MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS Jim Anderson meets with county staffers Janie Taylor, Diane Peterson and Paula Perry at the County Jail on Tuesday. Absentee ballots confirm Anderson as sheriff Department's leaders seek unity after divisive election 3/13/02 By DAWN HOBBS NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER After a count of absentee ballots, Sheriff's Cmdr. Jim Anderson still had a big enough vote margin Tuesday to win the post of Santa Barbara County sheriff without a runoff. The results ended a week of suspense for Cmdr. Anderson and the runner-up in the March 5 election, retired Undersheriff Dave Dorsey. "I'm relieved by the number because we won't have to carry the campaign into November," said Cmdr. Anderson. "And I'm very happy with all of the support I've had. I think the first thing I want to do is bring our department back together." The outcome of the sheriff's race was an unexpected twist in a contentious battle among the four candidates. A runoff had been expected between the top two candidates. Before the election results can be certified by the April 2 deadline, more than 800 disputed votes, or provisional ballots, still need to be tallied. Because of that, Cmdr. Anderson wasn't celebrating in a big way Tuesday night. "I'm having dinner with my wife, daughter and a close friend, still waiting to see the results of the provisional ballots," he said. "But once everything is finalized, we do plan to have a big party." Counting the more than 12,000 absentee ballots, the latest results show Cmdr. Anderson won 50.5 percent of the vote -- more than the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win the race outright. He widened his vote margin by a hair -- on Election Night he received 50.3 percent. That equates to 386 votes more than he needed to avoid a runoff in the November election against Mr. Dorsey, who garnered 28.9 percent of the vote. The four-year position pays between $122,000 and $149,000 annually. The sheriff is responsible for a $64 million budget, oversees nearly 700 employees, sets department policy and represents the county at the state level for legislative efforts that affect law enforcement. Cmdr. Anderson, 46, is expected to assume the county's top law enforcement post in January 2003 when Sheriff Jim Thomas retires. That is, unless Sheriff Thomas decides to retire in June to run for a supervisorial position, should the recall of 3rd District Supervisor Gail Marshall succeed. Mr. Dorsey, 61, who was backed by Sheriff Thomas and other top law enforcement officials, said he has no plans to contest the election results at this time. He said it was likely the endorsements of law enforcement unions that placed his opponent so far ahead of him. "Especially after Sept. 11, people think more of the rank and file, and that's a big obstacle to overcome," said Mr. Dorsey, noting that union endorsements, however, are not necessarily representative of the entire department. For instance, the decision by Santa Barbara's police union to endorse Cmdr. Anderson was made by a five-member board. "Cmdr. Anderson still advertised he was the only candidate that had law enforcement endorsements ... I don't believe we were able to get the message out about what that meant," said Mr. Dorsey, who said he may consider running again. "The main thing now is to see how the agency progresses," he said. "A lot of promises were made that someone is going to have to be held accountable for." The actual totals for the two top vote-getters were 33,600 to 19,260. Mr. Dorsey also said his numbers may have been eroded by the other two candidates from the South Coast, Santa Barbara Police Detective Roger Aceves, who received 10.3 percent of the vote, and Sheriff's Lt. Butch Arnoldi, who received 10.1 percent. Detective Aceves, 46, was the first from his agency to challenge internal candidates from the Sheriff's Department in 84 years, but he said he's glad he did. "As a guy coming in from the outside and a Democrat running in a Republican election, I'm happy with the amount of support I had," said the detective, who has since been asked to get involved with many community-based boards. "I'm glad I did it. I'm glad they started talking about the main issues. Now, let's see what they do." Lt. Arnoldi, 51, has already decided he'll run in the next election. "I didn't start early enough this last time," he said. "So I'm going to change a few strategies this next time." The race created a divisiveness within the Sheriff's Department, in part because the last contested sheriff's race was in 1990, when Sheriff Thomas won the seat in the primary election with 54 percent of the vote. Since then, he has run uncontested. But now leaders say it's time for the agency to come back together. In fact, Sheriff Thomas has scheduled a breakfast meeting with Cmdr. Anderson today to discuss how they will make the transition smoothly. "Obviously, I supported a different candidate, and the process is what it is," said Sheriff Thomas. "But one part of me says I'm glad it's over and we're not having to go into November because these things can be somewhat divisive. "Now it's time for the department to pull itself together and move forward, like we have in the past," he said. "I think Jim will make a fine sheriff." To prepare him for the post, Sheriff Thomas will take him to meetings in Sacramento so that he can meet the Attorney General and other county sheriffs. "I'll also get him going with our finance people because we have a budget coming up," Sheriff Thomas said. Get printer-friendly version