On April 4th Oklahoma County voters will choose Democrat and Republican nominees to replace John Whetsel as Sheriff. Whetsel retired at the beginning of this month despite being re-elected just last November, in no small part because of an investigation by District Attorney David Prater as well as other issues regarding the County Jail and the operation of the sheriff’s office. With the primary approaching, its a good time to take a look at the choices.

Democrats:

Virgil Green is currently the Chief of Police in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, but Green still has a home in Oklahoma City. Previously he was the Chief in Spencer, but was suspended and finally fired after a dispute with City Hall and it should be noted that he complains about the city council in his new job as well. Before that he was the chief in Boley for twelve years. It seems unlikely that one can campaign vigorously for a local office while simultaneously running a police department in another state.

Mike Hanson is a deputy of the Oklahoma County Sheriff. He’s been with the department since 1986 as a reserve and full-time since 1998. Hanson claims his inside knowledge make him the best candidate to fix the problems. Sources report that he really does have inside knowledge, having been held in the County Jail himself at one point. This indicates he would fit right in with convicted drunk driver County Clerk David Hooten and Court Clerk Rick Warren who was in court more than once on felony charges in his younger years. In his defense, Hanson’s case involved a hostile divorce and he says he ran afoul of the court for trying to do what was in the best interests of his children.

If African-American Democrats rally around Green they could push him to victory. If local law enforcement families like Mike in the Democrat primary then he could be the nominee. An active campaign centered on a candidate with a strong and unimpeachable resume could keep the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office in the hands of a Democrat, but the primary winner will not be able to offer such a campaign.

Republicans:

Darrel Sorrells is a retired deputy sheriff who now works with US Marshals Service. He ran for Sheriff in 2012, giving Whetsel his largest victory ever. Nobody thinks Sorrells is a bad guy, but there aren’t that many who think he is the best choice to put the sheriff’s office in order. Consider that his Facebook page only has 293 ‘likes’ with less than two weeks to go before the primary.

P. D. Taylor has been the Undersheriff to Whetsel for the past 14 years, having previously retired from the Oklahoma City Police Department. Now that Whetsel has stepped down, Undersheriff Taylor is running the agency. Taylor is popular in the law enforcement community, but his association with his boss doesn’t help him at all. Either he was a key player in the problems that have plagued the jail or if he wasn’t one has to wonder what the second-in-command of OCSO has been doing all this time. Regardless, there is some indication his campaign is putting in some effort with signs and social media.

Mike Christian lost to Whetsel last November by less than 10,000 votes out of over 270,000 cast. Christian was previously a State Representative and before that a State Trooper. He was disciplined on a couple of occasions during his time with the OHP and has gotten in trouble for presenting himself as having endorsements that he didn’t as well as claiming to have lettered for the OU football team but not mentioning that it was as an equipment manager, not a player(this one is still on his website). Christian has recently been endorsed, for real, by Oklahoma County Assessor Leonard Sullivan. Sullivan is a local GOP stalwart and his support can be taken as a proxy for the rest of the party establishment. For all of his shooting himself in the foot, Christian appears to have the inside track.

Brett Macy is a member of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board as well as conducting investigations for large financial institutions. He is retired from the Oklahoma City Police Department and is also the son of former county District Attorney Bob Macy. He is highly regarded within the law enforcement community locally and said to possess excellent character and integrity. However, as I have written, in my view the next sheriff must be committed to criminal justice reform. Macy may be so committed, but I can’t find anything to indicate it. I messaged his campaign on social media on the issue and received a non-committal response. Nevertheless, there is no question that Macy has both professional qualifications and a personal reputation that put him head an shoulders above the other Republican candidates. Unfortunately that is rarely sufficient to win, and I’ve been told that Macy is not wearing out any shoe leather on the campaign trail.

Macy would clearly be the best choice for the GOP, but a significant portion of the law enforcement community that might otherwise back him will support Taylor. A dozen years ago that Macy name would have carried Brett into the job in a special election like this, but time marches on. Because there’s no run-off, Christian will likely come out on top because of his familiarity to county voters and backing by the local party establishment.

The general election where the two party nominees will face off will be on Sept. 12th. Also on the ballot at that time will be an Independent.

Ed Grimes is currently a deputy US Marshal and has 40 years of law enforcement experience including time as a deputy sheriff in Oklahoma and Cleveland counties as well as 4 years as Undersheriff in Canadian County as well as being retired from the Oklahoma City Police Department. He is also spoken of highly within the local law enforcement community and by all appearances has put in place an active campaign. Grimes appears to be the candidate most informed about and with the best attitude towards criminal justice reform. It is difficult to win as an Independent, but it is highly likely that the Republican nominee will be a very flawed candidate and the Democrat will be of little consequence beyond gathering the ‘yellow-dog’ votes. Grimes will have an uphill battle, but he will have six months to make the climb.