Five candidates running for Boundary sheriff

Kevin Taylor - Staff writer

Sheriff George Voyles faces a man he unseated and another he demoted in a crowded primary election next month to see who will emerge as the Republican candidate for Boundary County Sheriff.

Five people have announced they are running for sheriff.

Three of them -- Voyles, former sheriff Greg Sprungl and former jail commander Jeff Ennis -- are running as Republicans, meaning only one will emerge from the May 25 primary.

Kevin McDonald, an investigator, has filed as a Democrat. Geoff Palmer, a retired Arizona and Alaska police officer, has filed as an Independent. Both advance to the November general election.

Four years ago, Voyles was a sergeant with the sheriff's office. He said he was frustrated with what he considered a lack of leadership and challenged Sprungl, who had been sheriff for 6 1/2 years.

After announcing his candidacy, Voyles was reassigned to graveyard shift.

This year, it's Ennis in the in-house underdog spot. He was the county jail commander until being demoted to jail deputy last fall.

Ennis and a patrol deputy were investigated and demoted last year in separate cases involving the use of jail inmates on work-release crews to do work around their properties.

Both have filed claims against the county challenging their demotions. A third claim has been filed against the sheriff by a deputy who was fired for poaching a deer from a patrol vehicle while on duty.

"When you get into a leadership position you've got to do more disciplining," Voyles said.

"We all make mistakes, but we should be held accountable for our actions. Most people, under the previous sheriff, were never held accountable for their actions."

Ennis has said the inmate who worked on his property had previously worked for him as a ranch hand and had asked if he could work for Ennis while in jail.

Ennis has said he agreed to pay the man $7 an hour and that hiring him didn't violate any department policy.

Ennis spent 20 years in law enforcement in California and Boundary County. Last month he became one of two officials in Idaho to earn national certification as jail commander.

One of his priorities if elected, he said, is to have clear written policies and procedures in place for the department.

It was a sense the small department -- with 26 staffers -- was stagnating and beset with sinking morale that prompted Voyles to run against Sprungl four years ago, Voyles said. He said he has been more aggressive in pursuing grants from a variety of sources -- including $123,000 from the Department of Homeland Security -- to help the sheriff's office build a new dispatch center, equip patrol vehicles with video cameras and radar units and acquire digital recording gear.

He has also instituted a mandatory drug-testing policy for the department, he said.

He doesn't suspect any drug abuse in the department, he said, describing the policy as another way to show accountability.

"I've been in here over 20 years and I've heard so many people make accusations about dirty cops. It's 99 percent nonsense, but this way no one can say ... we aren't clean and above board," Voyles said.

Sprungl bats the morale issue right back at Voyles.

If he wins his job back, the former sheriff writes in a campaign statement, he will "do everything possible to create a workplace that encourages a good working atmosphere ... never acting out of anger or retribution, preventing the type of lawsuits now plaguing the current administration."

Sprungl also says he is a better administrator now than when he was in office.

After losing the election, he spent two years working with an international police force in Kosovo where, by the end of his tour, he had risen to deputy station manager in charge of 300 officers.

"I believe my administrative skills are better than when I left," Sprungl said.

Since his return to Boundary County, Sprungl has worked for the Bonners Ferry Police Department and is the city officer assigned to the county's two-man joint drug task force.

Palmer also ran for sheriff in 2000, and said complaints he hears about the department have prompted him to run again.

"I like law enforcement. I don't like what I'm hearing, and I want to make a change," said Palmer, who spent 26 years with police departments in Tucson and Anchorage before retiring to Moyie Springs in Boundary County seven years ago.

"There are citizens of Boundary County who don't think much of the sheriff's department," Palmer said. He cited stories of frustration told to him by people who had reported a burglary and were told by a deputy that dusting for fingerprints "only happens in the movies."

Palmer said he is shocked by that response.

"There's either no training, or no motivation," he said.

He also said the lobby of the sheriff's office, where people are greeted by bulletproof glass and must speak to employees through a wall-mounted telephone, sends a bad message that the force is separate from the citizens.

"If I get elected, that glass is going to get removed real quick," he said.

The Spokesman-Review was unable to reach McDonald.