That didn't go exactly as planned

At some point, I gotta wonder.

Is he trying to lose?

We’re referring, of course, to Sheriff Mike Prendergast, whose relations with the community continue to deteriorate with a series of baffling moves.

I can’t recall a single politician taking such a dive in community support. And it’s not like people are on his case because they’re upset about crime or law enforcement presence.

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Nope. Here’s Prendergast’s biggest problem:

People are on to him.

How else to explain the public’s reaction to a post Monday by a sheriff’s captain on the agency’s official Facebook page that attacked a former Crystal River police chief’s recent guest newspaper column?

This comes a month after the sheriff announced ANOTHER Facebook page, supposedly unrelated to his re-election campaign, funded by a PAC run by Prendergast and his campaign manager. That website appears intended to criticize county commissioners for supposedly not funding his agency well enough.

The latest dustup involves Roger Krieger, a former Crystal River police chief from years gone by. Roger is a proficient letter-writer, loyal Just Wright Citrus reader and participant, and writes the occasional newspaper column.

I’ve always found Roger blunt and to the point. Some people don’t appreciate that style. I think we don’t have enough of it.

I’ll let you read Roger’s column yourself. The headline says it all: “Is the sheriff a leader or a politician?” What follows is his opinion that the sheriff is the latter and cites the confusing lack of transparency from the agency over his budget and requests for more deputies.

Capt. Misty Clendenney’s post is also headlined to the point: “CCSO responds to false statements about our accountability and transparency.” (Not exactly a page-turner.) It purports to refute Roger and continues to hammer home the sheriff’s refrain that this is all the County Commission’s fault.

A few thoughts before I get on to the citizen comments to the sheriff’s side of the story.

— Not sure I understand the idea behind posting this on the agency Facebook page as opposed to giving it to the Chronicle as a guest column. I’m sure they’d print the whole thing. It’s not exactly timely — Roger’s column ran two weeks ago.

— Several people noted on the sheriff’s Facebook page that they doubted Capt. Clendenney actually wrote this column. I’m not sure that really matters. But someone put in a lot of work to prove Roger Krieger wrong. Appropriate use of their time? You tell me.

— I can’t define art, but I know when I see it. This LOOKS like politics. 

— Once again, the sheriff horribly miscalculated his sway with folks. I’m guessing he thought they’d fall right in line on social media, slamming the know-it-alls to prove his point.

That did not happen. As of this writing, I saw over 150 comments to the post on the sheriff’s Facebook page. Not all were critical, but most were; about 10 or less supported the sheriff. Here’s a small sampling. Remember, these are comments from the sheriff’s agency Facebook page:

“An entire post picking apart someone else’s article…you guys need someone else to do damage control because this was not the way.”

“This should have been posted on his re-election campaign page, NOT the CCSO page. Frankly any citizen that doesn’t see the gross incompetence of our current Sheriff is truly misguided.”

“Is this page a political agenda platform? I support the men and women in the CCSO, but I’m not a fan of our Sheriff. He is a politician more than a Sheriff. Looking for his next big political career jump.”

“Our county is truly blessed to have the men and women of the CCSO looking out for us. With all the talk about lack of transparency, the BOCC should take a look at themselves and stop throwing stones at others.”

A guest column in the Chronicle would have provided Prendergast the same rebuttal. He calculated that a social-media response would heap public praise his way. Instead, citizens are openly critical of both the message and the messenger. It’s a public relations disaster.

Trying to lose? Nah. Trying to win? Not with any strategy I’ve ever seen.

Strange. That’s the word for it.

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