Somerset County Chief Deputy Dale Lancaster won the race for county sheriff on Tuesday with more than 60 percent of the vote, but said the campaign that turned ugly with ethics complaints against him and spam emails from a mysterious sender has left him wincing.
Meanwhile, Lancaster’s opponent, Kris McKenna, a Waterville police officer, claimed lopsided campaign reporting and public distractions were unfortunate but did not keep him from getting his message out to the electorate.
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McKenna said that there was “nothing objective” in the Morning Sentinel’s reporting of the campaign.
“I think I did very well for what I had,” said McKenna, 38, of Skowhegan. “I didn’t have a political party backing. I got to say what I had to say and it was a great experience. I think if you look at the ideas, they are better ideas. It’s just a way to change things up in this county that’s being blasted with mill devaluations.”
The Somerset County charter, adopted in 2010, forbids political party affiliation for candidates running for any county office.
McKenna’s platform focused on call sharing in the county with Maine State Police to save money hiring new deputies and on taking away county vehicles for top officials while they are off duty.
McKenna said the low turnout of voters in Tuesday’s election also was a sad reflection on the state of Maine politics. He said an estimated 19,000 of 35,000 registered voters in Somerset County turned out to vote, meaning that 16,000 registered voters did not go to the polls. McKenna said he has no plans currently to seek public office in the future, but he added, “We don’t know what the future holds.”
Lancaster said he has changes planned for operations at the sheriff’s office once he is sworn in January, but he would not elaborate on Thursday. He said he has a chief deputy in mind to take over his current job, but would not name that person. He said he will appoint someone to fill the post in early December.
Running on his 40 years of law enforcement and administrative experience, Lancaster said he was disappointed by the negative aspects of the campaign.
“What has transpired has been the voice of the people, but anyone takes pause when their character is in question,” Lancaster said of a federal complaint alleging he campaigned while in uniform and used county assets to run for sheriff.
“I would have preferred that people just run on their qualifications. Did it affect me? It did on one level. There’s a part of me that understands what politics has become — it’s extremely unfortunate. To say that it doesn’t affect you would be less than truthful.”
The wife of a Kennebec County sheriff’s captain — who was also a McKenna supporter — filed a federal election complaint against Lancaster, then was caught using a fake name to alert media about it. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel rejected the complaint from Sharon Picard that alleged Lancaster violated the federal Hatch Act by using his office to campaign.
Picard is the wife of Kennebec County Capt. Dennis Picard, who is a friend and an active supporter of McKenna. Picard later was placed on administrative leave with pay while the department conducts an internal investigation.
Picard’s leave began Oct. 24, the same day the Morning Sentinel reported that his wife filed the unsuccessful complaint against Lancaster.
Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said Thursday he expects the internal investigation to conclude next week. Liberty said he could not discuss details of the investigation until it is completed.
The Picard incident was followed 10 days later by an email blast to more than 100 county and nearly 250 school district email boxes purporting to be in support of McKenna’s campaign. The county’s technical services director said it cost several hundred dollars of his county employment time to delete and clear the emails, which were considered unwanted spam.
McKenna said he had no part in the email blast, saying that he did not know the sender and that the emails seemed to be aimed at derailing his campaign by making him appear to be unethical. Lancaster also said he had no knowledge of the emails or the person who sent them.
Emails addressed to the sender by the Morning Sentinel were never returned.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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