Editor,

In his Oct. 5 letter, “Campbell understands need for canines,” Char Henderson tells us that he attended an Old Goats’ meeting and after listening to Lane Campbell talk about K9s, Mr. Henderson became an informed voter and decided Campbell is “the man for the job.”

If Char were really open to being informed, he would know that in these challenging and often divisive times, Sheriff Felici has to make difficult – but informed – choices. In this case, he has to weigh having a drug-sniffing K9 unit against hiring more officers and other priorities. I’m sure Sheriff Felici would love to have the staff, resources, and money so he doesn’t have to make these difficult choices, but that’s not the world you and I live in.

More central to this election is the fact that Lane Campbell recently “came out” as a “constitutional sheriff.” This is deeply troubling (and I hope that Char, the Old Goats,and everyone else are paying attention to this):

What Lane Campbell is telling us is, if he doesn’t like a rule or a law — or the rule of law — he won’t enforce it. He’s telling us that he doesn’t have to take his oath to uphold the laws of the State of Washington seriously, if he “doesn’t feel like it”; it’s really that simple.

This is an election for county sheriff. We’re not voting for a constitutional lawyer, nor are we voting for state or federal Supreme Court justices, which is where constitutional issues have been decided for over 230 years.

Deciding what is or is not “constitutional” is not in Lane Campbell’s job description, nor is he qualified to make these decisions, despite his law enforcement experience.

For the last four years, Sheriff Felici has set aside politics in favor of serving all of us, and this means having to make difficult choices; he has demonstrated that he has the knowledge and experience for the job, which makes him the best choice to continue as our Island County sheriff.

On the other hand, if Lane Campbell is so willing to ignore two-thirds of his oath to “protect and serve,” and instead wants to impose his not-so-hidden political agenda on all of us, then he is clearly not qualified to be Island County’s lead law enforcement officer.

David Freed

Clinton