November 06, 2002

DuBois out-draws Whiffen
to become county sheriff

By Brendan Scott
Times Herald-Record
bscott@th-record.com

Goshen - Republican Carl DuBois thanked a roomful of supporters for a decisive victory over Democrat John Whiffen in the race for Orange County sheriff last night.

With more than half the districts reporting, DuBois was leading by a wide margin. After accepting a concession from Whiffen shortly before 11 p.m., DuBois addressed a crowd of about 250 at the Owen Murphy Inn in Goshen.

"Tonight we proved democracy is alive and well," the 48-year-old retired Middletown police lieutenant said. "Our victory is the freedom and integrity of the ballot box over a system that resisted reform for too long."

Whiffen, who waged an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Bigger in 1998, took the loss in stride.

"A Democrat in a Republican county - it's that simple," the Town of Highlands police chief said. "We ran a good campaign. Everything was clean. I wished [DuBois] luck. I hope he does well. And I'll be back at work tomorrow."

After DuBois trounced two-term incumbent Frank Bigger in the Republican primary, the race was between the two remaining major party candidates' competing visions for reform.

Both Whiffen and DuBois promised to overhaul the scandal-scarred office's administration and revive the morale of its more than 400 employees.

In a political gamble, Whiffen had supported replacing the elected sheriff with an appointed public safety commissioner, which would thereby eliminate his job. It was an idea espoused by Bigger's opponents, save DuBois, who said it stole choice from the voters.

DuBois proposed reorganizing the sheriff's office under a unified chain of command. His plan calls for four deputy undersheriffs to oversee administration, investigations, corrections and police divisions. All four would report to the undersheriff. While DuBois says he has several candidates in mind for the five openings, he claims to have made no promises.