In Todd Baxter and Patrick O’Flynn, you have two great guys and one great cop.
And that’s what this year’s Monroe County sheriff’s election is about.
After 16 years of affable but uninspired, it’s time for a new day. And it’s time to recognize that the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office – on the road and in the jail – is hamstrung by morale and leadership problems that trace directly to the top.
Almost all of that would change the day Todd Baxter pinned on the star.
Patrick O’Flynn was the political protégé of a political sheriff . Many great qualities, but actual law enforcement background and ability aren’t among them. Patrick O’Flynn got where he is by being good at banquets; Todd Baxter got where he is by being good on the streets.
And by being the sort of leader who inspires excellence and loyalty.
When you talk to Todd Baxter’s subordinates, they tell you story after story of his integrity, courage, friendship and capability. When you talk to Patrick O’Flynn’s subordinates, they tell you about his pay and theirs.
They feel like he stabbed them in the back to enrich himself.
While they lingered year after year with a county that wouldn’t give them a contract, he used his political pull to get for himself a 30-percent raise. This fifth term he is seeking, in all likelihood, is merely to make sure that all of that raise is applied to his pension.
While a leader would have gone behind closed doors and raised holy hell to get his deputies fair treatment by the county, Patrick O’Flynn was pointedly absent. They fought on without him, while his pay jumped and jumped.
And that’s not the only place he’s been absent.
During recent years of anti-police rhetoric out of politicians and activists, the top law-enforcement officer in Monroe County has been missing in action. When a strong voice was called for to defend the integrity and professionalism of the policing profession, the loudest voices came from chiefs in Gates and Greece – not from the county’s elected police leader.
Officers of every badge needed an advocate and defender, and they didn’t find it in the sheriff.
In fact, Patrick O’Flynn has routinely been far less visible than the sheriffs in the suburban counties of Ontario and Livingston – both of whom are viewed very favorably by the public.
These weaknesses of Patrick O’Flynn are in sharp contrast to the undeniable strengths of Todd Baxter. He is a cop’s cop, a ramrod straight can-do commander who projects optimism, excellence and a dynamic spirit.
More than 20 years with the Rochester Police Department, commanding the SWAT team and the East Division, and serving as an aide to very popular former Chief Cedric Alexander. He was called over to fix a Greece Police Department deeply weakened by command corruption and then, when that job was done, take over the local Veterans Outreach Center, to breathe new life into it.
In the background of all that, he was also serving in the Army and Army Reserve – as a military policeman and a drill sergeant.
Todd Baxter is legendary, and universally admired. Over the last two years, anticipating this probable election pairing, I have asked dozens of regional law-enforcement officers who they preferred – Todd Baxter or Patrick O’Flynn.
Every single one of them, without hesitating, and with certainty, has chosen Todd Baxter.
Certainly, that’s random and unscientific, but inside the sheriff’s department or out, not a single officer, trooper or deputy has supported Patrick O’Flynn.
Instead, I’ve gotten stories about Baxter. Like the time, as Eastside commander, he asked a group of officers if they wanted to come with him to clear a corner of drug dealers. Or the time a subject made what turned out to be a false accusation of abuse against an officer, and Captain Todd Baxter went personally to charge that subject with making a false statement.
Even in retirement from law enforcement, when he went over to serve his fellow military veterans, Todd Baxter took a part-time job as a patrolman , because he loves being a cop and providing the public service that is the core of police work.
It’s not even close.
Some wonder why Baxter – a conservative and Christian – would run as a Democrat. He’s doing it for the same reason District Attorney Sandra Doorley initially did – because the Republican Party froze her out. Baxter is not a political person, he is a cop, and it is to the credit of the Democratic Party to see this as a race about competence, not orthodoxy. His election will cut some of the Republican and Conservative party strings that have sometimes tripped up the sheriff’s department.
Baxter is as hard-charging and law and order as you can get. He is fair and polite with everyone, and projects positivity and excellence on everyone – on both sides of the badge.
If he is elected, an electric wave of enthusiasm and pride will sweep through the sheriff’s department. The deputies will walk taller and the community will be safer, inspired by the example and energy of Todd Baxter.
And, after many years, Monroe County will have a sheriff who is not only a great guy, but also a great cop.
(PHOTO: 11/6/15, Todd Baxter (then executive Director of the Veterans Outreach Center) speaking with WHAM 1180 listeners about a promotional event with the VOC)