Perhaps we're getting a little bit out front on this, but we're ready to endorse Niagara Falls Police Det. Ernie Palmer in his November run for the office of Niagara County sheriff.
The tireless efforts of state Sen. George Maziarz and his allies in the GOP-controlled state Senate have lobbied Gov. David Paterson to make good on a promise by disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer and appoint current sheriff Tom Beilein to a position on the state Corrections Board.
Sometimes bureaucracies need a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective to determine what's right and what's wrong about the way things are being done.
Make no mistake, when it comes to organizations with longstanding, static leadership, "that's the way we always did it" becomes an all-too-common answer to just about any sort of procedural question one might ask.
In our view, that's what has happened at the sheriff's department, where the cost of defending and settling lawsuits filed by employees and criminal suspects alike has grown to unconscionable proportions in recent years.
Palmer's record as a Niagara County lawman is second to none. He has served as police chief in both Niagara Falls and Youngstown, and is currently chief of detectives for the NFPD, where he has worked side by side with the state police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security on numerous investigations.
The popular Falls native has also proven his electability with a successful run for the Lewiston Town Board.
Sheriff's Deputy Brian Grear, who ran against Beilein in 2005, has threatened a primary run against Palmer. It's a free country, but such an effort seems like a fool's errand.
Grear managed to pull fewer than 20,000 of the more than 51,000 votes cast three years ago, and alienated the entire leadership of his own party in the process. With no money and virtually no name recognition in the west end of the county, he would pose no serious threat to Palmer in a potential primary race.
Likewise, Chief Deputy James Voutour, who will run on the Democratic line, suffers under the handicap of virtually no name recognition in the heavily Democratic west end of the county.
Palmer is as close to a sure thing as you can get with six months to go before the election, and we've always liked putting our money on sure things.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | June 3 2008 |