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Felice-Boudreau announces bid for sheriff's position
In what may shape up to be a rematch to be the county’s top law enforcement official, Democrat Jane Felice-Boudreau has announced her intentions to run for Oakland County Sheriff.
Felice-Boudreau, who lost to Sheriff Michael Bouchard, a Republican, in the 2008 general election, 60-40, is the first Democrat to announce her candidacy for the job that Bouchard has held since 1999, when he was the state Senate majority floor leader and was appointed to the position after the sudden death of former sheriff John F. Nichols.
Felice-Boudreau pointed to her 25-plus years of law enforcement experience and Bouchard’s past campaigns for higher office, among other things, as reasons she decided to again enter the race.
“He doesn’t really want the (sheriff’s) job,” she said, noting Bouchard’s 2006 bid for the U.S. Senate and a 2010 gubernatorial run in the Republican primary that was eventually won by Gov. Rick Snyder.
She also pointed to jail overcrowding and a Sheriff’s Department radio system that she says “doesn’t work adequately” as top issues for her.
Felice-Boudreau also said she would go into the department’s budgeting process with a zero-based approach and highlighted a “need to re-implement the Marine Division.”
At its height, the Marine Division and Water Rescue Unit was equipped with 27 boats, two jump boats, a hovercraft, four all-terrain vehicles and four snowmobiles for use by full- and part-time deputies.
Due to budgetary issues, the sheriff’s department was compelled in recent years to stop providing regular patrols on specific lakes free of charge, and municipalities had to enter into contracts with the Marine Division if they wanted lakes patrolled.
The Oakland County Sheriff serves four-year terms and is currently paid $138,999 per year.
9 Responses to Felice-Boudreau announces bid for sheriff's position
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Ya, right
March 14, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Dunno bout the rest of you Oakland County residents, but Sheriff patrols and service under Bouchard have done nothing but gotten better and better over the years and can only see “the sky” as the limit.
Considering each and every Democrats record of late and their “Spending money on loan from China like drunken sailors” and her comments about wanting to re-expand Sheriff’s marine patrols without the money to do it and trying to use jail over crowding like it’s something that she can wave a magic wand and suddenly fix is nothing short of a joke. Sorry there toots, but if OCJ is over crowded, it’s because that the man that’s currently in charge of OCS is such a good leader that his ‘foot soldigers’ are out there on the streets, arresting bad guys and doing a darn good job of keeping all of us safe… Unlike the typical Democratic agenda that takes a much MUCH softer angle on crime, gives minorities preferential treatment and turns a blind eye to giving career criminals their due.
Martin Logan
March 15, 2012 at 7:30 pm
You have a cop’s grammar…
Meanwhile why are we having a partisan argument with respect to the Sheriff? It is unseemly that the position of Sheriff be used so clearly as a entree’ to higher office. Do you believe that Mike really wants to be Sheriff?
michal
March 18, 2012 at 11:58 am
Jane Boudreau is the best choice- Bouchard is to busy following Romney around! Do we really think he wants this job anyway?
Alice Benbow
March 19, 2012 at 4:24 pm
I would rather have an honest Democrat in office instead of a dishonest Republican like Bouchard. If Mike Cox’s lawyer buddy who had that OaklandSheriff.net site is correct, then Bouchard has cheated on his wife. If Bouchard cheated on his spouse, then who says he is not going to cheat his constituents? There are too many rumors on ground level about Bouchard family getting paid the money from the calls from the jail. No telling what sort of other insider trading deals are taking place. There is no transparency in the spending and incoming money. Too many people are upset with the way that his deputies have pinnned in inexperienced teenage drivers from three sides with the intent to make the driver nervous. No one needs deputies misbehaving and scaring teenage drivers and causing wrecks. Just how many times has Bouchard been in Federal Court to defend himself? Who has paid those bills? Quite frankly, Bouchard is a dishonest sack of crap and no one can afford the expense he brings to the County taxpayers. Listen to the Birmingham voters where he resides and let him lose the upcoming election as well so Oakland County no longer carries the liability he brings. He most obviously does not want to be Sheriff because he has campaigned for other offices and LOST.
Alice Benbow
March 20, 2012 at 12:25 am
http://www.macombdaily.com/articles/2011/07/16/news/doc4e2229a56005f154247483.txt
“GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard, the Oakland County sheriff, received a series of four $34,000 checks from Vitale’s PAC over a 24-day period in July and August of 2010. Those contributions added up to a hefty $136,000 donation, but all the checks bounced, according to state records.
Bouchard could not be reached for comment. His 2010 campaign treasurer, Carolyn McMicking, hung up on a reporter seeking details by phone. The PAC’s bookkeeper, Jeffrey Quesnelle of Sterling Heights, is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.”
So the Macomb County Article indicates that all checks to Bouchard’s gubernatorial campaign totalling $136,000.00 BOUNCED and Bouchard “Could not be reached for comment” and Bouchard’s treasurer hung up the phone on the reporter. Wow. I would definitely prefer an honest Democrat over Bouchard.
Stephanie
March 20, 2012 at 8:27 am
I’m concerned about her fiscal responsibility as mentioned above; however, Sheriff Bouchard’s refusal to support citizens RIGHTS vs filling our prisons is a serious concern. Despite his ‘friendship’ with Sheriff Richard Mack, Bouchard has refused and/or neglected to become a part of The County Sheriff Project http://www.countysheriffproject.org/ , a project that I think is one of the most important things going in the country right now.
Full disclosure: I was a big supporter of Bouchard right up until he utterly refused to stop having his deputies throw people out of their homes who were being foreclosed upon by MERS. Even after the Michigan Appellate Court ruled that MERS had no standing to initiate foreclosures, Bouchard was still ordering eviction enforcement. He didn’t stop that practice until pressure from other sheriffs across the state left him little choice.
Special interests with deep pockets have far too much power over people’s human rights. It’s an epidemic and our sheriffs are The People’s last line of defense.
John Holmes
March 22, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Ok, commentors, listen up. I personally met “Sheriff Bouchard” when my tools were stolen. That worthless, arrogant, piece of S%&@ accused me of stealing my own tools. He didn’t even check on the 4 or 5 punks on the property next door that smoked pot ( 3 people witnessed), shooting baskets, and skipping school. If you think Bouchard and his helicopters are “sensible GOP spending”, well you need help. Go to the ADI hanger and Oakland international Airport and witness those (2)giant wastes of money sitting in there. Mike Bouchard probably smells his underwear when he takes them off. He’s more worried about his horrible die color on his hair than you or I. And by the way, while that clown is out getting his make-up done, the rest of the Sherriffs that don’t get 5-digit checks mailed to them are doing all the dirty work.. Also, there’s a hell of a lot more boating sherrif needs than there are Helicopters needs. Watching the dream cruise from Helicopters isn’t exactly ingenious People who believe in Political parties are FOOLS.
Bev
March 28, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Mike Bouchard does not care about his position as Sheriff at all, if he did he wouldn’t be running for every other political position! Jane is passionate about law enforcement, and she will get the job done, and done right. I’d rather have a sheriff who knows her way around prisons and who actually knows what the hell she’s doing, so Jane gets my vote in November!
One Life
September 1, 2012 at 9:07 am
The nose-diving incident at the Dream Cruise with his helicopter in response to an alleged fight in Pontiac, is the PERFECT example of why Bouchard needs to be put out of his misery. There were typical arrests made everywhere else during the DC, but he used this alleged fight (no arrests made) to dance his way in front of the camera AGAIN. He does not WANT this job as Sheriff. He is a politician seeking the spotlight only. What a total waste of our taxpayer dollars!!!