April 20,2002

Sheriff candidate sees a chance for change

By Jay Stapleton
Times Herald-Record

Otisville - You might call Carl DuBois the great reformer. That's if he wins his bid to unseat incumbent Orange County Sheriff Frank Bigger in the race for sheriff. No easy task to be sure.

"I'm ready to win this race," DuBois said the other day, wearing a dark striped suit adorned with a New York State Magistrates Association pin. "We're going to make history."

The Republican is seeking to unseat a fellow Republican with a platform that focuses on change.

"My platform can be summarized in four words," DuBois said. "Integrity, leadership, accountability, reform."

Reform is a word he mentions often. "I do not believe reform is a four-letter word." He's right, it's not.

Verbal accuracy aside, DuBois acknowledges how tough it will be to unseat the incumbent fellow Republican with strong countywide political ties. "I don't take this challenge lightly," he said.

He's not glamorizing the race, knowing there will be "late nights ... stale coffee ... cold pizza."

DuBois has a plan. He thinks his background and experience make him the best candidate for the job. He wants to study how the office is run, "to find out what's working and what's not working."

DuBois plans to pull from his background. His resume is diverse, listing experience as a cop, town and village justice, and police commissioner.

He graduated from Minisink Valley Central School in 1972. He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Mercy College. He's been married to his wife, Barbara, for 21 years.

A father of two, DuBois is 48 years old. He's been working in some capacity of law enforcement or the justice system for nearly half that time.

To talk to him, it doesn't take long for what DuBois calls the "fundamentally conservative" side of his Republican background to come forth. He's been registered with the party since he was 21.

"A dollar saved is a dollar earned," he says. "People who do the crime should do the time."

And he sees problems with the way the sheriff's office has been run under Bigger. "If there's a problem, I'll fix it," he said.

Action taken against Bigger by the state Attorney General's Office and a report commissioned by the county that called to eliminate the position, are the reasons he's running, DuBois says.

"The word 'sheriff' should be synonymous with integrity," he said during the formal announcement that he was running. "A person who the public regards as the pinnacle of virtue."