By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The local Fraternal Order of Police group has decided to endorse challenger Jonathan Meyer for Lewis County prosecuting attorney, incumbent Steve Mansfield for sheriff and Mossyrock resident Micheal Hurley for coroner.
F.O.P. Centerville Lodge No. 26 took a vote last night following presentations by each of the six candidates running for the three offices, according to a news release.
Immediate past president Bradd Reynolds who wrote the announcement said he thought about 50 of the lodge’s more than 70 members participated in the voting.
Reynolds, a retired Centralia police officer, said he didn’t know the number because neither he nor Hurley took part in the vote counting to avoid an appearance of a conflict.
Hurley is in his second year as president of the lodge and Reynolds is his campaign manager.
The local lodge will hold a public forum next month in Adna offering presentations as well as a question and answer session with all six candidates.
The Oct. 6 event will run from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Adna High School.
Appearing along with the F.O.P.-supported candidates will be incumbent Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden, deputy Sgt. Ken Cheeseman who is running for sheriff and Chehalis resident Warren McLeod who is running for coroner.
The three offices are of key interest to the F.O.P. as, according to events chairman Bradd Reynolds, they work together as a team to best serve county residents.
The FOP is a national organization made up of more than 300,000 active and retired law enforcement officers.
•••
This was updated at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday Sept. 8, 2010
•••
To read Lewis County Sirens’ Aug. 15, 2010 story about the race for Lewis County prosecutor, click here
To read Lewis County Sirens’ June 26, 2010 story about the two men running for Lewis County sheriff, click here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Mr. Hays,
Because Hurley or Reynolds did not add up the ballots, it doesn’t mean they don’t know the vote count…. was your quote on this web site Sept 8th. You went on to say you believe that Sharyn was misled.
The reason Reynolds and Hurley did not know the vote count is that the FOP lodge had a committee set up to count the votes. The vote count is known only to that committee, no one else.. not even the other lodge members.
While in your mind it may seem one way.. the facts are that yes Mr. hays some people have integrity and honor. A concept you may have problems with. The FOP endorsed the best candidates for those three offices based on the presentations those three candidates made to our lodge. It was based on first hand knowledge of those three candidates by our FOP membership.
You are right about one thing though.. you are a jaded person who has a problem with trust, I wonder why that is?
Feel free to contact me at any time you wish to discus these matters mr Hayes.
Sharyn does a good job of getting the facts and reporting them. She does not allow her own jaded ideas get in the way.
Thank-you Sharyn, for adding to the story. I find it a little unbelievable that the vote count is not known to Hurley or Reynolds. Just because Hurley or Reynolds did not add up the ballots, it doesn’t mean they don’t know the vote count. There are no secrets in law enforcement. I believe you are being misled, but I will admit, I am a little jaded.
Extremely poor reporting, I must say. It should have been mentioned that Michael Hurley is also the PRESIDENT of the very same lodge that gave the endorsement, and that Bradd Reynolds, Hurley’s campaign manager is the immediate PAST PRESIDENT. It is easy to regurgitate press releases, of course, but one might want to do a little digging…
MARTY HAYES