With names like Scott Walker and Russ Feingold on the tips of many Madison residents’ tongues in the week leading up to the Nov. 2 election, one interesting local race has largely gone unnoticed.
The race between incumbent Sheriff Dave Mahoney and Sean Haney, while not as highly publicized as the race for United States Senate and Wisconsin Governor, has drawn attention to many local issues of public safety and minority incarceration in Dane County.
Sheriff Dave Mahoney, a Democrat who has in the past landed in hot water with the progressive wing of Dane County politicians and public figures over his policy toward undocumented suspects, is running for his second term after previously serving in the Sheriff’s office for more than 20 years.
His challenger, Sean Haney, served in the Dane County Sheriff’s Office before a 2007 firing which he disputed in court, before dropping the appeal. Haney has said he is running to challenge what he believes is inadequate public safety and leadership in the Sheriff’s office.
Haney, who also said he would prefer a non-partisan Sheriff’s office, told The Badger Herald a variety of issues ranging from the county’s program which electronically monitors inmates in the county jail and the controversy over the county’s 911 system, prompted him to run against Mahoney.
“I’m concerned about public safety; part of it is [Mahoney’s] lack of leadership on several different things,” Haney said.
However, Mahoney’s campaign manager, Melissa Mulliken, said Haney is challenging Mahoney because of personal problems with the Sheriff’s office dating back to 2007, when Haney was fired for allegedly improperly using office funds for his son’s football team.
Mulliken said Haney’s campaign, which she added has relied mostly on attacks against Mahoney, has proven his problems with Mahoney’s tenure in office and is more of a personal search for retribution against the department.
“Haney has run an unrelentingly negative race,” Mulliken said. “This has the flavor of a grudge match.”
In Madison, diversity has not just become an often-discussed issue among students and administration at the University of Wisconsin; it also has become a hot topic among policymakers in law enforcement.
Mahoney came under fire this year and in 2008 for reporting booked inmates in the Dane County Jail to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in many cases prompting the deportation of undocumented immigrants to their countries of origin.
Haney said he agreed with Mahoney’s policy, which both candidates have cited as something previous Sheriffs have followed for more than two decades.
Mahoney said he plans to enact reforms to reduce the number of minorities in Dane County jails if voters allow him to return to office. He said alternative incarceration programs which allow non-violent criminals to avoid jail time must be extended.
The alternative incarceration programs allow inmates to stay under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, which Mahoney said prevents the possibly crippling effects of arrest on one’s family and work.
“As we address our alternative incarceration programs, we need to be more inclusive of people of color,” Mahoney said. “The Dane County Jail was identified…to have a very disproportionate minority incarceration level. It’s not impacts within neighborhoods, it’s impact in how we deal with arrests.”
Haney said Mahoney’s policy for the electronic monitoring system has allowed more violent criminals to slip through the cracks of the judicial system, posing a risk to Dane County residents.
“I would go back to running the electronic monitoring program like we did before,” Haney said. “It was only for people who were convicted of non-violent offenses.”
While alcohol policy is an issue close to the heart of many UW students, the Sheriff’s office has little jurisdiction on the Madison campus compared to other departments such as Madison Police and UW Police.
Haney said he would continue to focus on educating and preventing drunken driving offenses throughout the county if elected, while Mahoney cited his experience of increasing staffing levels to make roads safer as proof of his dedication to alcohol policy.
Both candidates have received endorsements from major campus political groups. Mahoney said College Democrats have met with him several times, while College Republicans Chair Stephen Duerst said Haney received their enthusiastic support because of perceived crime problems in the Madison area.
“I think he wants to make Dane County a safer county in general,” Duerst said. “I think [public safety] is getting better but at the same time there have been a lot of instances that have really worried both parents and students.”
