Reuters: Who funds your local sheriff? Report raises new campaign finance questions

(Reuters) – An inherent conflict of interest arises from many political donations to sheriffs around the country, including from medical providers and bail bond companies doing business with them, according to a new report by watchdog group Common Cause.

Common Cause and Communities for Sheriff Accountability, a prison reform coalition, examined campaign finance reports from 2010-2021 provided by a sample of sheriffs in 11 different states, including in Massachusetts, Louisiana and Maryland. They found that about 40% of all examined contributions, or more than $6 million dollars in donations, created a potential conflict of interest and incentivized incarceration in order to increase profits.

The groups examined a portion of the more than 3,000 sheriffs offices around the country — in part because of their “oppositional” approach to public information requests. The selection criteria means those offices are “more likely to represent a pattern than exceptional cases,” Common Cause said in the report.

The apparently conflicted donations came from a range of businesses, including construction companies that build jails, telecommunications companies eager to provide data and telephone service in those facilities, and representatives of legal firms that represent sheriffs’ offices on misconduct cases. The contributions aren’t necessarily unlawful, but that’s only because many states’ conflict of interest and ethics laws are woefully inadequate, according to the groups.

The eye-opening report highlights gaping loopholes in campaign finance regulation and other public oversight mechanisms for sheriffs – elected politicians who often fly under the radar, despite the tremendous powers and important responsibilities of their office.

A spokesperson for the National Sheriffs’ Association didn’t respond to questions and a request for comment.

Keshia Morris Desir, mass incarceration project manager at Common Cause, told me that The Paid Jailer report, which was released in January, “tries to shine a light on a blind spot in efforts toward criminal justice reform.”

“We’re really trying to call attention to this issue because we usually only think about the police department when we talk about law enforcement reform, even though sheriffs are actually elected officials,” Desir said. …

The groups’ study found that “[b]usiness interest can establish a relationship with sheriffs by sending even small contributions,” noting dozens of direct contributions to sheriffs’ campaigns from bail bonding businesses that were under $3,000.

Desir, at Common Cause, told me campaign finance reporting systems across the country are so varied and poorly run that some sheriffs’ offices responded to inquiries with handwritten lists of their political contributions. The Common Cause report includes a series of important policy recommendations, including restricting contributions to campaigns from individuals and entities that conduct or seek business with the state or city.

“The reason we studied this is that sheriffs control really large swaths of the mass incarceration system, including in immigration, and they make major decisions about the health and safety of millions of incarcerated people,” Desir said. “Bringing attention to their offices presents an opportunity to strengthen disclosure laws and make other reforms to improve campaign financing” for these powerful, publicly elected officials.