James McLynas for Sheriff of Pinellas County

There’s a New KIND of Sheriff in Town!

James McLynas

For Sheriff of

Pinellas County Florida

 

Why We Need a New KIND of Sheriff

There is little doubt America has a police problem and so does the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Mass incarceration, record numbers of citizens abused, assaulted and killed by police, lack of police accountability, skyrocketing costs, bloated unsustainable pensions and overall corruption within these agencies are today’s reality. Combine this with the ever-expanding police state, policing for profit, unprecedented warrantless citizen spying and civil asset forfeiture that the FBI claims took “more cash and assets from American citizens than all other burglaries and robberies combined,” and one begins to understand the magnitude of the problem.

Our current Sheriff has been a poor steward of our money and trust. Since 2011 when Gualtieri was appointed by Rick Scott, Bob Gualtieri has spent $2,334,220,000. That is $2.3 billion dollars spent at just the Sheriff’s office!

That does not include the $316,800,000 Gualtieri has spent in Federal and State grants and subsidies. That also does not include the $500,000,000 or more spent on Capital Improvements to support the Pinellas County Punishment Machine, such as the new $100,000,000 jail complex or the $81,000,000 new Sheriff’s office.

Pinellas population has increased by just 5.7% and the number of new deputies increased by a mere 1.7%. However, total annual spending by the Sheriff skyrocketed over 57% from $206.35 million in 2012, to whopping $324.3 million today.

What I call “chain of command inbreeding” is the practice of the police industry selecting the sheriff’s candidate for whom the people are allowed to vote. This creates a “fox watching the henhouse” crisis of zero accountability. What we have in the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department is a corrupt and bloated bureaucracy that presents the false choice of their own candidate to give the public the appearance of a genuine election. Nothing will change for the better in Pinellas County until this cycle is broken. Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

We need and deserve a Sheriff not indoctrinated into police culture their entire career, one not pre-selected for us by the police industry, so the same issues continue unabated. We need someone not engrained within and supporting the “Thin Blue Line” mafia style code of silence currently protecting bad cops. As your Sheriff I will hold all Pinellas County deputies to a higher standard. This will be a direct contrast to the low standard accepted, embraced, and advocated by the current Sheriff.

Did you know Sheriff Gualtieri recently purchased a $1.5 million-dollar 10 passenger airplane, just months after testifying at county budget meetings that he did not have enough for “essentials”? No local county sheriff needs a ten-passenger airplane. This wasteful spending comes directly out of your pocket and is the main reason property taxes increase. I promise to sell the plane on eBay (along with millions in other unneeded equipment) my first weeks in office as your Sheriff and return that money to the taxpayers.

The Coronavirus has now highlighted the ludicrous and dangerous practice of arresting people over the slightest civil infraction. Their goal is to fill jails to overcapacity in order to collect Federal subsidies and protect deputy payroll and pensions. This is job security at taxpayer’s expense. Sheriff Gualtieri arrests a stunning 4% of the total county population every year. That is more than 45,000 arrested annually! Roughly 35,000 of these arrests are for minor, petty and victimless offenses such as traffic tickets, open container, trespass and cannabis.

Sheriff Gualtieri pointed out in a recent Tampa Bay Times article that “notices to appear in court carry the same weight as an arrest without requiring a jail stay.” So why are these extra 35,000 arrests even taking place each year, endangering both citizens and deputies in the process? That is over 300,000 needless arrests just since Sheriff Gualtieri has been in office! Criminalizing such a large segment of the people of Pinellas over minor infractions is costing hundreds of millions in attorney’s fees and lost employment. Families and children go without support and a massive toll it taken on the health of our community.

As your sheriff I will save taxpayers over $50 million annually by ending the barbaric and outdated practice of incarcerating people for non-violent petty offenses. I will focus full time on the 80% of real crimes reported to Sheriff Gualtieri that go unsolved each year like rapes, murders, assaults, robberies, and crimes against children.

Did you know our current Sheriff helped numerous deputies in the infamous D.R.O.P. “double dip” pension scheme? Gualtieri allowed dozens of deputies to retire, obtain huge six figure DROP payouts, plus collect pensions. Then he rehired them so they could collect a second paycheck each month!

