News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Blanton and Brown are the survivors of a three-way primary race that also included Redmond police chief Jim Carlton.
Carlton garnered 4,768 votes, Blanton received 6,506 and Brown led with 9,177. None of the candidates received the 51 percent of the vote required to avoid a runoff election.
Blanton told The Nugget that he was pleased to have made it into the runoff and happy with the positive tenor of the campaign.
He said that, while department personnel might find it a bit uncomfortable to have two department lieutenants going head-to-head in vying for the top job, it would not affect the operations of the department.
"As far as I'm concerned it will not (have an effect)," Blanton said. "My duties are first and foremost as a patrol lieutenant and second are my professional goals and aspirations."
Blanton said he prefers not to try to draw distinctions between himself and Brown. Instead, he said, he will continue to focus on his attributes and "let the voters decide."
Brown, who received over 44 percent of the vote compared to Blanton's nearly 32 percent, said that decision should be clear cut.
"The voters are now going to be able to concentrate on two of us," he said. "I think the voters are going to have a real clear cut choice."
According to Brown, there is a definite distinction between the candidates' vision for the department and their approach to the sheriff's job.
"The leader of an agency needs to be an executive administrator first and foremost, not a street cop. And that's the difference."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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