Tennenbaum for Sheriff

In 2020, county voters overwhelmingly enacted Measure P, expanding the oversight authority and independence of the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO) to investigate potential wrongdoing by Sheriff’s Office deputies and make discipline recommendations.

Similar measures were enacted around the country in response to law enforcement abuses and outrages that fill newscasts with citizen cellphone videos of “officer involved incidents” ranging from rudeness to murder.

Nationally, police murders of George Floyd and many others dominated media attention.  Locally, the killing of 13-year old Andy Lopez by a never-prosecuted & later-promoted sheriff’s deputy, as well as deaths of several mentally ill citizens at the hands of law enforcement, drove 64.7% voter support for Measure P.

Of the remaining candidates for sheriff, only Carl Tennenbaum has fully embraced Measure P.  In person and on his website, he expressly commits to “more robust oversight and monitoring of conduct of deputies as outlined by Measure P.”

The other candidates mouth promises of “elevating accountability,” “re-imagining policing,” “restoring trust,” “community-centered law enforcement,” “embracing constructive community oversight,” and “community-based policing.”  Can voters believe them?  Consider that they and their careers were marinated in the same Sheriff’s office culture of brutality that has cost taxpayers tens of millions in civil damages and which Measure P was written to change.  Leaders of that culture — the current Sheriff and the union representing his deputies’ — are suing to nullify Measure P.

Tennenbaum is the only credible choice.

— Bob Edwards, Sonoma 

Bob Edwards, a frequent contributor to The Sun, here shares his personal opinion.