Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-10-15
Mashingtun Standard
To Voters of ThurstOn County.

Il
and accepted the nomination OF the
Democratic party for Sheriff Of this
county, I deem it proper at tLi, time
to state. that if by your votes / ~"
elected and thereby pronounted
worthy OF the trust of Office ard
your confidence as people, | as
sure YOU that the duties of the Office
of Sheriff shall be promptly, and
faithfully executed, in accordance
with the letter and spirit Of a., law.
1t is an admitted rule of rc.i'ics,
that when citizen consents t. be-
come a candidate for public ufice,
and places himself before the rnun-
try for the votes of his fellow-clti-
zens, that he thereby, in a sense
becomes public property. to the ex-
tent that his fitness and capability
shall he thoroughly examined. 1t Is
bv this examination that the merits
OF men become known to the people
whom they would have elect them to
office and public trust. No one will
eainsay that the public shall not
know, or that the public are not in
terested in knowing, why a candidate
should not be elected.
This, then, being a conceded
right. and right upon which l am
willing TO be tried, / throw down
the glove of reason and argument,
and shall endeavor to make good
some of the reasons why my oppo-
nent on the Republican ticket should
not be elected to the Office of Sheriff
OF Thu, ston county.
let. Ours is a democratic govern
ment. No man, or set of men has
any special rights in or to public
station or office. The Office belongs
- ,he people and through it they
delegate their power, and this power
being abused or misuscd, it is the
right Of the beople to recall their
power from one official and 10 Cue
course of law delegate it to another.
I'd. Has the present incumbent
of the Office of Sheriff performed his
whole duty?
The answer is he has not. The
Grand Jury of the Second Judicial
District Court, holding terms at
Olympia, in their report fled on the
I'd day of October. 1880. says he
has not done his duty. That Grand
Jury in its report, while it censures
all the county officers of Thurston,
especially singles oIt the. Assessor,
who in this case is also the Sheriff,
and not only condemns his official
acts of years past, but also for the
present. The Grand Jury charged,
s-~ That the assessor OF this county
(Thurston) has been careless and
neglectful in many particulars in the
discharge Of his duty as Assessor. >
For failure to perform his duty, the
present incumbent and candidate
for reelection caused the county
loss and expense in not being able
to collect the tax of the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company. Because
of failure to perform his duty the
county has not been able to collect
the tax of the Olympia & Tenino
Railroad Company, and the public
Is therefore ut great expense to no
purpose.
Sd. As Sheriff the present incum-
bent has been guilty of treating
with and borrowing money from the
condemned under his charge. This
is a grave charge, and it is also a
grave offense for an officer having
charge and care Of convicts. The
officer who by virtue of his Office ap-
proaches his prisoner in such man
ner as to become his ooligee is GER
tainly outside of the rule OF the NOR
al and statute law.
The records of the Second Judi
cial Dictrict court at Olympia, show
that William McAllister, plaintiff
and prisoner, sued William Billings,
Sheriff, and John Rogers, defend,
ants, for 81 ,0l0 and that he obtained
judgment for that amount of money
which he handed this keeper and
Sheriff, for short accommodation
The judgement is worthless as the
prisoner cannot collect it, notwith-
standing Rogers left means sufficient