gun control, and I disagree wholeheartedly. I
think that is one of the more important issues. I am the oath keeper, and I
define someone who goes in violation of their oath to uphold and defend the
Constitution as an oath breaker. I believe anyone like that should be removed
from office.
Question
for Pullum: Despite laws passed at the state
level cracking down on the sale of critical ingredients used in the making of
methamphetamine, the drug continues to be prevalent in Limestone County and
across North Alabama. What steps would you take to increase crackdowns on
methamphetamine manufacturers and on meth-related crimes?
Pullum:
I've found, personally, as the only person up here who has been a sheriff's
deputy and the only person that has been a deputy out there for 680 square
miles of coverage that it is easy for people to hide and do the things they
shouldn't be doing. Having said that, I, personally, believe we should
absolutely have substations in all four districts, and it could be done with a
very, very little amount of money. Because, if you'll notice, if there is a
police car or a patrol car sitting around close, very few people are going to
be as inclined to do illegal or unlawful things because they really don't want
to go to jail. Even those people making meth.
Question
for Smith: According to the National Law
Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 111 law enforcement officers were killed in
the line of duty in 2013, including three in Alabama. What steps would you take
to ensure the safety of your deputies not only on the road but also when
responding to dangerous situations?
Smith:
Training is crucial. There needs to be more training. There
are grants available to provide funding for those people to have training. We
need to work closely with the surrounding agencies — Huntsville Police
Department. They are Huntsville city but they have annexed into Limestone
County and, to my knowledge, the county sheriff's department does not train at
all with Huntsville Police Department. In the event something happens to where
there is going to be a joint effort to respond to something, we need to know
what they are going to do. We need to know how they react, how they train. That
is crucial.
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Another fundraiser that was this week was the Elkmont School faculty vs the Elkmont Seniors in a game of hoops. It certainly didn't disappoint, wacky and zany are certainly words to describe the event. From "dead eye" Missy Bailey making threes to "trick shot" Principal Garris calling the bank as he banged in an outside shot, it was so much much fun. The Seniors were able to pull off the win, 47 - 42. Hill Spirit is sure stock in aspirin companies went up after the game. 
