Lack of Confidence

7/15/8 Sheriff Lupe has lost her team.

It's hard not to like Lupe Valdez. She used to be so exuberant, running for offices like the County School Board. If there was a political event, she was there. Like every good politician, Lupe is great with names and faces and genuinely likes talking to people. Those talents are great for campaigning. Unfortunately, campaign skills do not necessarily translate to good management skills.

Lupe Valdez is not up to the job of being the Dallas County Sheriff. Not everyone agrees with my assessment of her qualifications. My dear friend, Darryl Baker thinks she's doing a great job. He says he is glad he voted for her.

Lupe is not doing a good job. She is not even doing her job. Commissioner John Wiley Price has been doing a big part of her job, running the jail and fixing the problems in the hope of eventually passing a state inspection. We keep hearing that Lupe inherited a bad situation with the jails from her predecessor, Sheriff Jim Bowles. How many times did the county jails fail the state inspection under his watch?

Lupe is not taking care of the county jails. Lupe is not taking care of her employees either. Four Sheriff Department unions are coming out against Sheriff Valdez, not necessarily to endorse Lowell Cannaday: Dallas County Sheriff's Assn., Dallas County Police Officers Assn., Latino Police Officers Assn. and the Fraternal Order of Police. That's pretty strong stuff. How does a commander lead when his or her team publicly states their lack of confidence in their commander's leadership?

On DallasBlog.com, one commentator says:

As an employee of the Sheriff's Department, ... I'm outraged at the lack of leadership and ineptitude that our so called sheriff has shown. She cares nothing for her employees whatsoever as we have recently seen in her decision to hire a chief from the outside after nearly four years in office. The failure to grow her own people to better themselves and the department by promoting to chief is an outrage. She seems to think there is no one qualified within the department for this job. First off, if that's true, then it is YOUR FAULT sheriff. It is a leader's job to develop their personnel for the better. Of course, it is not true at all, and just about every single supervisor in the whole department is more qualified than this "6 month lieutenant" you plan to hire. What a disgrace you are Lupe. The fight with commissioners over a documentary right when we need it the least, hiding in your office during budget talks when real people in your department stand to lose their positions, and we could go on and on.....and on.

Of course, there are people who will defend Sheriff Valdez for political reasons even if she is not qualified for the job she holds. Those people do not understand or care that there are hundreds of Sheriff Department employees with families whose futures are put in jeopardy because Lupe has tried to pay hard ball with Commissioner Price, et al.

That she is not up to the job was evident last week when she sent a Lieutenant to face the Commissioners during budget negotiations. Having just had a court rule against her claim of control over the county jail, it would have been the courageous and correct thing to attend the Commissioner's meeting herself. She's the Sheriff of Dallas County, for heaven's sake.

Lupe is not looking out for Dallas County taxpayers either. Her plan to let a TV show take pictures inside the jails, which would include inmates, would have exposed Dallas County taxpayers to more lawsuits from the inmates. Not because conditions are so bad inside the county jails -- but because the filming would have reduced the inmates to equivalent of zoo animals.

When my Dad retired as a DPD officer, he immediately went to work for the Dallas County Sheriff's Department as a deputy, serving as a court bailiff. He held that job almost as long as he had worked for the DPD. My Dad was a deputy when he died 21 years ago. So, I know a little about the relationship between the rank and file and the Sheriff. They need to have a boss they can respect.

sb