Kevin Walsh could become longest-serving sheriff if he is re-elected next week.
Kevin Walsh Age: 66.
Address: 212 Single Drive, North Syracuse.
Lines on ballot: Republican, Conservative, Independence.
Political career: Running for his fifth four-year term as sheriff. Elected Onondaga County legislator three times before that.
Syracuse, NY -- Onondaga County sheriff’s Deputy Joe Price talks about fixing problems that led to the deaths of three inmates at the Onondaga County Justice Center jail over the past two years.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Toby Shelley says he can save $1 million by reassigning or selling 40 take-home cars given to deputies who don’t need them.
Both want to be the new sheriff in town. They’d have to unseat their boss, Kevin Walsh, who’s trying to become Onondaga County’s longest-serving sheriff in next week’s election. Walsh is seeking his fifth four-year term for the job that pays $106,611 a year.
He’s had a sometimes bumpy ride over the past three years:
• Some county legislators criticized the way the sheriff’s office is involved with the police academy at Onondaga Community College, saying the county was wasting $250,000 a year.
• Other legislators have been trying to get rid of Air 1, the sheriff’s police helicopter, as another money saver.
• Three inmates have died at the Justice Center over the past two years, with state officials criticizing deputies or nurses in two of the deaths. The third is under investigation.
• More than a dozen deputies have been charged with crimes.
• The county paid a Salina woman $75,000 this year because a deputy tasered her on a traffic stop.
Walsh points to all the good work his office has done over the past 16 years. “We’ve answered 1.25 million police calls ... and handled over 212,000 inmates booked through the Justice Center,” he said. “We’ve done it with very good results in 99.9 percent of the issues that we’ve had to deal.”
Joe Price Age: 43.
Address: 7 Comstock Road, Baldwinsville.
Lines on ballot: Democrat.
Political career: Won Democratic primary for sheriff in 2010. Ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2006.
He cites as his accomplishments the opening of the Justice Center jail in his first year in office, the establishment of two substations, advances in crime-solving technology and the accreditation of the criminal, custody and civil divisions by a national organization. “We’ve done a good job for 15 years and we continuously strive to improve,” he said.
Walsh said his toughest day was Nov. 29, 2003, when Deputy Glenn Searles was killed when he stopped to help a stranded motorist. His biggest disappointment has been the deputies he hired who ended up being charged criminally, he said.
Shelley said he has a plan to save $1 million that could be used to keep Air 1 running and create a fourth road patrol shift. He has identified 40 take-home cars assigned to deputies who have no need for them. Specifically, 11 of the sheriff’s 12 lieutenants would never have to respond from home, he said.
Shelley said he’d sell 20 of the take-home cars and move 20 others back into the fleet that’s on the road full-time. The department has 111 take-home cars, but just over half of them are justified, he said. “Anyone who has a take-home car that just gets them back and forth to work, and they don’t respond to calls in their off-time ... bring those cars back,” Shelley said.
Toby ShelleyAge: 43.
Address: 3798 Oak Hill Road, Otisco.
Lines on ballot: Working Families.
Political career: His first campaign for office.
Shelley, a 26-year military officer who served in Iraq, would have to overcome a substantial hurdle to be elected: He’s a third-party candidate.
Walsh said there are some deputies with take-home cars who don’t use them from home often, but that they’re all justified. Many of them are marked cars that he wants people to see in the community as part of his “drive out crime” program. “There are very few cars taken home by people who do not respond,” Walsh said.
Price said the inmate deaths were partly the result of an inattentive administration. Walsh is rarely in the jail, and the chief custody deputy, Richard Carbery, takes every Friday off, Price said.
“I’ve seen the decay from the inside,” said Price, who’s been a jail deputy for 17 years but has never sought a promotion to sergeant. “Kevin really has no clue. His administration has failed him. They just don’t come to work.”
Walsh disputed those accusations. He said he’s in the jail several times a week, and that in the summer Carbery works 10 to 12 hour days four days a week, allowing him to take Fridays off.
Price admits his chances of beating Walsh disappeared with a story in The Post-Standard last month about racist, sexist and anti-gay comments posted under his user name on Syracuse.com last year. He denied posting all but three of them — and then only after he was pressed by the newspaper. “I think it cost me the election,” he said of the publicity.
Democratic party leaders announced after the story that they were withdrawing their support. Price had told the party months ago that he’d written none of the posts, according to party leaders.
Walsh hasn’t ruled out a sixth run for sheriff in four years. “Never say never,” he said.
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Contact John O’Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.