GREENE – A seventy-year-old federal law, originally intended to prohibit federal employees from misusing the authority of their office for political gain, will prevent at least one potential candidate from running for Chenango County Sheriff.
Greene Police Chief Steve Dutcher, whose name was one of several thrown around as a possible successor when rumors began to circulate last month about Sheriff Thomas Loughren’s departure, was expected to formally announce his candidacy today. Instead, because of the Hatch Act, he has decided not to run.
“It was an opportunity for me. I was encouraged by many to attempt it. It would have been nice to follow it through,” Dutcher said in an interview on Friday.
Passed in 1939 and expanded a year later, the Hatch Act restricts the political activities of federal employees as well as state and local employees of municipal agencies who receive all or part of their funding from the federal government.
Because Dutcher has applied for, and received, several grants on behalf of the Village of Greene, he falls under the auspices of the act, and would therefore need to resign from his current position in order to run for office in a partisan election. At this time in his life and his career, that is too much of a risk, he said.
“I have a young family,” the 38-year old police chief explained. “It would be selfish of me to resign my position.”
Dutcher, who said he would have brought “new blood” to the sheriff’s department, does not regret applying for the grants, such as the Special Traffic Enforcement Program and Buckle Up NY, which have now prevented him from running in the upcoming election.
The money they have received as a result of these grants has helped at times put he and his officers “on the street at no cost to the taxpayers,” he explained.
Dutcher has many ideas for improving the sheriff’s department and does not rule out a run for sheriff in the future, but for now he plans to support Undersheriff Ernie Cutting, who announced his candidacy on Thursday.
“Ernie is a stand-up guy,” he said. “I would endorse him and look forward to working with him.”
Dutcher said he hopes, if elected, Cutting will follow his own direction and be open to change. “I don’t think ‘business as usual’ is going to work,” he explained.
One of the things the Greene chief said he would like to see is more cooperation between the sheriff’s office and other local law enforcement agencies.
“We all have the same mission, even if we wear a different uniform,” Dutcher said. “All law enforcement in Chenango County should be working together, and unfortunately we’ve gotten away from that.”
While on some level he is disappointed he won’t have the chance to run this year, Dutcher said he is happy to stay in what he described as an “awesome job in a great little village that (he) loves.”
“We are a thriving village,” Dutcher said.
He is proud of Greene’s low crime rate, which he credits to his department being “proactive rather than reactive” and highly visible in the community. The chief said he looks forward to continuing to keep Greene “one of the safest communities in the county.”
While Greene Mayor Marcia Miller said the village would have supported Dutcher if he’d decided to run for sheriff, they are quite happy to have him stay in his current position.
“Chief Dutcher is a valuable part of our team and we would support him in furthering his law enforcement career. We are pleased that he has at this time decided to stay with the Village of Greene,” Miller reported.
The Republican leader also expressed support for Cutting.
“We look forward to our continued partnership and assistance from the Chenango County Sheriff’ Department and know that with Undersheriff Cutting’s leadership we will receive the same support as we have in the past with Sheriff Loughren,” she added.