After losing in a landslide in the Aug. 3 primary, Tammy Dow is running as a write-in candidate for Hillsdale County sheriff because primary-winner Lt. Tim Parker violated a federal election law.
According to an Oct. 6 letter from Erica S. Hamrick of the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, Parker violated the Hatch Act during the primary election. He wore his sheriff’s uniform in photos on his campaign’s Facebook page and billboards, which was a violation.
“Once OSC informed Lt. Parker of his violation, he immediately took steps to come into compliance with the law by removing photographs in which he appears in uniform from his campaign billboards and his official campaign Facebook page,” said Hamrick, the OSC’s Hatch Act Unit deputy chief. “Lt. Parker has been advised that should he engage in activities prohibited by the Hatch Act in the future, OSC would consider it a knowing and willful violation of the law that could result in disciplinary action.”
Despite numerous requests for comment, Parker did not speak to The Collegian.
Dow said a big reason she reentered the race was because Parker violated the Hatch Act.
Dow announced her candidacy on her campaign Facebook page on Sept. 26 and spent time at the Hillsdale County Fair letting voters know they have a second option on Nov. 8.
“Parker is not the man to lead this county. I am the person that should lead this county,” Dow said. “From anywhere from the way we treat our people to the way we treat our animals, there’s so much to be done. If you want the same thing that you’ve gotten for the last 20 years, then Parker is your person.”
Dow had not run for an elected office before this past summer’s primaries.
In the Aug. 3 primary, Parker won with 4,534 votes (67 percent), followed by 1,428 votes for Jon-Paul Rutan (21 percent) and 798 votes for Dow (less than 12 percent).
“I really wasn’t used to what it takes,” Dow said. “I don’t think we got out there enough.”
To increase her chances in the general election, Dow and some of her supporters have gone door to door letting voters know they can write her name under Hillsdale County Sheriff on Election Day.
“The door-to-door is probably the most grassroots part of it at this point,” Dow said.
But Dow said word of mouth has been the biggest boost.
“People have just had enough,” Dow said. “They don’t want the same thing they’ve had for 20 years. That’s what they’re telling me.”
Dow said some of her goals as sheriff would be to have “better interaction” with the community and put more emphasis on animals.
“We need to take care of them and be responsible for our own strays,” Dow said.
Dow also said she wants to take on drugs, with both enforcement and drug programs.
“We need to reach out and get more programs going for these drug users,” Dow said. “There has to be help for them locally. We need to get more community involvement.”
Dow would also seek to better communication between departments and EMS.
“I get that complaint all the time from the fire department, that the sheriff’s department deputies and the sheriff’s department, in general, tries to take over their scenes,” Dow said. “Fire is a very specific thing, and they do a very good job. We are lucky to have the firefighters that we have. All that takes is communication, education, and being willing to figure out exactly what’s wrong between the departments and fix it.”
Dow said she thinks many of Parker’s voters in the primary will flip to her side in the general election.
Parker’s name will be the only name printed under Hillsdale County Sheriff on the Nov. 8 ballot, but Dow believes voters will write her name on line below his.
“We need something different,” Dow said. “I am just much better suited for that job.”
