When You Have Nothing Else to Recommend You, Play the Gay Card

I generally do not discuss local municipal politics on this blog. However, there are occasions when the sleaze involved in campaigns becomes so unconscionable that I cannot bite my tongue. A case in point is the local race for Sheriff in the nearby City of Chesapeake which lies to the south of Norfolk. During my legal career some years back I worked for an area law firm with offices located at that time in Chesapeake. As a result, I came to know many of the ins and outs of that city's politics and made the acquaintance of Sheriff John Newhart (pictured at left) at one of the many charitable events he was helping to sponsor. While I do not practice criminal law, on the occasions I needed practical, pragmatic advice for clients or family members, Sheriff Newhart always was willing to help out or recommend a course of action.

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Now, for the first time in years Sheriff Newhart is being challenged by a disgruntled former employee who has virtually nothing to recommend him to the voting public. A fact that is confirmed by Newhart's endorsement by literally just about every politician in the city from BOTH the GOP and the Democrats. So what does his challenger do? Spreads rumors that Newhart is a racist - which is not the case - and employ a whisper campaign that Newhart is/might be gay. Among John Newhart's endorsers is my former classmate, GOP Congressman Randy Forbes, with whom I rarely find agreement, particularly given his inability to recognize the separation of church and state. But in this case Randy and I DO agree. John Newhart needs to be reelected. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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When John Newhart became sheriff in 1970, the city was a vast expanse of farms interrupted by a few small towns. As the farmlands gave way to bedroom communities, Newhart remained a constant. He has been re-elected every four years, and went unchallenged for two decades. This year, independent candidate and former deputy David Cahoon is taking on his former boss. At stake is the responsibility to lead a department of about 410 deputies and staff and oversee a jail population of 1,100 inmates, among other duties.

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Newhart has overseen the growth and modernization of the department. He established a charitable fund for crime victims and several programs for elderly and poor residents. The National Sheriffs' Association named him sheriff of the year in 1997. He points to an efficient jail operation, coming in $1.2 million under budget this fiscal year. Newhart cut the city's work release program to save some of the money. Despite being unchallenged for 20 years, the incumbent has not been without controversy. He was acquitted of charges of abduction and attempted sodomy of a teenage boy at the Oceanfront in 1977.

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Cahoon criticized Newhart for traveling to California, New York City and coastal Florida on extradition trips with another sheriff's department employee. Newhart said it saved taxpayer money to go on trips rather than send a deputy who would require overtime pay.

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Cahoon, 47, also a Chesapeake native, graduated from Great Bridge High School in 1980. After earning an associate's degree from Tidewater Community College in police science, Cahoon joined the Chesapeake sheriff's office as a deputy in 1984. He served as a deputy sheriff in Chesapeake for 20 years before Newhart dismissed him. He sued Newhart in 2007, saying the sheriff fired him for supporting a black deputy in an employment complaint. The case was settled.

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Cahoon's campaign website is a half-baked, amateur affair and his team of supporters seems to revolve almost exclusively around fellow employees where he now works. Likewise he lacks any credible endorsers. How he thinks he demonstrates any where with all to run a modern, well run sheriff's department is baffling. I guess that's why he has had to resort to lies and whispers of racism and that Newhart might be gay. It's disgusting and I hope Chesapeake readers will vote for John Newhart on election day.