Bieber easily wins sheriff race

There will be a new sheriff in town come January after Shawano police officer Adam Bieber validated his August primary win over incumbent Shawano County Sheriff Randy Wright in Tuesday’s election.

Bieber faced Independent challenger Lucas Christenson on Tuesday’s ballot, but Wright launched a write-in campaign after the Aug. 12 primary in which Bieber defeated Wright for the Republican nomination, 2,688-2,459.

At the Leader’s press time, 42 of 43 precincts were reporting, with the tally at:

Bieber: 9,432

Wright: 4,949

Christenson: 1,283

The village of Bonduel had not yet reported its results.

“I want to thank Randy for his years of service and I appreciate what he and his family have done for Shawano County,” Bieber said.

Bieber also thanked his supporters.

“My supporters have been amazing,” he said.

Bieber said he was looking forward to working with the Shawano County Board and Sheriff’s Department staff.

There has never been a countywide write-in campaign in Shawano County that has succeeded.

It was a deeply contentious race that divided many in the community and flared up in sometimes heated exchanges in social media.

Turnout varied around the county but in the city of Shawano, election officials said voter response was unlike anything they had seen before in a mid-term election.

Dozens were waiting to vote when the doors opened and a steady, heavy stream continued throughout the day, picking up even more around 5 p.m. as people got off work.

Same day registration for new voters was also heavier than usual.

One poll worker said the turnout was as high, if not higher, than would be normal for a presidential election.

Another said absentee and early ballots cast before Tuesday were about double the typical volume.

The state Government Accountability Board was reporting heavier than normal voter turnout throughout the state.

Wright said about Tuesday’s results he was proud of having waged an open campaign.

“We didn’t lie, we didn’t deceive,” he said.

Wright said the results were “God’s will” and he would see what the cards held for him in the future. He said he still had other avenues, whether that was still law enforcement or being grandfather to his grandchildren.

Wright said that after 40 years in law enforcement, “I can hold my head up and say I did the best I could.”

Wright previously said rules covering partisan primaries contributed to his primary loss in August, preventing Democratic voters from crossing over and picking a preference in the sheriff’s race. He also said he received numerous calls from supporters after the primary who said they didn’t vote because they assumed he would “win in a landslide.”

Since the primary loss and his announcement as a write-in candidate, Wright’s campaign took in more than $10,400 in contributions, according to campaign finance statements filed Oct. 27.

Bieber raised $7,074 since beginning his campaign in May; $2,399 of that since his primary win in August.

Christenson claimed the $1,000 spending limit that exempts him from having to file campaign finance disclosures.

Wright made his experience a staple of the sheriff’s race. He started out at the sheriff’s office in 1976, working as a jailer, then a dispatcher and then a patrol deputy. He spent 25 years at the Shawano Police Department as a patrol officer before successfully running for sheriff in 2006 and winning re-election in 2010.

Bieber has worked in law enforcement for 14 years and has been with the Shawano Police Department since 2003.

Bieber made cooperation between other law enforcement agencies and government entities a key issue in the campaign, while Wright maintained that much of the cooperation Bieber was calling for was already taking place.

Bieber also hit at Wright’s often difficult relationship with the County Board, saying he would do a better job of working with county supervisors.

Wright said his problems with the County Board have been limited to a faction of about eight or nine supervisors who have the power to block the supermajority needed for borrowing and who, Wright said, were holding up progress in the county.

He said the race would be as much a referendum on the County Board as about the election of sheriff.

Another contentious issue was the Sheriff’s Department’s K-9 unit.

Both Wright and Bieber said they believe the department’s K-9 unit should be funded by the county rather than through the fundraising efforts of a private group.

Wright said the County Board has not been willing to increase the budget for the K-9 unit and it would take $20,000 to $30,000 in cuts to other programs or services to put it into the budget.

Bieber had said he would make cuts elsewhere, including the possibility of eliminating some of the department’s take-home squads.

The candidates also differed on the extent of evidence storage needs and the proposed purchase of a mine resistant armored personnel carrier.