by CORY SMITH | The National News Desk | National Sheriffs Association
Both presidential campaigns have responded to questionnaires sent by the National Sheriffs’ Association, seeking their positions on key law enforcement and public safety concerns.
The National Sheriffs’ Association asked the campaigns how they’d address mental health needs in jails, the challenges in handling youth crime, how they plan to attack the fentanyl crisis, and how they plan to secure our borders, among other hot topics.
Sheriff Kieran Donahue of Canyon County, Idaho, is the president of the National Sheriffs’ Association.
He said Monday that his group had a “seat at the table” under former President Donald Trump’s administration, but they haven’t had the same meaningful interactions with President Joe Biden.
“We’ve been shut out from this administration,” Donahue said.
He said they’ve had conversations with the Homeland Security secretary and other cabinet members, but never Biden or, until recently, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris met weeks ago with Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona, to discuss border security concerns. Trump did the same in August.
But Donahue said he’s concerned about what he sees as inaction on the border for the majority of Biden’s presidency.
“I’m a cowboy. I’m a ranch kid. The barn door’s been open for three and a half years. You’re now thinking you’re going to shut it? The horses have already got out,” he said.
Donahue said the 14 questions he sent to the campaigns were a proactive measure that sought to get Trump’s and Harris’ responses on the record, put the candidates on notice that sheriffs need a voice in Washington, and to get those conversations started.
“And the fact is, we want a dialogue with whoever wins the presidency. It’s a must,” Donahue said.
You can read both campaigns’ responses embedded in this story.
Donahue said he was encouraged to see both camps respond.
He’s confident Trump would make good on a commitment to meet with the National Sheriffs’ Association early in the next term if he’s elected.
Donahue said he’s hopeful, but not confident, that Harris would do the same.
The sheriff said the responses sent by Trump’s team were “very clear, direct.”
The responses from Trump’s team were provided in a Q&A style.
Donahue said the responses from Harris’ team felt more like “lip service,” a “redirect for an answer that that camp wanted to give, that campaign wanted to give.”
The Harris campaign response was sent in the form of a four-page summary.
“Whoever wins that White House, we’re looking for honesty, we’re looking for truthfulness. We’re looking for the hard conversations,” Donahue said. “This is a hard job. They’re going to have a hard job. We’re not always going to agree on everything, but we have to be able to sit at the table and talk candidly.”
Trump’s team wrote that he would designate major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Donahue said he was glad to see that response.
He said taking the fight to the cartels is vital. And various departments, such as Homeland Security, must be equipped for the fight.
“They’ve got to be given some teeth to go after these people, to go after these bad actors,” Donahue said.
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He also said he was encouraged to see both campaigns acknowledge the difficult role law enforcement officers often play in addressing issues of mental health.
“We operate jails, and we become the de facto mental health facility,” he said. “I think both recognize that there’s a great need to assist sheriffs and jail commanders and the public in addressing those issues.”
Whoever wins the election must do what they can to support law enforcement departments struggling to recruit or retain enough officers, Donahue said.
One example would be supporting a law that helps sheriff deputies and other first responders with mortgage assistance, he said.
And he wants the president to stand with America’s sheriffs.
“There’s so many issues and so many dangers, so many threats threatening this country.
This is an all-hands-on-deck (moment). We have to unite,” Donahue said. “And that’s the other thing about that letter, that questionnaire. Here’s a starting point. Whoever sits in that office, … let’s unite. Unite the people of America. Unite both parties. Get rid of your partisanship. Reach across that aisle, and … do what needs to be done.”
