Philadelphia Sherrif's Race - random local politics

[wawa]

Any philly people have opinions on this?  My mama has been posting stories to FB about it periodically.  IIOY  redheadbaker  Who else?

General gist - apparently last round the sheriff's office in philly was revealed to be WILDLY inept/corrupt (unclear which to this outsider).  They voted in somebody new, but change has been slow I guess?  This random dude is now running entirely on the platform that he will fix the sheriff's sale process to either fasttrack people who need help to foreclosure assistance programs or just get shit sold, thus reducing blight.

I don't know enough about any of it to know if he's full of shit.  And I might have already posted about this, I can't remember.  But whatever, that was then.  this is now.  talk to me about it.

his website:
phlsheriff.com/about-chris/

He's an R, which means he probably doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell in a largely D button city, but it's not a major election so...who knows.

I want to love him entirely because he's also strongly opposed to people who illegally post signs on utility poles and street sign posts.  Because THAT SHIT IS ACTUALLY LITERING.  KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF.  www.philly.com/philly/blogs/our-money/Cracking-down-on-bandit-signs.html

Article about the race:
www.newsworks.org/index.php/politics/item/87644-reforming-sheriff-property-auctions-fuels-long-shot-republican-challenger-in-philadelphia?utm_source=dlvr&utm_medium=twitterauto&utm_campaign=social-inbound

It's 10 a.m. on a Sunday. A coffee cup in one hand and a stack of campaign literature in the other, Chris Sawyer scans a busy, parking lot flea market outside Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia. Time to introduce himself — and the office he's hoping to fill — to potential voters.

Sawyer, 38, is the Republican candidate running for Philadelphia sheriff, one of three row offices on the ballot this year. It's a post that many voters can't explain or, in some cases, don't even know exists.

"When you think of sheriff, you know what you think of? Andy Griffith," Edward Boyle told Sawyer from behind a foldout table selling wrestling memorabilia and mugshots.

"Most people, that's exactly what they imagine," said Sawyer, an industrial systems engineer and anti-blight activist.

The life of a Philadelphia sheriff, though, is a far cry from thwarting moonshiners and bank robbers in Mayberry.

Part of the job is to transport prisoners and secure courtrooms during criminal proceedings. The other, less understood, part deals with real estate. Specifically, tax and mortgage delinquent real estate.

Five times a month, foreclosed properties are auctioned off to the highest bidder during sheriff sales. Roughly 10,000 are listed each year after owners fail to pay up.

Ideally, the sales create more tax producing properties and help collect lost revenue for the city in the form of unpaid property taxes and utilities.

This process is the focus of Sawyer's grassroots campaign.

"It's hard to describe whether or not it's incompetence or it's just sheer willful disregard for what you're supposed to be doing as a sheriff when it comes to processing property," said Sawyer.

Either way, he thinks the city is suffering as a result.

"The sheriff's office really is the key to unlocking the city," he said. "If you fix the real estate unit, make it more efficient, you participate directly in getting blighted, abandoned properties moved up into the market, then you can turn around a huge amount of the city.

"You'll have developers coming in. You'll also have nonprofits expanding. You'll have a lot of economic activity driven off of that."

Making it better every day
From his no-frills campaign office in Center City, the current sheriff, Democrat Jewell Williams, acknowledges that his office is a work in progress, but he also says its done a lot of good since he took over in 2012.

Williams, a former state representative, is particularly proud of the money his office has sent to the city's coffers through sheriff sales.

sheriffx600Philadelphia Sheriff Jewell Williams (Image courtesy of Williams campaign)
"We went from $15 million to city of Philadelphia to $25 million. From $25 million to $45 million," said Williams.

This year, he projects sheriff sales will net the city more than $60 million. For Williams, that total is a sign that he's turning around an office that's just now joining the 21st century and been a financial basket case in the past.

John Green, the sheriff before Williams, stepped down in 2011 after an audit found that his staff couldn't account for millions collected from sheriff sales.

"We've now made it better and we're making it better every day. So we went from a quiet storm to a calm. Every time we send more money to the city of Philadelphia, we're resolving the issues that was happening in the past because we're actually helping the city work," said Williams.

Williams says he could do an even better job if he had more manpower on both ends of his operation.
As of June 30, 2015, the end of that fiscal year, the office was budgeted for 311 employees, according to mayoral spokesperson Mark McDonald.

The office's annual budget is roughly $18 million.

A couple months ago, Williams requested 30 more deputies. He says he needs them to help make transporting prisoners a more efficient process and to staff courtrooms.

McDonald says the request is still being evaluated, as it would "significantly" increase the office's budget. The move would require City Council to pass an ordinance.

Williams would also like to hire 20 more people for his real estate unit, though he hasn't made a formal request. There are currently as many independent contractors in the office. Without them, Williams argues his office would be underwater.

"The more sheriff sales we do, the more money the city makes or the city can get, but you've got to have bodies in order to move the work," said Williams.

Sawyer argues that there's plenty of money in the sheriff's office right now to fix what needs fixing, that he wouldn't need "a cent of taxpayer money."

"I can just start slashing contracts and then there's going to be people who are going to get what I call 'no overtime' — no overtime," said Sawyer.

"If I can't get rid of an employee who's basically a drag on the agency, I can just turn around and say you're never going to see overtime as long as I'm here. That stings. That's almost as good as termination," he said.

Slim odds
It's a policy Sawyer says, if elected, he'd hope to avoid having to use.

Sawyer's chances on Tuesday are pretty slim. Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one in Philadelphia. With so much settled during the May primary, voters also don't typically turn out for general elections unless there's a presidential race at the top of the ticket.

What's more, Sawyer doesn't have much money to reach voters. As of Thursday, he hadn't filed campaign finance paperwork for the latest cycle. As of mid-September, he had no cash on hand.

As of Oct. 19, the end date for the last cycle before the general election, Williams had more than $25,348.37 at his disposal.

"I took statistics in college. I know what that involves," said Sawyer of his chances.

"Most people are predicting that I don't have a chance in hell. But there's kind of a little bit of fun about that. Maybe this year, I might not make it. Four years from now, maybe I'll have some more support. Anything can happen.

[redheadbaker]

Somebody posted about him a while ago -- I remember reading about him. If my options are him vs. the current sherrif, I'll vote for him. But I agree with you -- I think most vote straight D without doing any research on the candidates, so he doesn't stand a chance.

[redheadbaker]

I was looking at the candidates on CrowdPac, and you can add candidates to your personal ballot. It also calculates how many other CrowdPac users have the candidate on their ballot. At least on CrowdPac, Sawyer is ahead of Jewel Williams (the incumbent).

[nikki25]

I am out of Philly and in the burbs now so can't vote but IDK. I definitely understand the need for sheriff sales and trying not to have abandoned, foreclosed houses sitting around, but really, Philly's taxes are like 300 bucks a year and many of these homes aren't in 'desirable' neighborhoods that would attract investors, I imagine.

And, 311 sherriffs is a very low number when compared to the amount of courts and inmates needed to be transported. I do think the housing really needs to be removed from the sheriff's job titles and forwarded to a different area. It makes no sense why the sheriff's are still handling these auctions- like, none at all. Their main job has nothing to do with real estate.

[msmerymac]

Hmm, I haven't heard about this race at all. Granted, I'm in the suburbs, but I KNOW people who live in the city, and they seem more concerned about the city council elections (since the mayoral race is a lock for Kenney).

[erbear]

It's a waste of time and money to run as anything but a Dem in Philly.

Why do we vote for SC judges? It's weird.

[msmerymac]

PA has a Dem majority on the supreme court now, so that's good! I think my school board election went well, too.