Sheriff’s candidates speak on issues publicly for first time at candidate forum

COMMERCIAL-NEWS | ROBERT TOMLINSON
(Clockwise from top left) Dennis Allen, Jason Bingaman, Joe Bingaman, Chad Spence and Gordon Evilsizor make their case to the community on why they should be the next St. Joseph County sheriff during a candidate forum held on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department Training Center.

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

CENTREVILLE — St. Joseph County residents got their first chance to hear what the candidates for sheriff in 2024 had to say and thought on different issues during a candidate forum held last week.

Put on by the St. Joseph County Republican Party on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department Training Center, the five Republicans vying for the job of sheriff in one of next year’s primary elections – which will essentially be the general election for the position, as no Democrats have filed to run – answered a number of questions from both moderators and audience members about their stances on a few issues and addressed several social and political grievances many in attendance have complained heavily about ever since the COVID years.

The five candidates – Dennis Allen, Jason Bingaman, Joe Bingaman, Gordon Evilsizor and Chad Spence – are all vying to replace current sheriff Mark Lillywhite, who is not planning on running for re-election and has been mired in controversy since his February arrest for drunk driving, including facing an effort by county commissioners to request the state remove him from office.

Jason Bingaman, the current undersheriff of St. Joseph County and who has been the point person for the sheriff’s department since Lillywhite’s arrest, said in his opening statement the department, despite its turmoil, still has “good things” going on, and was running on his 27 years of law enforcement experience and his record at the department.

“From my experiences, I’ve learned things that work really well and I’ve learned things that don’t work so well. It’s that experience, I think, that will help set me apart,” Jason said. “I’ve been in a leadership role for a long time, and I am not status quo. I know I’ve heard that a couple of times that we need a change because this is status quo, but I am not status quo.”

Evilsizor, the former Florence Township supervisor who has run unsuccessfully for the sheriff’s position in the past, said in his opening statement he would be a “constitutional sheriff,” touted his role in the fixing of Constantine Road, and promised a “different attitude” if he’s elected as sheriff.

“We need to have more patrols protecting the people, we need to hire more officers to fill these positions and protect the people’s property and person. We need to promise a different attitude at the department; we need to promote a positive attitude for the people,” Evilsizor said. “I’d like to work with the judges and prosecutor as your next sheriff and make petty crimes punishable with just a fine and not jail time. Our jail needs to be available for capital crimes and career criminals.”

Allen, a current county commissioner and former St. Joseph County undersheriff, touted his lengthy record with the department and the county as a whole in his opening statement, saying his biggest focus as sheriff would be honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability. Part of his platform was retainment and recruitment, and how he would go about it.

“In the past year and a half, we’ve lost about 21 people, and that’s about 42 percent of the force. Obviously, that’s not good losing all those experienced people. How do you keep them? You have to let them know who you are, you have to let them know they themselves count, their employment is important,” Allen said.

Joe Bingaman, who has 19 years of law enforcement experience, said he would create a “culture of accountability, transparency and integrity” at the department if elected as sheriff.

“We want to make changes to our department that fit St. Joseph County. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we just need to fix some of the spokes in the wheel,” Joe said. “We want to bring a culture of accountability, transparency and integrity to regain the trust of the community, and want to form a citizen’s review board; they can assist us, and then work together as one to address some of the county’s hottest issues.”

Spence, a former Detective Sergeant with the Sheriff’s Department who is currently teaching the public safety CTE program in the county, said in his opening statement he has “devoted his life to service” and would want to implement a number of things as sheriff, such as the reinstatement of a drugs unit.

“We need to get that back. There’s been fentanyl overdoses, and we have people dying in our county because of all these drugs we have, and yet we don’t have a drug unit,” Spence said. “That’s a shame, and we’re going to change that.”

