EDITORIALS : For Keith Ferguson
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008
Two years ago, the county was faced with making a choice between a pair of candidates - Sheriff Keith Ferguson and former Sheriff Andy Lee - with the experience and ability to effectively serve as sheriff of Benton County. This year, there are three strong candidates in the hunt, Rogers police Sgt. Kelley Cradduck being the third. But the situation has a familiar feel: a tough choice between qualified candidates, each of whom brings his own particular strengths to the race. In the end, our decisionmaking process this year had a familiar feel as well. Even when measured against these tough, qualified opponents, Sheriff Keith Ferguson remains the best choice for Benton County. His steady, capable leadership of the Sheriff's Office has given the county's electorate no reason to replace him.
Andy Lee strikes us as a man who feels - knows - he should never have left the Sheriff's Office. He's had to sit back and watch someone else lead the office he still seems to consider his own, and our impression is that it's been a painful experience.
But leave Lee did, and his departure opened the door for a different brand of leadership - a brand of leadership that better suits today's Benton County.
Cradduck, who's campaigned on some fairly progressive initiatives, is a forward-thinking police officer - and in our book, that's a good thing. If Lee represents a blast from the county's past, Cradduck offers a glimpse of its law-enforcement future. And if Cradduck were elected, we have no doubt that he could do the job.
But just as Benton County has moved beyond the past, beyond Lee, we don't think the future Cradduck represents has yet arrived. In the here and now, Ferguson is the best man for the job.
We've pretty much given up on Ferguson morphing into a more visible, vocal sheriff. He's settled into a pattern of becoming more visible when election time rolls around, then serving quietly and effectively in the years between. From a newspaper's perspective, that's less than ideal because a sheriff who shuns the spotlight generates less news than one who embraces it.
We also think there could be some value to the public in Ferguson leading more visibly.
But no sheriff is perfect. And if the tradeoff is the kind of leadership Ferguson has delivered so far, we feel that's well worth it. Keith Ferguson has our endorsement for Benton County sheriff.
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