Why Did Smith Fail to Win a Majority Vote from His Party: Part II

In our last blog post we addressed why Don Smith failed to win the majority vote from his party. At last night's debate in the Town of Kent, we witnessed another example of why Don Smith failed to win his party's majority vote. During the debate Kevin McConville read excerpts from the New York State Commission of Correction regarding the 2006 Putnam jail suicide of Spencer Sinkov.

The report clearly states it was the responsibility of the Sheriff to prevent the suicide: "Sinkov's death could have been prevented had proper suicide prevention precautions been taken and had department policy and procedures been properly followed." The Sheriff hung his head in shame.

Don Smith's only reply was to ignore the statistics in the FBI's 2008 Crime in the U.S. report regarding increasing crime in Putnam County (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/index.html).

Smith also ignored the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services rising crime statistics for 2006-08 -- which Smith likes to omit although he was Sheriff during that time. To confirm these facts, visit http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/. Smith brazenly stated that crime did not rise and there is no threat to Putnam County.

Once again, he avoided discussing the Karen Meltz excessive force lawsuit, the charges of illegal search and seizure by his office in the Nelson lawsuit, and, though he was visibly shaken, denied any responsibility in the Sinkov suicide lawsuit.

If you believe in justice, if you want a safe and secure Putnam County, vote for Kevin McConville for Sheriff of Putnam County - Row A of the ballot.

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009