[Vision2020] The Latah County Sheriff's Race: Some Interesting Relevations

[Art Deco aka W. Fox]

Fellow voters,



Some of you may remember the race for sheriff eight years ago.  The otherwise 
unemployable opponent of Jeff Crouch grossly exaggerated and outright lied above 
his previous law enforcement record.  Some of these lies were publicly exposed 
before the election due to serendipitous events.  After the election as part of 
discovery in a lawsuit Crouch's opponent filed against Chip Whitely, the 
opponent's law enforcement personnel records were subpoenaed.  What a 
revelation!



I am afraid something similar is happening in the present sheriff's race.  For 
about $40.00, a public records/other records background check of a person can be 
made by anyone over the internet.  Such a check was made on sheriff candidate 
Wayne Rausch.  In addition, further inquiries suggested by the public record 
findings including other paid internet searches and further inquiries suggested 
by these search results and other information were made and the off-the-record 
remarks of certain out of state ex-colleagues solicited.



Rausch claims to have been employed by Cochise County, Arizona.  An inquiry of 
Kelly Jones, an administrative assistant in Cochise County, was made of Wayne 
Rausch's dates of employment and titles.



The official response from Jones:  "No record found on the above individual as 
to being employed by Cochise County."





A similar inquiry was made of Linda Semm, Human Resources, Mohave County, 
Arizona.



The results:



11-03-90        to    06-26-92        Deputy

06-27-92        to    02-18-94        Sergeant

02-19-94        to    03-22-94      Lieutenant  (32 days)

05-08-95      to    08-04-97        Deputy



Why is there a more than 1 year unemployment gap in his Mohave SO record?



Why, upon re-employment, was he demoted in rank to deputy and did not 
subsequently advance?



Rausch claims nearly 20 years of law enforcement experience.  Prior to coming to 
Latah County where he served about 6 years, public records searches (above) show 
less than five years experience - a total of about 11 years, not 20.



Such findings in public records not only belie Rausch's publicly verifiable 
claims, but therefore cast grave doubt upon the truth of his other grandiose, 
unabashedly-strutted-out claims.



Besides the results of off-the-record solicitations, adding to my skepticism 
about Rausch's claims is the following question:



If his grandiose claims of qualifications and experience (they read like 
Superman's) are true, then why was he only able to be employed by the Latah 
County SO - the lowest paying large law enforcement agency on the Palouse? 
During his tenure there of about 6 years, there have been many openings on the 
Palouse for much higher paying law enforcement positions for persons of Rausch's 
claimed law enforcement experience.  Why did he not take advantage of these 
opportunities?



However, continuing in the same vein, this is the clincher:  if Rausch has all 
these alleged, almost superhuman qualifications and experience in law 
enforcement, why is currently employed as a part-time driver for a local car 
dealership, and not employed in any law enforcement position despite several 
Palouse area openings that occurred since his resignation from the Latah SO? 
[Hint of one of many reasons:  Thorough background check.]



At the beginning of the campaign, Rausch claimed that he was fired from the 
Latah SO.  Another lie.  He resigned.  Having been called out on this untruth, 
he has since changed his story.



Rausch claims there are turnover and morale problems at the Latah SO.  There may 
be some problems.  It has been my experience in northern Idaho since 1980 that 
here is not a single county level law enforcement agency without high turnover 
and morale problems.  It is the nature of the beast:  law enforcement work can 
be very depressing given some of the outrageous and tragic things officers deal 
with, pay is not high and therefore, initial application requirements are not 
high, and northern Idaho SOs are easy-to-enter training grounds for those that 
want to get low-cost training and experience in order to move to a higher paying 
position in law enforcement.



Further, if you are concerned about morale at the SO and hear Rausch speak in an 
unguarded manner, you will most likely infer that he is a vengeful morale 
killer, not a morale booster.



There are still officers in the Mohave County SO who remember Rausch.  If you 
are concerned, with a little effort you can find some who will speak candidly 
off-the-record about Rausch.



In the light of the above information and a peek at Rausch's personality, it is 
easy to understand why he chickened out of the MCA debate.  Not only that, but 
he offers a hint of one of the reasons he didn't come to the MCA forum in a 
Daily News article:  He didn't want to face questions about his mental health. 
Whatever the above information may show about his experience and character, 
cowardice and lack of political independence are not nice properties in any law 
enforcement person, let alone a sheriff wanna-be.



In a Thursday article of the Lewiston Morning Tribune Rausch whines about 
information that Barbara Richardson Crouch, Jeff Crouch's wife, has provided to 
various persons and organizations.  He accuses her of improperly getting the 
information.  Another lie.  She got it the same way anyone else could and some 
have:  by paying for internet search services.  I know, because I saw the same 
information myself (plus a lot more!).



Does Rausch (and apparently Joe Overstreet) believe that because Barbara is a 
candidate's spouse, she forfeits all her First Amendment rights?  That she 
cannot, like any good citizen, research political candidates and express her 
opinion?  Wonderful!  This never-valid, outdated chauvinistic attitude of 
Rausch's shows another appalling side of his character and is probably reason 
enough for voters to reject him.





We have lived Palouse now for over 14 years and have had experience with three 
different sheriffs.  During this time we have had several times both personal 
and organizational dealings with the Latah SO.  Crouch took over a department 8 
years ago with unprofessional leadership, response time/no response problems, 
and dire, well-publicized personnel problems.  Now, the personnel have been 
upgraded, desperately needed equipment has been added, response times have 
greatly improved, rural/mountain patrols increased, and a great number of 
serious crimes have been successfully solved, including two difficult murder 
cases.  Unlike previous sheriffs, no unsolved murders have occurred on Crouch's 
watch.



In my opinion, Crouch has served the community very well.  I see no rational 
reason to vote otherwise, especially for what most charitably can be described 
as a pig-in-a-poke.




Wayne

Wayne A. Fox
waf at moscow.com
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID 83843
208 882-7975


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