Staff changes not unusual for new sheriffs, colleagues say

While Greene County Sheriff-elect Steve Smith has come under fire this week for choosing not to reappoint a number deputies, the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association said the practice is not unusual.

Virginia’s Constitution requires that deputies be sworn in every four years. It is up to the sheriff to decide whom to reappoint, said John Jones, executive director of the VSA.

“That’s Virginia law. It is not unlike any other elected official,” he explained. Jones noted that Smith is one of 23 new sheriffs in Virginia this year, all of whom will have to decide who to reappoint as deputies.

“All of his deputies serve at the will of the sheriff. The Constitution of Virginia establishes those boundaries,” former Albemarle County Sheriff Ed Robb said. “Any sheriff would want deputies that are loyal to him, and the reason [is that] the Constitution of Virginia holds the sheriff responsible for the actions of his deputy. The sheriff can be liable for anything one of his deputies has done.”

Ousted members of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office sent an email to The Daily Progress and other media outlets earlier this week in an attempt to alert the public of what they consider to be unsafe conditions.

The email, sent from former Lt. Scott Cox’s email account, said that one-third of the positions within the department will not be filled in time for the change of administration at the first of the year, and advised residents to “lock down your doors and stay alert.”

The email listed six deputies — Cox, Darrel Lawson, Jimmy Shifflett, Rudy Sprouse, Sean Sellari, John Haines and Randall Snead — who have all lost their positions. Snead ran against Smith in the race for sheriff.

Smith countered that he intended to maintain most of these men as deputies, but that some deputies told “lies” during the campaign, dissuading him from continuing their employment. He declined to elaborate on the matter.

Sellari contacted The Progress on Wednesday to say that he had “no knowledge of the document sent by Lt. Cox,” and that “the first time I saw this document it was posted by the media.”

While Jones said it is “hard to say what’s typical” in terms of reappointments, he noted that the beginning of a new sheriff’s term “serves as a time for the sheriff-elect to evaluate the office and make a decision based on his judgment.”

When Albemarle Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding attended the VSA’s new sheriff training course after his election in late 2007, he said he met about 25 new sheriffs, the “vast majority” of whom were choosing not to reappoint some portion of deputies.

“When I took over I kept everybody,” Harding said, but added that he and his opponent, Larry Claytor, made an effort “to take the high road” in their respective campaigns, leaving little discontent in the Albemarle Sheriff’s Office.

At the same time, Harding said, he can understand why a sheriff-elect might not reappoint a deputy. Though some deputies are let go for “petty reasons,” Harding said that “there’s usually some cause” for a deputy to not be reappointed. Some of the sheriffs he met at the training course said they would not reappoint some deputies because they had spread lies about the sheriff-elect during the campaign process.

“It would be hard to keep someone on as a deputy knowing that they lied about you,” he said. “There is no room in law enforcement for liars.”

Smith, who will take over as sheriff Sunday, said he is currently in the process of filling vacancies within the office.