Candidiates trade barbs in contentious Dakota County sheriff's race

Dave Bellows has been the Dakota County Sheriff since February.

And ever since the County Board appointed him to the post in the wake of Don Gudmundson's retirement, there's been someone reminding Bellows that his new job depends on the will of the voters -- Mitch Scott, his opponent in the November election.

In a year when other local elections have been relatively tame, the contest for sheriff has been long and testy.

Scott, a sergeant with the Apple Valley police, has been lobbing accusations of backroom politics and plastering the county with bright-yellow campaign signs, even buying an ad on a billboard along Interstate 35E.

"I knock and I talk," Scott said. "You go down to Farmington [and see the Mitch Scott campaign signs] on the fence lines. I talked to every one of those people."

Bellows, who had been chief deputy under Gudmundson since 2000, touts a list of supporters that reads like a Who's Who of county law enforcement and government, including most of the County Board, mayors, police chiefs and the county attorney. He counters that his opponent has been "throwing spaghetti against the wall" instead of talking about real issues.

"What voters are concerned about, what voters care about, is who is the best person to lead," Bellows said. "That's what we should be focused on."

Bellows is confident he can trim the necessary $500,000 from the $18 million sheriff's office budget for 2011 without cutting officers. He points to his experience managing the budget under Gudmundson, including making food service changes in the jail that have cut annual food costs by $200,000 since 2003 and negotiations with a mail-order pharmacy that cut inmate medication expenses.

"I love to negotiate," he said. "I'm one of the few guys who likes to buy cars."

Bellows questioned whether Scott, a sergeant for five years, has the budget experience necessary for a sheriff.

At the Apple Valley Police Department, according to job descriptions, sergeants do supervise personnel in the field and help manage day-to-day operations, but it's the captains -- one rank higher than Scott -- whose job descriptions include budget development.

"People are hung up on titles," Scott said, noting that he has supervised officers and kept an eye on the budget for his unit, including payroll and equipment expenses.

Scott said he would like to reinstate a transportation unit at the Sheriff's Office that would free up local police by taking suspects to jail when they are arrested.

Instead of an hour roundtrip to the jail in Hastings, followed by 30 minutes writing a report, officers could multi-task while waiting for deputies to pick up suspects.

"While the officer is waiting they can work on the report," Scott said. "They're going to be back on the road [sooner]. It's more efficient."

A contentious history

The race got off to a rough start. Scott spoke out in February when Gudmundson, who was approaching the end of his term, decided to retire early and recommend Bellows as his successor; the County Board appointed him to the post with little debate.

Also prominent among Scott's talking points are concerns about Bellows' campaign tactics.

For example, Bellows bought the Internet domain name mitchscottforsheriff.com before Scott entered the race.

"Why would he do something like that? He did it to try to intimidate me, to try to not get me to run," Scott said.

Bellows admitted he bought the domain name, which he has since returned, but balked at the suggestion he did it to keep Scott out of the race. Bellows said he reserved the domain name because he expected he would hear through the grapevine if Scott tried to buy it.

"I turned it back. I apologized," Bellows said. "He just wants to keep talking about it."

Hennepin, Scott and Washington counties don't have such units.

"It's kind of a 'you catch 'em, you clean 'em' perspective," said Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka. "I'm not aware of any sheriff's offices that do it any differently."