EDITORIAL: Post endorses Michael Gauger for Palm Beach County sheriff
The best candidate for sheriff is former Chief Deputy Michael Gauger.
By Tony Doris - Palm Beach Post
Published: 7:20 a.m. ET Sept. 25, 2024
The race to lead the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office features two experienced and capable candidates who have worked to professionalize the agency and protect county residents, businesses, visitors and even presidents. But there is a clear choice between the two 76-year-olds.
With Sheriff Ric Bradshaw having already served five consecutive four-year terms, and with serious questions about his oversight of the office's spending and slow response to citizen outcry, it's time for a fresh set of eyes to scrutinize the law enforcement agency's finances and operations. The best candidate for that job today is Michael Gauger, former chief deputy of the PBSO.
Accountability is Gauger's priority. If elected, he would bring in an inspector general or auditor to help get a handle on the budget and rein in the sheriff's spending.
Bradshaw also resisted for years public pressure to allow sheriff's deputies to carry Narcan to revive victims of opioid overdoses, despite Palm Beach County suffering through an opioid epidemic. He finally changed that policy (with a caveat) in 2022.
The PBSO under Bradshaw also was slow to adopt deputies wearing body cameras, in the wake of George Floyd's murder and numerous high-profile police-involved shootings, when other sheriff's departments and much smaller local police agencies were using them.
Of particular concern is Bradshaw's decision in 2010 to create a lucrative retirement program for his executive team, which included Gauger, who said he was surprised to receive a whopping $743,000 payout from the program when he retired in 2021 and became a consultant and investigator. He questions that program – says he gave a lot of the money to his church and charities – and the sheriff's spending for four helicopters and two fixed-wing planes, expensive office space and furnishings. We agree Bradshaw's payout program shows an egregious lack of judgment and casts doubt on his budget decisions as a whole.
The office's $952 million budget for 2025 is $75 million more than the fiscal year 2024 budget. The $952 million, which includes jail costs, is 41.9% of the total county property tax-based budget of $2.2 billion. The percentage increase is 8.6%. Bradshaw, in an interview with The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board, said much of the increase comes from raises negotiated with the Police Benevolent Association. There was also an increase in health insurance costs, as well as higher outlays for food and health care for Palm Beach County Jail inmates, he said. That PBSO budget leaves out a lot of deferred maintenance set aside during this election year.
Gauger, who has a master's degree in social work, says that in addition to financial accountability, he would prioritize mental health programs and restart the county's Drug Farm and the Eagle Academy, anti-recidivism programs that went by the wayside. Within the PBSO he wants to revamp Internal Affairs; externally, he'd bring the department closer to residents through more emphasis on community policing.
Bradshaw defended the executive payouts, saying they only affected a few people, and that the amounts are high because the benefits were based on executive-level salaries. We think his responses about these massive giveaways and the Narcan and body camera issues are remarkably out-of-touch with public sector norms for any department, and insensitive to what county taxpayers consider anywhere close to acceptable.
The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board endorses Michael Gauger for the job.
Read the article here: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/.../editorial.../75274885007/
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