Sheriff Candidates Question and Answer Forum

Candidate question:
1) Who do you plan on making your Under Sheriff, if elected and why?


Integrity

This is my very first posting, but I wanted to answer the question posted about the Sheriff candidates choice for undersheriff in 2008.

Sheriff's candidate Bradley D. Balk has announced that he will appoint long-time Three Rivers resident Mark Lillywhite as his Undersheriff. For more information on Brad or Mark, please visit Brad's election website at www.balkforsheriff.com. Mark brings many years of law enforcement experience with him to this position. Again, to check into this information I encourage you to visit the campaign website. If you do not find the details you are looking for, feel free to let me know!


Balk Committee Member

Welcome to the forum Balk Committee Member. Do you mind if I call you BCM for short?

---

Laissez faire: leave the people alone, let them be, in their economic activities, in their religious affairs, in thought and culture, in the pursuit of fulfillment in their own lives.

Buck,

If you are open to letting me share my opinion of why Bradley D. Balk is the best candidate for Sheriff...you can call me Sally for all I care :)

Thanks for the welcome, I look forward to an honest exhange of thoughts and ideas. Long live freedom of speech!

BCM

Balk Committee Member

BCM go a head and share.

---

Laissez faire: leave the people alone, let them be, in their economic activities, in their religious affairs, in thought and culture, in the pursuit of fulfillment in their own lives.

App - I'd like to make sure I understand what you're asking. Please see the definitions below. Are you concerned about the ethical conduct of the department, or the emotional condition?

• moral- adjective - of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.
  
  
• morale- noun - emotional or mental condition with respect to cheerfulness, confidence, zeal, etc., esp. in the face of opposition, hardship, etc.: the morale of the troops.
  

Originally posted by bobtoml

App - I'd like to make sure I understand what you're asking. Please see the definitions below. Are you concerned about the ethical conduct of the department, or the emotional condition?

• moral – adjective - of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.
  
  
• morale – noun - emotional or mental condition with respect to cheerfulness, confidence, zeal, etc., esp. in the face of opposition, hardship, etc.: the morale of the troops.
  

Typo I was asking about the morale


Integrity

Originally posted by Balk Committee Mbr

This is my very first posting, but I wanted to answer the question posted about the Sheriff candidates choice for undersheriff in 2008.

Sheriff's candidate Bradley D. Balk has announced that he will appoint long-time Three Rivers resident Mark Lillywhite as his Undersheriff. For more information on Brad or Mark, please visit Brad's election website at www.balkforsheriff.com. Mark brings many years of law enforcement experience with him to this position. Again, to check into this information I encourage you to visit the campaign website. If you do not find the details you are looking for, feel free to let me know!


Balk Committee Member

BCM are you going to be answering the questions for Balk or can we get direct responses form the candidates?


Integrity

I am merely a representative of the Balk Committee. I will not be quoting Brad Balk, however I have spoken to Brad and he is very aware of your insights and questions and would not be opposed to sitting down with a group of folks for a Q and A session as the election draws closer.

What I can tell you is that morale at the St. Joseph County Sheriff's Department is at an all-time low. Individuals are tired of the current administration spending time on their own campaigns in lieu of doing the job our taxpayers are expecting. I know residents are tired of the campaigning already, but believe me when I tell you that this race began YEARS ago when the abuse of power first began.

Brad Balk refuses to participate in the mud-slinging, however he truly IS the best candidate for the job. He is fiscally responsable (has anyone noticed him painting his OWN yard signs to save money?), aware of technology and brings a common-sense approach to politics that our county desperately needs.



Balk Committee Member

I'll second Buck's welcome BCM -

I've been in contact with Michelle Anders-McNamara, Chairperson, Committee to Elect Bradley D. Balk, Sheriff. The subject was about the early sign placement throughout the county. Her response was...

We have been very pleased with the excitement our campaign has generated, but understand the issues facing the city and township boards within St. Joseph County. As we delivered our signs, we encouraged our supporters to keep them visable for awhile, then bring the signs in for the cold winter months. Our elephants don't like snow anyway!

So, for all those individuals wondering if the question of "removing signs" until just prior to the election has caused stress or alarm to the Balk for Sheriff campaign- please know that we are not opposed to the idea of keeping our signs out of sight until next summer...

A recent drive along M-86 to Centreville and the proliferation of Balk campaign signs is still very prevalent. What I haven't seen or heard is Mr. Balk himself actually ask his supporters to "...bring the signs in for the cold winter months..." as his committee chairperson suggests.

I would like to ask Mr. Balk why we haven't heard directly from him his thoughts about so many peoples concerns over all the campaign signs littering the county for more than a year before a primary election, and near 18 months prior to the actual election.

BCM 1.Why is the morale so low, what has happened over the years to drag it down?
2. Why does the county spend all the grant money on trailers and trucks to pull them, when we are never going to use half of them? Why does it not use that money for department training or new technology for the patrol cars.

Jeez O' Pete,

Who cares about the SIGNS? I have a sign in my yard and I am afraid that I will take it down when I am good and ready. Why don't we get to the real issues at hand and quit bickering over who has signs and who doesn't? It seems just a tad juvenile and insignificant. Maybe, just maybe, the people who have the signs in their yard want them there, and if you don't want to see them...Don't look!!! There are way bigger issues than the signs people still have up, on their OWN property! And just for the record I am not on anybody's committee, nor will I be. I am just a voter who is sick of all of the petty crying and complaining over the signs. Get over it!!!

Thank you BillyD. I don't feel so alone anymore.

---

Laissez faire: leave the people alone, let them be, in their economic activities, in their religious affairs, in thought and culture, in the pursuit of fulfillment in their own lives.

Any way we can get the candidates to respond to these questions themselves? I think we could get a real feel for who thy are by how thy answer questions.

Integrity

Wow...so many questions. Where to start. First, let me address the signage issue. Our committee has NEVER asked anyone to put a sign on their property. Each and every sign you see has been requested by the individual property owner. We have given "suggested" time lines for taking them down, but under each individuals rights; they CAN leave them up for as long as they choose. We are not in the market to offend our supporters by telling them when they MUST take their signs down.

I can tell you that our "sign refurbishing committee" has begun to take down signs showing wear and will not replace those signs until Spring 2008. I must agree that there are larger issues in this campaign than signs up too early. For example;

Why on Earth did one of the campaigns feel it was necessary to tamper with the Sturgis Journal Straw poll? If they are willing to tamper with votes on such a small issue; what can we expect next August.

Why does both Undersheriff Allen and Sheriff Matt Lori have children working at the County Jail reporting to their daddies? Is that not nepotism?

Why is the morale so very low at the St. Joseph County Sheriff's department. So low in fact that if you visit www.balkforsheriff.com you will notice an OVERWHELMING number of local law enforcement unions supporting Brad Balk. The Command Unit, the Correctional Unit and the Road Patrol units have all publically voted their endorsement of Bradley D. Balk. Anyone wondering WHY that might be?

Lastly, I am wondering if anyone here has been "approached" by a candidate going door-do-door asking for sign placement, voting support or my favorite - financial contributions. If you think 11 months in advance is early for signs; how about the door-to-door campagin...isn't that a tad intrusive?

Balk Committee Member