Governor Expected

To Sign Sheriff Reform Bill

By Adam Gorlick

Associated Press

HARTFORD — The legislative effort to strip the county sheriffs of power has been something of a crusade for state Sen George Gunther.

The senior Republican lawmaker from Stratford has been trying to abolish the system for the past three decades, blasting it as rife with patronage and corruption.

“Oh yea, oh yea, oh yea,” Sen Gunther said while casting his vote Tuesday to put the sheriffs out of work and convert their deputies to marshals who would answer to the state’s Judicial Department. The bill passed unanimously.

The House okayed the bill last week, and Gov John G. Rowland – who started trying to run the sheriffs out of the state constitution last year – is expected to sign it.

But Sen Gunther had some criticism for the bill, which lacks language that would prevent the county sheriffs from ever working as marshals.

“I would hate like hell to see the admirals and generals go back into the system,” Sen Gunther said.

The reforms would go into effect December 1, but are contingent on voter approval in November of a constitutional amendment to abolish the office of high sheriff.

Several scandals have shaken the system in the past year, and two county sheriffs have pleaded innocent to criminal charges. The system is under investigation by state and federal agencies.

“The faults of this system have come from the top, not the people at the bottom doing their jobs,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin Sullivan, D-West Hartford.

Under the reform bill, special deputies who now guard courthouses and transport prisoners would be grandfathered into a new system as judicial marshals. The deputies who now serve legal papers such as subpoenas and summonses would be called state marshals and work for the state as private contractors.

All marshals would maintain their powers of arrest.

The sheriffs would be allowed to serve the remainder of their terms, which expire in 2003. But Gov Rowland has threatened to reduce their salaries, which are determined as budget line items, to $1.

Senate Republicans argued that the reforms should go into effect before the November election.

“Instead of waiting for the results of a referendum, we could transfer [the special deputies] in October,” said Sen Thomas Upson, R-Waterbury. “Why wait?”

Some lawmakers have said they believe the sheriffs will bully their deputies into working against the referendum.

But the bill prohibits sheriffs from raising money from their employees and pressuring them to campaign against the constitutional amendment.

“The sheriffs are a very hot political group to deal with,” Sen Gunther said.

Some senators said they will promote the ballot issue during their re-election campaigns this year.

The reforms would cost the state as much as $3.6 million, according to the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.