Seeking a third term as sheriff of Benton County, Kelley Cradduck has faced an onslaught.
Three candidates hope to knock Cradduck out of the running to continue as sheriff in the next two-year term. An independent candidate awaits whoever wins the GOP contest on March 1.
What’s the point?
Voters have ample reason without considering a criminal case against Kelley Cradduck to select someone else to serve as the sheriff of Benton County.
Arkansas State Police arrested Cradduck Jan. 19 after an investigation by an appointed special prosecutor. Formal charges followed on Feb. 1: A felony charge alleging Cradduck tampered with a public record; and a misdemeanor charge of tampering, alleging he instructed a county employee to lie to investigators.
Cradduck flatly denies the allegations. He describes them as trumped up claims arising from political motivations. He expresses confidence the judicial system will clear him of wrongdoing. His arraignment is set for Feb. 22, but he will neither see vindication nor conviction before March 1, when GOP voters will go to the polls to select the man who will be the GOP nominee for sheriff. The trial will come later.
In the midst of it, Cradduck says, he's suffered a stroke and subsequent seizures. And he's said his wife's health concerns have demanded much of his time away from the office.
So what are voters to make out of it all, as far as casting a ballot? Should they withhold their votes from him on the basis of accusations, knowing he hasn't had his day in court to defend himself?
Of course, that criminal case will no doubt factor into people's evaluation of the sheriff's race, but it really doesn't have to be the decisive information for voters. Rather, those who will cast ballots can simply consider this: Benton County can have a better sheriff's office than it has now, but that's not going to happen under Kelley Cradduck's leadership.
Cradduck has been elected twice. His first year in office, it appeared he tackled the job with sincere devotion to doing it well. But in the three years since, the county's law enforcement agency has become rudderless. Too often, Cradduck simply wasn't a presence, and even when he was, his leadership has fallen short in building the kind of professional law enforcement organization the people of Benton County deserve. Whether it's deputies driving county owned vehicles to Florida for family vacations or poor relationships with other law enforcement agencies or the level of turnover under his command or his lack of a strong relationship with other county leaders or eroded morale ... Well, the list goes on.
Sheriff Cradduck's strategy throughout the most recent turmoil has been to (1) cast it as political assassination and (2) make light of it. He introduced himself at one forum as "Sheriff Al Capone." He told another he's not the "monster" people are making him out to be.
He is not a monster, but nothing about where he's taken the Benton County Sheriff's Office makes us eager to laugh the situation off. Cradduck, in a strange way, would love for voters to focus on the criminal case against him and believe his denials. It behooves him to shine a light anywhere so that it's not shining on his performance as sheriff.
Benton County voters need only look at his performance to make the decision that it's time for a change. The county has had enough of a sheriff who primarily talks a good game, who offers a few new flashy programs at election time but not the kind of consistent, significant leadership that's needed, who doesn't takes responsibility for when his lack of leadership produces poor results, who constantly asserts he's been taken advantage of because he's a good guy who trusts people too much, who asserts everything that hasn't worked out right is because of forces outside his control.
One would think a political officeholder who faces re-election every two years would be constantly trying to demonstrate a high level of competence, but voters have gotten precious little of that from Cradduck. If he's re-elected and subsequently acquitted of any legal wrongdoing, voters will see two more years of a lack of leadership and poor management.
So, is Cradduck guilty of a crime? For the purposes of the March 1 primary, it really doesn't matter because voters will not know anything definitive about his case. But they can know this: Kelley Cradduck has had his chance to develop the Benton County Sheriff's Office into the agency he wants it to be, and what county residents have been left with is a mess with too much drama. Some of that is bound to happen at any sheriff's office, but Benton County must demand better. That can only happen by putting someone else at the helm of the agency.
Commentary on 02/13/2016