These deputies now collect over $250,000 per year, plus taxpayer funded healthcare and a free car, which is about double the salary of Governor Desantis. Creating millionaire public servants on the backs of the taxpayers is a slap in the face to all citizens.

Under Sheriff Gualtieri, deputies have been caught lying hundreds of times. Police credibility has declined sharply. Story after story exists of police lying, planting evidence, planting guns after killing someone, planting drugs, falsifying reports and working diligently to convict innocent people. The PCSO has had more than its fair share of scandals under the current administration.

Gualtieri fails to report these discredited deputies on the required Brady List and takes zero disciplinary action against these dangerous deputies. For example, when Sheriff Gaultieri’s deputies were caught lying in warrant applications, a career pedophile named James Rybicki had to be released with all charges dropped. I personally, had three Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies fabricate evidence and lie under oath to falsely charge me with crimes after I informed Sheriff Gualtieri I would run against him in 2016 to expose his massive corruption. I thought I lived in a different America where corrupt sheriffs did not fabricate charges against political opponents to win an election, but clearly I was wrong.

As your sheriff, I will fight to protect the rights of ALL the people of Pinellas County. All officers will treat every Pinellas County citizen professionally, with dignity and respect, including those they are arresting. I welcome the community’s input regarding how we will conduct ourselves in Pinellas. I will be rooting out corruption within the four corners of Pinellas County from all branches of government. I will operate the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in a manner that includes ALL Pinellas citizens as I look to increase the diversity of the agency. I can and will decrease the Sheriff’s bloated budget by at least 25%, starting with my own salary to set an example to all.

The current police industry cannot and will not police itself because it refuses to even acknowledge a problem exists. There are 2,389 PCSO members that make up 0.25% of the population of Pinellas. Isn’t it time the other 99.75% of the people took back control of our police industry and our economy?

It is time for a sheriff of the people, by the people and for the people. That Sheriff in 2020 is James McLynas.

MISSION STATEMENT: To ensure that each Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy and employee treats every single person they come in contact with in a professional and courteous manner, without exception. To create a more “user friendly” agency that includes community input, complete transparency, open records and that literally “protects and serves” the people of Pinellas County. To weed out every corrupt, hostile, racist, abusive, rude, arrogant and deceptive officer in every agency in Pinellas County, so that law enforcement can regain the trust of the entire community. To ensure that the PCSO is dedicated to solving actual crimes rather than generating revenue and to initiate sweeping reforms that reduce the use of force and make preservation of all life the number one goal. To create an environment where the sight of a PCSO patrol car in your rear view mirror does not invoke fear. To reduce costs and the tax burden on the fine people of Pinellas County.

Pinellas Police  Corruption  Videos

 

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James McLynas

For Sheriff of

Pinellas County Florida

 

This election for Pinellas County Sheriff is the most important vote you will cast. It will determine the level of freedom you have for the next four years!

Why We Need a New KIND of Sheriff

There is little doubt America has a police problem and so does the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Mass incarceration, record numbers of citizens abused, assaulted and killed by police, lack of police accountability, skyrocketing costs, bloated unsustainable pensions and overall corruption within these agencies are today’s reality. Combine this with the ever-expanding police state, policing for profit, unprecedented warrantless citizen spying and civil asset forfeiture that the FBI claims took “more cash and assets from American citizens than all other burglaries and robberies combined,” and one begins to understand the magnitude of the problem.

MISSION STATEMENT: To ensure that each Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy and employee treats every single person they come in contact with in a professional and courteous manner, without exception. To create a more “user friendly” agency that includes community input, complete transparency, open records and that literally “protects and serves” the people of Pinellas County. To weed out every corrupt, hostile, racist, abusive, rude, arrogant and deceptive officer in every agency in Pinellas County, so that law enforcement can regain the trust of the entire community. To ensure that the PCSO is dedicated to solving actual crimes rather than generating revenue and to initiate sweeping reforms that reduce the use of force and make preservation of all life the number one goal. To create an environment where the sight of a PCSO patrol car in your rear view mirror does not invoke fear. To reduce costs and the tax burden on the fine people of Pinellas County.

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Police   Corruption

Vote McLynas to Free Pinellas County