By DAVID IZRAELEVITZ 
Candidate For County Sheriff

It is unfortunate that online discussion about the merits of an elected Sheriff for Los Alamos, specifically regarding my campaign, has devolved into questions about my ethical compass. I would like to take a moment to be clear and factual about the reasons behind my effort to be elected as our Sheriff.

First of all, I am frank about my opposition to a Los Alamos County Sheriff, as I have been for a decade as County Councilor and in multiple communications. The position has evolved into one with no duties, is a waste of taxpayers’ money, and, for this reason, if elected, I will donate my salary to charity.

Second, I am running for Sheriff and campaigning to end the position at the same time, rather than after someone else is elected, to remove any perception of personal animus toward a sitting Sheriff. I don’t want to “vote anyone out of a job.”

Third, because of our home-rule status and County Charter, the NM State Constitution (Article X, Sections 5 and 6) permits us to abolish the Sheriff position, as was done for the Los Alamos County Treasurer position in 1968, and previously pursued in Los Alamos via a ballot measure in 2016.

Finally, the ultimate arbiter of whether we retain the office of Sheriff will not be some future Sheriff, whether it is me or someone else, but rather the citizens of Los Alamos through their vote on a subsequent home-rule charter amendment.

I have been honest and upfront about the reasons I am running, as I also seek to abolish the Sheriff’s position. My reasoning is available in detail at my website www.david4sheriff.us. I leave it to the citizens of Los Alamos to decide whether they support this effort, and I trust the remainder of this campaign will concentrate solely on the merits of the argument and not on incriminations regarding my character.