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Sheriff suspends radio ads until after election
Todd Garrison
Even though he isn’t mentioned or speaking in radio ads promoting the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Todd Garrison is suspending the ads until after the November election.
“Although the advertising campaign is reflective of an ongoing and dynamic effort to rebrand the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department to the community, I am sensitive to the fact that we are in an election cycle,” Garrison said in a news release. “With that in mind, I have informed the internal committee that commissioned the campaign of my decision to suspend it.”
The radio ads, which have been airing for weeks, are part of a $50,000 community outreach effort that began in 2007, according to the release. Using seized-assets funds – not taxpayer dollars – a committee chaired by Lt. Chris Smead issued a request for proposals in 2008 for services to raise awareness of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department. A Las Cruces firm, Wilson-Binkley Advertising, was the winning bidder and has coordinated production and placement of radio ads promoting the department’s mission statement and core beliefs.
In addition to the radio advertisements, the department’s rebranding initiative includes redesigned patrol cars, new letterhead, posters and banners for recruiting and job fairs. Once the campaign resumes, the department also plans billboards.
“This entire initiative is reflective of the officers’ desire to show their professionalism and pride to the communities we collectively serve,” Smead said in the release. “I respect Sheriff Garrison’s decision to suspend the campaign, but the entire department looks forward to its resumption in November, regardless of the election results. We believe the message is important, and we want to keep it going strong.”
Garrison, a Republican, faces Democrat Juan R. “J.R.” Stewart in November.
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Many sheriff departments and their respective county have a federal seized asset agreement. Here is an example of such an agreement. Read this agreement that puts controls how seized assets are handled. Do we have such an agreement in Dona Ana County. I think we should have such agreement. Who approved the $50,000 – just the sheriff without any oversight.
http://www.co.camden.ga.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1013
Hemingway asks an appropriate, and (in his case) a partisan, question – kind of. Where iin the public domain is the information about these funds? How much money is there (how much was siezed), what else has it been spent on, how much remains? Once siezed, the money IS public (taxpayer) money and must be accounted for and spent pursuant to laws dealing with public treasure.
Having said that – good on the Sheriff … I remember the Denish ads from late last year and early this year in which public money was spent getting her face and name out in LOTS of TV ads, and while they weren’t as obnoxious and blatant as the “I’m Rebecca Vigil Giron” ad campaign, they were in line with the public ads featuring Bill Richardson in 2006 and 2008. Garrison has set a good standard for public officials … once a public official announces for public office, public money should not be spent to spread their name ID. Lastly – the use of siezed funds IS appropriate for a PR campaign because it is directly inline with the source of those funds.
Of course – it could also mean that he believes he’ll be reelected any way …
Good on Garrison.
Hemingway this are seized assets. NOT TAXPAYER DOLLARS, to be used at Sheriff Department discretion, for the benefit of the community. How much more beneficial it is to the community by upgrading the Sheriff’s Department can you get. Under the present sheriff we have come a long way.
Would you like to go back to little policing of our country, as it was a few years ago?
Do we have Federal Shared Asset Fund Account to for using these funds? Someone should know!
Great move, Sheriff. These ads were not paid for with taxpayer funds, this outreach program has been ongoing on different levels for years, no names are mentioned in the ad, etc. Hopefully, all the complainers and calllers to the local paper will give it a rest. Probably not, they will all find something else to complain about.
It would interesting to see how much these radio ads cost. The County has an extremely tight budget . This is the wrong time for any kind of PR campaign.
Thank you Sheriff Garrison!! You are definitely a man of integrity. This is going above and beyond the call because, although you are never mentioned in the ad, to you it is a reflection of your current office. You have my utmost respect.
I only wish that Valencia County Sheriff Renee Rivera had 1/4 of the integrity as you so he would remove his name off the Sheriff Department’s vehicles.