Sheriff pays a visit to the AK
Corral
Goodness, it seems as
though he's everywhere.
Butler County Sheriff
Richard Jones — fresh off his skirmish with
Jones ran a half-page ad
in this newspaper and the Middletown Journal on Sunday, urging AK Steel to end
the lockout.
Evidently no one told
the sheriff that the boys at AK Steel don't take kindly to outsiders interfering
in their business (which might explain why it took Middletown City Council nine
months to muster the backbone to take a lukewarm stance in favor of — duh —
ending the lockout).
So it was no surprise on
Monday morning that our sheriff was on the receiving end of a phone call from
AK Steel VP and spokesman Alan McCoy, who was "curt" and
"perturbed" about the ad, according to Jones. McCoy, who said he "respectfully disagreed" with Jones' stance,
also let the sheriff know that the company might rethink its financial support
of the Buckeye Sheriff's Association's annual conference.
Evidently no one told
McCoy that there's a new sheriff in town.
"He's a corporate
lackey who was told to call and make a threat," Jones told staff writer
Mary Lolli later. "Anyone who knows me knows
that threats don't work on me."
McCoy denied making a
threat, but Jones' reported exchange with AK Steel's best-known mouthpiece will
undoubtedly endear him to voters affected by the lockout. One caller Tuesday
morning said that Jones already has her vote for president.
Jones is the latest
politician who has discovered political gold in mining the hostility between
the locked-out AK Steel hourly workers and a company determined to meet its
contract goals. Democratic hopefuls Sherrod Brown (U.S. Senate) and Ted
Strickland (governor) have found a receptive audience at the Middletown Works,
as has Butler County Commissioner Michael Fox.
In fairness to Jones,
Fox and others, we do believe they care about the misery and hardships that the
lockout has created for their constituents and families. It would be cynical to
suggest that they only are chasing future votes, but Jones acknowledged to Lolli that "I'm always running for office."
In his brief tenure as
sheriff, Jones has tapped into a number of issues and sentiments that resonate
with Butler Countians — such as illegal immigration,
jail frills, chain gangs, Katrina relief, Hamilton crime — and has expanded his
influence by stepping on toes and going into areas that previous sheriffs didn't
dare. He's demonstrated that Teddy Roosevelt was right about bully pulpits.
While we can't help but
wonder sometimes about who's running the sheriff's department, Jones' political
instincts have served him well so far. He's taken on one of the county's most
pressing problems and voters aren't likely to forget it for a long time.