How the Sheriff lost my vote

-
Tuesday evening KSBW News ran a 30 minute showdown interview with Monterey County Sheriff Mike Kanalakis, and Fred Garcia who is running to replace Kanalakis in the next election. If you have followed the local news lately, you know that Garcia held, until recently, the rank of Commander in the Sheriff's department and he was head of the Homeland Security division until the Sheriff demoted Garcia two steps in rank for insubordination and improper campaign practices. Shortly thereafter Garcia resigned, and Monterey County politics got very interesting. 

After watching the interview, I am thoroughly dismayed with Sheriff Kanalakis on this matter. Yes, Garcia exercised poor judgment in using a county copier, mailing list, and rubber stamp to prepare some campaign materials. But that minor lapse of good sense pales in comparison to Kanalakis demoting Garcia for insubordination just because the two had an honest disagreement about the affordability of a helicopter.

The helicopter program in question was part of Garcia's Homeland Security division. Kanalakis had instructed Garcia to make sure the department got its helicopter. Garcia, however, did not feel that a helicopter was the best use of Homeland Security funds when the county budget was stretched to the breaking point. After analyzing the numbers, he concluded that the money could be used more effectively elsewhere. Garcia made his recommendation to the county Board of Supervisors, who agreed with Garcia and unanimously voted against funding the helicopter.

Since the Sheriff had his heart set on getting a helicopter, he was outraged and openly accused Garcia of "sabotage" and "insubordination" for disagreeing with the Sheriff's position, and he reduced Garcia to the lowest rank of deputy.

One might argue that an employee must carry out the instructions of a superior, and that is Kanalakis's position. But when one is the head of a division, as Garcia was, that person should be allowed to express his opinions on the best way to operate that division. Kanalakis takes the position that as Sheriff, his own judgment should prevail and that dissenting opinions undermine his authority. However, he is arrogant in suggesting that when matters involve taxpayer funds, only his opinion should be available to the county supervisors who must authorize the funds.

Equally disturbing is the idea that a member of the Sheriff's Department who seeks to run for the highest office in the department, should not be allowed to express a dissenting opinion during the campaign. According to Kanalakis, a subordinate must never question his boss in public, ever, even when an issue is relevant to a public election. When asked by KSBW anchor Erin Clark how a member of the sheriff's department could run an effective campaign without expressing differences of opinion Kanalakis said the individual must resign (and sacrifice half a year's income) before running against him.

Clearly, Kanalakis has little tolerance for honest differences of opinion. An arrogant man with a thin skin is not someone I want running the Monterey County Sheriff's Department. This is not to suggest that I am endorsing Fred Garcia for Sheriff. He clearly showed poor judgment when using county resources to prepare his campaign materials. I'll certainly look at his record and viewpoints as the campaign proceeds, along with those of the third player, former Pacific Grove Police Chief Scott Miller. One thing is certain, Kanalakis is no longer under consideration for my vote.
Tags:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The problem with Car Week

-
Image
So another Car Week has come to and gone from the Monterey Peninsula. And as usual the community is divided into two camps. On one side we have people who are frustrated with the traffic, crowds, and noise. The other side is telling these folks to stop whining because "it's good for the economy." The second group has no sympathy for the first, and often goes as far as telling them to move away if they don't like special events and the tourists that come along with them. How did this come about? Car week evolved slowly over several decades. The core event is known as the Concours d'Elegance (which is pronounced properly by maybe half of the local population). The Concours began in 1950 as a single Sunday display of classic automobiles. I remember going there as a kid once, after Sunday School. I watched my dad run his hand over a smoothly polished fender, so I did the same. Suddenly a very cranky man came up behind me saying "NO, NO! FINGERPRINTS!" as...
Read more

Calling the police has gotten harder

-
Image
It has gotten harder to call the police. The last few weeks I have made several attempts to report illegal fireworks to Seaside PD. We've always used the non-emergency number 831-394-6811 to do this, and our call would be promptly answered by a dispatcher who would take the information and immediately enter it into the system. Now one must jump through several hoops with no guarantee the system won't disconnect you before the report is made. And I'm getting fed up. Instead of having our calls answered by a human, a machine will answer, much as it does for every business you call these days. First it tells you that this number is not for emergencies, and if you have an emergency you must hang up and call 911. Then they say it again in Spanish.  Next, you are instructed to choose English or Spanish. Next it tells you that they're busy answering emergency 911 calls and implies that your non-emergency concern is an imposition on their important work. Then the voice asks...
Read more

Oh, Nikki, you're better at math than that.

-
Image
And then there were two. Earlier tonight I watched part of the debate between Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. DeSantis is a jerk, and I can't take him seriously. Haley, on the other hand is a smart gal, and offers some hope for bringing some level of sanity back to the Republican party. But she often dumbs things down to appeal to the simple-minded (mostly Trumpers), and that drives me nuts. Case on point: Haley promised that if elected she would eliminate the federal gasoline tax to reduce the tax burden on working class Americans. Moderator Dana Bash pointed out that the federal gas tax raises over $50 billion annually and is used build and maintain highways and bridges. She then asked Haley how she would pay for those things without it. Haley responded first by evading the question and talking about taxes in general. But eventually she got back around to the gas tax. She employed a classic Republican talking point saying the states collect the...
Read more