Sheriff Candidates Talk Drugs, Transparency

Drugs, transparency and the "Stand your Ground" law were all topics addressed by the two candidates for at a political debate held Tuesday night at .

While Sheriff Clark Millsap said that he would love to find additional funding for the Cartersville-Bartow County Drug Task Force, which he said is, for the most part, self-sufficient through confiscated funds, his challenger, Dan Knowles, said that his priority would be to change the way the unit is funded. Knowles, who is chief of the , said he would like to give the unit a budget up front to give confiscated funds time to clear the courts.

"It’s almost to me like a conflict of interest," Knowles said. "I’ve got to make this case to get these funds to be able to support ourselves. Let’s get those support funds there first and then let’s say this year they confiscate $250,000 in assets. Then, next year they would have $250,000 in the budget and let it roll forward from there."

The drug task force does an outstanding job with the resources it's given, Knowles said. But, he said that fighting the war against drugs is a multifaceted event.

"It’s a business," he said. "It’s more than just enforcement. You can just end up locking everybody up. You have to do it through education and other support services."

Millsap said that the sheriff's office has a great relationship with local stores, who alert officials when customers purchase suspicious amounts of products used to make methamphetamine. But, a lot of "imported" meth is brought into the county, the sheriff said.

"We’re stopping that as best we can," he said. "It’s a battle that’s going to go on forever and ever. We win a few of the battles but we may never win the war. But, we’re going to keep fighting as long as we can."

The candidates were asked what they plan to do to make the department more transparent and available. Millsap said his door is always open as long as he's there, which he said is often.

"I don’t know how much more wide open we can get than we are now," the sheriff said. "I’m proud of that fact that, contrary to popular belief, we do open it up for just about anybody and everybody, as long as it meets the criteria of what the law is."

Knowles said that, if elected, he plans to post the budget either once a month or once a quarter and have an interactive website with crime statistics.

"I want it as wide open as we can legally have it," he said. "Any of that info we can legally have out there, we’ll have. No hidden secrets."

Knowles commended the sheriff's office for creating a Facebook page, and said he'd like to increase the department's social media presence with a Twitter account.

"We’ll have you follow the sheriff," Knowles said. "We’ll tweet for you."

Along the lines of transparency, Knowles told the sheriff he had requested information related to the department's budget and questioned $35,000 in purchases made with an American Express card in the names of Millsap and one of his command staff. In particular, he questioned $650 that was spent at the .

Millsap said the card is in his name and Maj. Gary Dover's name and is used for items that can't be bought with purchase orders.

"They have to be purchased online or they have to be purchased with a credit card over the phone," Millsap said. "As far as the country club goes, I’ll have to ask Maj. Dover about that."

One issue the two candidates agreed on is the "Stand your Ground" law, which both men said they support. A panelist who asked the candidates for their stance on the issue referenced the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. Knowles said he believes citizens have the right to defend themselves.

"Putting yourself in a situation is not necessarily defending yourself," he said. "I’m not saying you should run every time, but if you have an opportunity to walk away, take that walking away rather than standing there and getting yourself into something you don’t need to be in."

Millsap said he, too, is a firm believer in Second Amendment rights too keep and bear arms and to stand your ground.

"I also believe in the case that you’re speaking of that it went a little bit farther than stand your ground," Millsap said. "I think he might have gone a little bit too far. But, I’m not going to sit here and armchair quarterback. I don’t know all the details of the case."