Patrol deputies vote for Freitag
Published 10:10 am Thursday, October 30, 2014
The union representing road patrol deputies with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office has thrown its support behind their fellow deputy running against incumbent Sheriff Bob Kindler.
Kurt Freitag
Though the union declined to release the tally of votes, the deputies showed “overwhelming” support in favor of endorsing deputy Kurt Freitag, said deputy Ron Wacholz, union steward with the Minnesota Public Employees Association representing the deputies.
He said the vote was conducted over text message because the email system is monitored and he didn’t want any of the deputies to be harassed because of their vote for either candidate.
Bob Kindler
Employees in the Freeborn County jail and dispatchers in the Law Enforcement Center were also given the opportunity to vote but did not participate, he said.
The union chose to endorse Kindler in the 2010 election between Kindler and former Sheriff Mark Harig.
“I’m definitely pleased,” said Freitag, when asked about his response to the vote. “It shows that the guys who work with me the closest have confidence in me to be their sheriff and take them in the right direction.”
During a debate with Freitag and Kindler on Monday, Freitag referenced the vote being 9-0 in his favor. There are 69 people who work in the Sheriff’s Office.
Kindler said he considered the vote unofficial, noting that the vote should have been conducted by ballot.
“It was a very, very small percentage of the Sheriff’s Office employees who responded, and it doesn’t include the nonunion employees,” Kindler said.
Wacholz said the patrol deputies were not asked by either candidate to take a vote, but they decided to do so after receiving community inquiries about the opinions of the patrol staff.
As of Wednesday, patrol officers with the Albert Lea Police Department, who are also represented by the Minnesota Public Employees Association, had not voted on an endorsement, according to union steward Ted Herman.
Herman said the possibility of a vote has not been ruled out, but right now they are letting officers figure out which candidate they want to support.