In the Q+A session, the candidates were asked about what plans they have to deal with juveniles in the county. Spence said children these days need “structure and discipline” and don’t “need their hands held,” while also balancing it with love. Jason Bingaman said the problem with juveniles they deal with at the county jail aren’t in school and “don’t have the teachers there to point them in the right direction,” and put the onus on parents to help their kids.

“There has to be a comprehensive approach, everything from our social workers to parents, and we need to have – I don’t know how to fix this – more double parents in the home,” Jason said. “We have to have more structure for these young people to make good decisions, and we have to put the onus on the parents. There has to be a little bit of burden on the other people in the cog. As law enforcement goes, we struggle.”

Allen said the community, not just parents, raises kids, and implored the community to get involved and “show leadership” to help youth that need it. Joe Bingaman said kids learn mainly from what they see through their parents and act the same way, and that that cycle needs to be “broken.” Evilsizor agreed with Joe Bingaman, citing the “fabulous job” the school resource officer in White Pigeon schools has done.

The candidates were then asked if they would have a plan in place to deal with emergencies that may happen in the county. Jason Bingaman said he would have a plan in place through the county’s emergency manager, and that as a sheriff, he can determine how much federal or state aid they want to accept, depending on the emergency. Joe Bingaman said he will have a plan, but it hasn’t been discussed internally with his campaign as of yet, but that he would work with local business and citizens to see where their support would be monetarily. Spence said he does have a plan, but that when it comes to federal or state aid, it was important to “make an assessment” of the situation prior to accepting any. Allen said the emergency management plan currently in place in the county is a good one, praised Emergency Manager Erin Goff for her work, then answered what his plan could be if elected.

“We’d open up the emergency operations center if need be, we’d bring in all the personnel that will assist us in working with us. If we want to get funding back from the feds or the state, we’d have to obviously do the assessments and so forth,” Allen said. “If we spend our public dollars, we want to get some of that funding back. In order to do that, it has to be declared an emergency by the governor, unfortunately, since she’s the only one that can do it.”

Evilsizor said a sheriff would have to weigh what people want, but would get a plan in place prior to the election.

The candidates then were asked about more political issues, such as how they would handle and enforce any directives from the state. Jason Bingaman said the sheriff’s department did not make any arrests for people not wearing a mask during the pandemic nor arrested anybody for breaking the rules when it came to public gathering limits and did not discipline anybody at the department for “expressing their free will” when it came to vaccines.

Moderator Dave Marvin then quipped that a COVID-like situation may be “likely to happen again” when it comes to state mandates, and at that point the responses from the candidates turned into complaints about the mandates during the early days of COVID three years after the fact – Allen said he would “never wear a mask again unless I choose to,” Spence said he never got a COVID vaccine, and Evilsizor said he would not enforce any similar mandates, declaring them “unconstitutional.”

Red Flag laws, a gun violence prevention measure that permits a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who they believe may present a danger to others or themselves, were also briefly discussed by the candidates. Jason Bingaman was the only one to respond, saying there was “no definite answer” as to how he would or would not enforce them, but said he believes in “due process” and advocated for an emergency hearing to have both sides argue their case as to whether the law should be triggered in a particular case.

The candidates were then asked about how they would handle possibly arresting their own deputy in a hypothetical situation. Joe Bingaman said deputies are the “same as anyone else and we have to stick to that.” Spence said it was all about integrity, and that if deputies are not held accountable, bad things would happen. As a follow-up, when asked if law enforcement should get special treatment if they were arrested, Jason Bingaman said if any member of law enforcement breaks the law, they should “expect consequences.” Allen then said law enforcement is held to a “higher standard.”

The forum was attended by dozens of community members and members of the county’s Republican Party, with two guests making speeches prior to the forum: Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, who it was announced in August is not facing charges in connection to a conspiracy to tamper with voting machines following Michigan’s 2020 election, and Jon-Paul Rutan, a former member of the far-right Oath Keepers group who at one point led an initiative to audit Michigan’s 2020 election.

Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@threeriversnews.com.