First of all, thanks to Para for allowing me to announce my candidacy here on SIGforum. This post is essentially a follow up to a thread generated around Election Day, that asked what each of us was prepared to do. I had previously thought about running for Sheriff, but I had never really given it a lot of serious thought until this year when our current sheriff announced that he would not be running for reelection. So I am seeking the Republican nomination for Sheriff of Rensselaer County, NY.

I’ll fill in more details when my website is up and running, which should be soon, but for the time being I’ll keep things a bit more generic so as to try to keep all the hits coming to my campaign website. I am an engineer by education, with a BS in Chemical Engineering, an MS in Explosives Engineering and a Master Certificate in Forensic Arson and Explosives investigations. I started my law enforcement career as a uniformed police officer in Troy, NY and worked there for about 3 years. I was looking for an opportunity to go federal in the hopes of still being a cop, but also using more of my education so I went into federal law enforcement and served as a fed for just under 15 years.

I finished my federal LE career as a Senior Special Agent Bomb Technician with ATF. With the direction the agency was going, I could no longer feel ok working for the agency and ended up resigning. I am as big of a 2nd Amendment supporter as anyone and went to ATF for the arson and explosives mission, and did a damn good job working fires and explosives related cases. When leadership no longer allowed me to work arson and explosives cases and instead forced me to try to work “crime gun intelligence,” a made up term if ever I heard one, I decided it was time to go back to my engineering roots. I’m proud of the work I did at ATF, and actually helped a lot of people out that were charged with NYS firearms related violations by providing technical knowledge of firearms as well as assorted case law, and also often recommended firearms expert witnesses that could help people who were charged with violations of NY State’s unconstitutional firearms laws. After the SAFE Act was passed, I no longer provided any help to agencies in NY State charging violations of the SAFE Act against anyone that wasn’t a violent felon.

So for the last year, I’ve been working as an engineer and project manager. My place of work and coworkers are great, but I miss working in LE and want to get back into the fray, and being Sheriff would be an excellent opportunity for me to do just that. I can still be effective and want to continue to serve my community in a way that directly affects the community. I also want to impart the knowledge of my 18 years of experience working cases from all over the country.

My platform is fairly simple. My first priority is to support the second amendment against unconstitutional executive overreach. On day one, I would draft a letter to ATF’s director and NY Field Division management that my office will no longer cooperate with ATF investigations that aren’t associated with arson, explosives or violent felonies. I will not house prisoners charged with violations of federal firearms laws that aren’t charged concurrently with some violent felony, or have a history of committing violent felonies. We will not cooperate with investigations nor house prisoners charged with any firearm possession violation if they are an otherwise law abiding citizen. In short ATF would have to find another jail to house anyone charged with a violation of ATF’s unconstitutional pistol brace, ghost gun or bump stock findings. Additionally my deputies would receive standing orders that they are NOT allowed to enforce the SAFE Act.

The second pillar of my platform is to provide better, more complete services to the citizens of our growing county. Currently the county does not have any sort of county wide EMS support, and that is unacceptable. If elected my office will implement a paramedic fly car program where the sheriff’s office will provide non transport, advanced life support, EMS capability in support of communities that are ever increasingly finding their volunteer services unable to meet the demand of their communities. Additionally, I would allow deputies that are already serving as volunteer firefighters to carry gear with them and respond to assist in fire suppression efforts in the county. They are already responding to fires, so if able, they might as well help provide more support than just traffic control. These are just two examples of very simple steps that my office could take to improve services in the county at very little cost.

Another pillar of my campaign is to use existing services in conjunction with our own to provide better opportunities for jail inmates. While jail sentences are not long enough to turn an unskilled person into a skilled machinist, or welder for example, we could certainly use existing non profits to provide more training in basic computer skills such as MS office in the hopes of giving inmates more opportunities outside of the jobs they previously worked that often exposed them to great temptation to break the terms of their probation, etc. The theme is really to work with other service providers and non profits to do more at the jail at no additional cost to the taxpayers. This isn’t going to fix all the problems, but it might give a few people opportunities that they otherwise might not have had.

So keep your eyes open for my website. I will add a link to this post when it becomes live, and will also add it to my signature. I would welcome any support that any of the great folks here at SIGforum would be willing to provide, be it financial donations, making phone calls, etc. and my website will have details on how to do those things. I’d also welcome any advice anyone else here would care to offer. This is my first ever foray into running for public office, and I appreciate any advice that can help make my run successful. Thanks very much!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lt CHEG,

Awesome!!! I hope you do well in your quest!

Good luck!!!

I like your platform. It's well rounded, yet simple. Best of luck to you.

Lt CHEG, great news! I wish you the very best and hope you kick ass! Sounds to me like your resume is a winner and I expect we'll get good news from you.

Loving the Omega and wear it nearly every day.

Best of luck! I hope you win. We have a good sheriff here in Monroe County (Todd Baxter). I look forward to seeing your website.

Best of luck from down south. That part of the country will certainly be served well by someone with your background and experience. All the best!!

Good luck! I grew up on the other side of Albany and know Troy and Rensselaer need all the help they can get.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
Best of luck! I hope you win. We have a good sheriff here in Monroe County (Todd Baxter). I look forward to seeing your website.

When I was a newly minted fed I was stationed in Rochester. I worked with Todd and his folks quite a bit when he was a Captain at Rochester PD. You are indeed fortunate to have Todd as your Sheriff. He is a very good man.

Very cool! I wish you well in this endeavor!

Very cool. Strong hopes that you are elected.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:
When I was a newly minted fed I was stationed in Rochester. I worked with Todd and his folks quite a bit when he was a Captain at Rochester PD. You are indeed fortunate to have Todd as your Sheriff. He is a very good man.

He is indeed. He went through the academy and worked at RPD with one of my best friends (Jay M.), which is how I know him. I think the people in Renssalaer county will have another good man when you are elected.

I wish you the best of luck! We need more people like you especially in states like NY.

Best of luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
Best of luck! I hope you win. We have a good sheriff here in Monroe County (Todd Baxter). I look forward to seeing your website.

When I was a newly minted fed I was stationed in Rochester. I worked with Todd and his folks quite a bit when he was a Captain at Rochester PD. You are indeed fortunate to have Todd as your Sheriff. He is a very good man.

I’m rooting for you Cheg! I’ll keep an eye out for your website. I took a couple HK Classes with Mr Baxter in 97,98 and I’ve heard good things about him since.

Outstanding example of putting yourself out there to make a difference in this world.
I wish you all the best.

Good luck!!! Keep on truckin’!!!!

Best of luck. Elected office is not for the meek

Good luck! My former in-laws lived in Erie Co. NY laws detract from a beautiful state.

Wishing you all the best!