(Host) Candidates for Sheriff in at least two Southern Vermont counties will be running for office in absentia next year.
When the votes are cast, Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark and Bennington police officer John Behan will be stationed in Afghanistan.
VPR’s Susan Keese reports.
(Keese) When John Behan returned from Iraq with Task Force Sabre in 2005, he ran for High Bailiff of Bennington County and won. That’s when he decided to run for sheriff in November 2010.
Little did he know that when that time came, he’d be back on active military duty, this time in Afghanistan.
Behan expects to challenge incumbent Chad Schmidt who took office this fall.
As an active member of the U.S. Armed Forces, Behan will be prohibited by Department of Defense rules from taking an active part in his own campaign.
(Behan) But family and friends can do that for me. So that’s what I’m going to rely on when I’m gone.
(Keese) The timing is difficult for other reasons as well. The Bennington Patrol officer recently became a father. He’ll be leaving a seven month old son behind.
(Behan) I’m proud to do what I do as far as serving my country, serving the flag, and I’m hoping to make a difference so that my son, and children down the road don’t have to do what I do.
(Keese) Behan, who leaves December 10th for training, is a scout with the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He says his experience as a squad leader in a time of war should serve him well as sheriff, if he’s elected.
On the other side of the state, Windham County incumbent Sheriff Keith Clark is in a similar position. Clark says his wife Bonnie will handle his 2010 reelection campaign.
Because his orders have been late in arriving, Clark says he waited until just recently to alert his staff that he would be leaving for a year, beginning in January. But he says the office is well-prepared.
(Clark) We’ve spent a lot of time over the last two and a half years I’ve been in office putting into place systems and procedures so that if any one of us is missing or isn’t available that the office still functions okay.
(Keese) Clark says his Chief Deputy Robert Lakin will step in at the helm while he’s away.
This is Clark’s first active National Guard duty. But prior to becoming sheriff, he was chief of police in Bellows Falls, and there he saw first hand the toll deployments can take.
(Keese) "When I was the chief in Bellows Falls, I had two of my officers deployed to Iraq at the same time. Now if you think about it we only had eight officers. So with two being deployed at the same time that was a quarter of my staff."
(Keese) In the 2008 election, Vermont Auditor of Accounts Tom Salmon won re-election while serving in Iraq.
(Keese) For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.