Monul wins three-candidate race for sheriff

BY MATT TOMSIC

(434) 791-7993

Lt. Mike Mondul won a tightly contested sheriff’s race as voters supported his position as an outsider who could bring fresh eyes and a new perspective to the office.

Mondul received 47 percent of the vote while running against Lt. Thelbert Childress, who received 43 percent, and Deputy J. Wayne Booth, who received 10 percent. Voters cast 10,260 ballots for sheriff, and 366 of them separated Mondul from Childress. The vote tallies are unofficial.

“It was a close one,” Mondul said. “I’m glad to come out on top.”

Danville had an open race for sheriff for the first time since 1988, because current sheriff, Jim Dooley, did not run.

The candidates tried to frame the their campaigns in their own terms: Mondul’s fresh perspective versus Booth and Childress’ decades of experience within the sheriff’s office.

Mondul said he stuck to the same message throughout his candidacy as he told voters that he would bring new eyes to the sheriff’s office.

He referred to his leadership style — “I pull the sled, you step in my tracks”— throughout the campaign and used it as a jumping off point for two key issues: professionalism in the office and cooperation with other law enforcement agencies.

In 2001, four sheriff’s deputies pleaded guilty to charges of sexual misconduct with female prisoners. The deputies had sex with the women in the Danville City Jail.

Mondul said throughout the campaign that increased supervision, ethics training and intensive hiring practices could prevent a breakdown in professionalism like that of 2001. Mondul would lead by example if elected and spend time in the jail with his deputies to keep his finger on the pulse of the jail and office, he said.

Speaking of cooperation, Mondul held steady on his views of cross training between the sheriff’s office and the Danville Police Department. He referred regularly to the Virginia Tech shootings as a scenario when police officers and sheriff’s deputies have to be able to cooperate smoothly. Besides cross training, Mondul said he would increase the training that deputies receive so they could make force continuum decisions, meaning they’d be able to choose which situations were legally and ethically appropriate for deadly force. The training would broaden deputies’ abilities and better prepare them for a Virginia Tech-type scenario, Mondul said.

Mondul had the help of a tremendous campaign organization that raised $21,974.44, according to the Oct. 26 campaign finance reports. Childress raised $6,262.88, while Booth raised $5,298.23.

The campaign cash allowed Mondul to throw neighborhood events that helped broaden his reach throughout the city and allowed him to out-advertise his opponents.

“There are so many good things that can happen,” Mondul said. “And I’m excited to get started.”

Tomsic is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee