Three candidates in a race where the incumbent is stepping down… what’s going to happen?
Danville Police Lt. Mike Mondul, Danville Sheriff Dept. Lt. Thelbert Childress, and Sheriff’s Office employee Wayne Booth are in the race. Let’s do the first rundown of the candidates.
Mondul – He’s got most of the momentum in the race with his campaigning already in gear. It looks like he’s got an unlimited sign budget, too. He’s got the work experience to make him qualified for the job and he declared for the race many months ago.
Childress – He’s got the experience for the job as well having 20+ years working for the Sheriff’s office. He’s going have to sell himself as “better than Mondul” to get a lot of votes.
Booth – He’s got 31 years experience working in the Sheriff’s office. He doesn’t have any real administrative experience for the job, and he’s going to have a big uphill battle getting any kind of name recognition over the other two candidates.
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Breakdown: I’m really hoping that it doesn’t come down to a black/white election but that’s the sense that I’m getting in the community right now. Both Mondul & Childress are qualified for the job. A vote for Childress seems to be a vote for “Things the way they are”. A vote for Mondul seems to be “Let’s change things in the Sheriff’s office”. The problem with that statement is that most of the voters have no idea what the Sheriff’s office actually does. Jim Dooley has held the position for 20 years and has usually ran unopposed so most voters won’t know the inner workings.
Random Thoughts: The Sheriff’s office runs the City Jail, serves civil process papers and provides courthouse security. Over the Dooley administration, there hasn’t been many issues that have been news-worthy. The Jail now has a tactical response team (which sound like seven degrees of wasting money because they’re located 50 feet from the Danville Police Department). Mondul would have been a formidable opponent for Dooley if he hadn’t decided to retire. Booth seems like a nice guy and we wish him well, but I just don’t think he’s going to have a chance in this election. To have any chance, Childress is going to have to clearly show why he’s better than Mondul.
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Prediction of the popular vote: Mondul 52%, Childress 41%, Booth 7%
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OddsMakers of the candidate winning the election: Mondul 75%, Childress 25%, Booth 0%
Let’s see how much this one changes at our next update.
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I am surprised Booth is still employed with the office after the article in the paper when he announced he was running. All the negative things he said was wrong with the dept. If it is that bad and he works there. Why hasn’t he said something before now? How can they be accredited? Sounds like someone did some heavy doctoring on paper work to get it.
I think Booth is what Danville needs. He has perfect attendance for 14 years since being with the sheriffs office and including 8 years straight so we know he will be on the job! Not to mention been with the Sheriffs office for 31 years so he should know how it all should work!
This is for the Pittsylvania Co. resident who made a comment on July 20 that he/she was surprised that Booth still works for the Sheriff’s Office. This remark was made because Booth had cited things that he thought needed to be changed within the department. Perhaps Booth is just an honest man, telling things as he sees them instead of saying one thing and doing another, as you are used to the average Political Candidate doing. Instead, Booth is an honest, down to earth person who citizens should be able to relate to because he is the man next-door type. However, he sees things that can be changed in order to make things run smoother or as the Sheriff’s Office was designed and wants to have the opportunity to do it. It would be impossible to expect that a person would stay in a job for 31 years and never be expected to recognize things that needed to be changed. In case you have not noticed when you work for someone else, there are generally certain rules and regulations regarding how things are done. You may give a suggestion occasionally regarding something, but that doe not mean that anyone is going to use your suggestion.
At least we do not have to be concerned that Booth wants to be Danville City Sheriff in order to “pave” his way to a higher position in the future. We have a candidate in Booth who could care less about that. We can be sure that his attention will be on exactly what he says he wants to accomplish. It is his belief that if he is elected that through the co-operation of the Sheriff’s Dept, Police Dept, Schools, and our Community working together that programs can be started that will deter our children from joining gangs, from drugs and violence. He wants us all to have a safer environment and he does not want the children to end up in jail someday but wants them to be our future productive citizens and leaders of Danville.
I think he remained Cool and Collected last week during the Debate on TV. I think we need a clear thinking, Cool and collected Sheriff!