Burger for sheriff.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Given Lane County's grim budget outlook, it's hard to figure out why anyone would want to be the county's next sheriff.

Despite threatened cuts in county law enforcement, three candidates are seeking to replace Jan Clements, who is stepping down after two terms. They are: Russel Burger, a 41-year-old captain and chief deputy for the sheriff's department; Louis Gomez, a 45-year-old police chief in Oakridge, and Steve Mackey, a 52-year-old sheriff's deputy who works in the Lane County Jail.

All three offer solid backgrounds and intriguing ideas, but Burger has the clear edge in training, experience and vision. He is best equipped to guide the department in the uncertain years ahead.

Mackey served as police chief in Irrigon and Coburg before joining the county jail staff seven years ago. He is running because he believes the jail has gotten short shrift under the current leadership. His priorities are best symbolized by his pledge, if elected, to move the sheriff's administrative offices from the Lane County Courthouse to the jail. His reasoning: That's where the bulk of the department's employees work and where most of its dollars are spent - so that's where the sheriff should be.

While Mackey has some interesting ideas, his campaign is too narrowly focused on corrections. In particular, he fails to address the need to bolster the dangerously low levels of rural patrols. While Mackey would be a good candidate to head the county jail, he's not the best choice for the county's top law enforcement officer.

Gomez has been Oakridge's police chief for four years, and before that worked in Baker City and Reedsport. As a veteran of small departments, he has dealt with budgets that make the county, even now, look flush by comparison. Gomez says he would cut support and supervisory staff to bolster corrections and parole operations, and would emphasize improving what he considers the department's strained relations with the public and other agencies. While he is a creative and refreshing presence in the race, he also lacks the experience necessary to make him the top choice.

Burger's resume reads like a "how-to" manual for officers aspiring to oversee a major law enforcement agency. After earning a degree in finance from Oregon State University, he joined the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, moving from a deputy sheriff in corrections to corporal and watch commander within five years. In 1994, Burger moved to the Oregon State Police, where he spent the next nine years climbing the ranks to become area commander of the agency's Springfield, Florence and Oakridge operations.

Burger defies the hard-nosed stereotype of career law enforcement professionals, and advocates using "the least amount of law enforcement necessary to gain compliance." For example, he says officers should consider issuing warnings instead of speeding tickets whenever possible. To that end, he hopes to move the sheriff's department away from the traffic team/traffic court model in which the traffic court is wholly reliant on revenues from citations.

Like Mackey and Gomez, Burger recognizes the need to protect existing jail beds and to replace those eliminated in recent budget cuts. Yet he also sees the need to protect programs that provide treatment and help reduce recidivism. He's committed to the sheriff's forest work camp and would work to bring it to full capacity. Burger also says he would find ways to change budget plans that call for eliminating a deputy specializing in domestic violence and 24-hour patrols.

While all three candidates have positive ideas, Burger's experience, training, abilities and vision suggest he can actually make them reality. He deserves Lane County voters' support in the May 18 primary.