After a lengthy, unusual and at points downright odd set of proceedings, Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright kept his office when Gov. Janet Mills declined to use her authority to remove him.
Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright, right, and his attorney, Jonathan Berry, listen April 22 during Wainwright’s dismissal hearing at the Maine Department of Public Safety in Augusta. Daryn Slover / Sun Journal
Mills accepted recommendations on May 13 from former Supreme Judicial Court Justice Donald Alexander, who she appointed to hear charges brought by the county commissioners.
The commissioners had a number of complaints, but most revolved around the disposal and sale of confiscated firearms, saying Wainwright had acted illegally and without their knowledge and permission.
While there were some differing interpretations between Alexander’s conclusions and those of an investigator hired earlier by the commissioners, the allegations of lawbreaking did not in any case create the “extraordinary circumstances” Mills said would be necessary to require removal.
It’s hard to disagree. Removal from office — equivalent to impeachment and conviction — doesn’t seem justified here, though it’s easy to understand the commissioners’ frustration that no lesser form of discipline was available.
The larger problem is that there are no clear lines of authority in county government, the result of various constitutional provisions granting sheriffs a status the commissioners, presumably in charge, signally lack.
The 16 county sheriffs’ positions have evolved through a series of constitutional amendments. In 1855, their positions were made elective, as were county probate judges and registers of deeds — but not commissioners.
In 1917, the removal-by-governor provisions were added; in 1985, sheriffs’ terms were doubled, from two to four years.
As a result, county government lacks clearly defined responsibilities. Commissioners propose and approve the budget but have no specific supervisory authority over sheriffs, who answer only to voters.
No other law enforcement positions have similar independence and none are elected. The state police chief is appointed by the governor; municipal chiefs are hired and supervised by town or city managers.
And because most towns in Maine don’t have police forces of their own, county sheriff offices operate as de facto regional police forces, even though they are often inadequate for that purpose.
To illustrate the problems this non-system creates, one need look no further than the ongoing investigation of the Lewiston massacre last Oct. 25, conducted by a Mills-appointed commission chaired by former Chief Justice Daniel Wathen.
Police response was confused and sometimes chaotic, with some officers “self-dispatching,” allegedly in an intoxicated state. State Police, in nominal charge, struggled to establish lines of authority and communication.
This wasn’t necessarily the fault of county and municipal officers, who had valuable information to share. Rather, it was the fractured and ambiguous state of Maine law enforcement that made such failures inevitable.
It’s doubtful the Wathen commission will feel empowered to recommend a sweeping overhaul, but it should at least be considered.
Unlike most states outside New England, Maine has never had effective county government. And unlike most other states within New England, it needs it.
Geographically, Maine is as large as the other five states combined, and while New England has 15 million people, Maine’s 1.4 million are scattered over 33,000 square miles.
It’s unreasonable to expect State Police and individual municipal departments to effectively provide comprehensive patrol and response, yet the rickety structure of county government prevents it from providing essential links.
Both state and municipal government have their own dedicated, unique sources of revenue, and municipalities enjoy revenue sharing from the state, while public schools have majority funding from the state.
Counties are completely dependent on local property taxes, and their portion of the tax bill is widely resented by the selectpersons and councils who act as collection agents.
One thing is clear: Mainers are not getting their money’s worth when it comes to law enforcement, through no fault of officers now serving — including the elected sheriffs. The system is ill-organized, especially where funding is concerned.
The commission we most need would be one dispassionately considering the roles of municipal, county and state government, especially in the high-priority area of law enforcement, and come up with a workable system.
Such a system would require a change in the status of sheriffs so they had meaningful supervision from other elected officials.
They might continue to be elected, though it’s worth considering that, with increasing professionalization of law enforcement, it’s becoming harder to convince qualified officers to run for sheriff — a political office on an island, unrelated to colleagues in state or municipal departments.
The Oxford commissioners and sheriff have vowed better communication and cooperation, but that’s not going to resolve the underlying issues.
We need workable county government, and it’s up to state government — and the Legislature — to create it.
Douglas Rooks has been a Maine editor, columnist and reporter since 1984. He is the author of four books, most recently a biography of U.S. Chief Justice Melville Fuller, and welcomes comment at drooks@tds.net.
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