NEWS
Interview Deputy Sheriff Todd Ethington
Deputy Todd Ethington, who has served in the County Sheriff's Department for 23 years in a variety of positions, including road patrol and corrections, is currently undertaking his most challenging task yet: running against his boss, Sheriff Tony Desmond, in this fall's election.
Launching his campaign earlier this Spring, Ethington has secured both the Conservative and Independent lines, after contesting for the Republican endorsement and during a recent conversation with myself was positive and confident heading into the final seven weeks of the campaign, telling me that if you "give it your all, it will come back to you."
The Issues
| Ethington. Picture provided by the campaign website |
Deputy Ethington initiated our issues portion of the conversation by handing me a piece of his campaign literature showing the county's public safety building over halfway flooded during the devastation of Hurricane Irene, using what he called a "powerful image," to support his position that we need to rebuild and relocate such offices out of the flood plain.
He also spoke strongly in support of the concept of innovation, stating he "believes in community policing," and spoke of one particular instance where one citizen's tip led to a major marijuana bust in Charlotteville. This brought us to present-day drug enforcement and his stance that "heroin and prescription use has gone over the top," and that Sheriff Desmond's belief that marijuana is "the biggest.... illegal substance" in the county is inaccurate.
SAFE Act
When the conversation inevitably turned towards the unpopular SAFE Act that was passed earlier this year and championed by Governor Cuomo, Deputy Ethington agreed with certain aspects of the bill - namely the provisions that direct money towards mental health and school resource officers - but that he's "not in favor of a majority of the law."
Although he reminded me that when the Sheriff stands before Judge Bartlett at the Schoharie County Courthouse and takes the oath of office, he "swears to uphold New York state law," and as a law enforcement officer is bound by that.
In conclusion
If any one moment could capture the confidence of Deputy Ethington heading towards election day, it would be when I asked him how he felt about running a third-party campaign and he responded by saying that he loved it and that "when I win I'm gonna take that as a compliment."
He also spoke strongly in support of the concept of innovation, stating he "believes in community policing," and spoke of one particular instance where one citizen's tip led to a major marijuana bust in Charlotteville. This brought us to present-day drug enforcement and his stance that "heroin and prescription use has gone over the top," and that Sheriff Desmond's belief that marijuana is "the biggest.... illegal substance" in the county is inaccurate.
SAFE Act
When the conversation inevitably turned towards the unpopular SAFE Act that was passed earlier this year and championed by Governor Cuomo, Deputy Ethington agreed with certain aspects of the bill - namely the provisions that direct money towards mental health and school resource officers - but that he's "not in favor of a majority of the law."
Although he reminded me that when the Sheriff stands before Judge Bartlett at the Schoharie County Courthouse and takes the oath of office, he "swears to uphold New York state law," and as a law enforcement officer is bound by that.
In conclusion
If any one moment could capture the confidence of Deputy Ethington heading towards election day, it would be when I asked him how he felt about running a third-party campaign and he responded by saying that he loved it and that "when I win I'm gonna take that as a compliment."