The race for Santa Barbara County Sheriff is down to two candidates again.
According to the most recent candidate filing list posted March 10 by the county elections office, UCSB police officer Ryan Smith has withdrawn his bid for sheriff. That leaves incumbent Bill Brown and Sgt. Sandra Brown (of no relation) to duke it out in the June 3 primary.
Smith recently posted his reasons for dropping out of the race on his website, smith4sheriff.com:
“After significant consideration, I have decided to no longer seek election to the office of sheriff. This decision is based, in part, that I believe at this point I would only stand to split the vote, thereby extending the election to November,” Smith said. “Having this knowledge, I feel that if I were to remain in the electoral process, it would be financially and morally irresponsible to my supporters and the citizens of Santa Barbara County.”
He called both Browns “consummate professionals” who “genuinely care about the safety of this county.”
In a previous interview with the Sun, Smith said he launched his campaign for sheriff because he wanted to “make the department more efficient and … be a better steward of taxpayers’ money.”
The department lost 67 full-time positions in the last six years, forcing many deputies to consistently work overtime.
“It’s no secret that people [in the department] are unhappy. I’m not saying that I’m the cure-all, but I think I have the vision to lead the department in a new direction,” Smith added.
Sandra Brown has made similar statements about the state of morale at the department, and she believes the current sheriff has focused too much on trying to pay for a new North County Jail and not enough on staffing, training, and equipment.
Bill Brown, for his part, told the Sun last year, “I’m very proud of the record that I have accomplished and the record that the department has accomplished under my leadership. We’ve faced one of the most difficult financial challenges that our county has ever seen, and we’ve continued to deliver exceptional services given the circumstances.
Last fall, the department hired 17 new custody deputies and five patrol deputies. It was also awarded nearly $39 million from the state for construction of a Sheriff’s Transition And Re-entry (S.T.A.R.) complex in the North County Jail.
This article appears in Mar 20-27, 2014.