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Bisch to take another shot
Metro Police officer gets early start on campaigning to unseat her boss
Leila Navidi
The deadline for filing is still eight months away, but Metro Police Officer Laurie Bisch has already announced that she is running for sheriff in 2010. Bisch finished third in the 2006 primary and is critical of Sheriff Doug Gillespie’s leadership.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Issues out the window as race gets testy (3-30-2007)
- Former sheriff candidate Bisch sets sights on LV Ward 1 (12-12-2006)
Beyond the Sun
She’s handing out small lapel pins with black skulls and crossbones that bookend a brief bit of text: “Criminals beware, our next Sheriff is a Bisch.”
And so begins the campaign of Officer Laurie Bisch, the first person to publicly announce a run against Sheriff Doug Gillespie in 2010. It’s a race Bisch has been planning since she came in third during the 2006 primary, about three percentage points shy of millionaire Jerry Airola. Gillespie went on to trounce the helicopter school businessman in the general election.
The odds are against Bisch this time around, too. That’s why the 16-year Metro cop is launching her campaign eight months before the March filing date. She figures she needs the extra time to raise money, glad-hand and broadcast her platform, which is largely focused on criticizing Metro’s top brass.
“Our current management and command staff is absolutely unqualified,” Bisch says.
The sheriff “thinks he knows it all. There’s nothing any of us can tell him, because in his mind, he knows it all.”
Gillespie knows enough to be politic when asked about Bisch, refusing to speak negatively — or at all — about the candidate challenging him.
And Bisch knows that trying to take your boss’s job isn’t the best way to win office popularity contests.
“I knew when I put my hat in the ring in the last sheriff’s race that I might as well have just gone out into the back yard and painted a big orange-and-black target on my back,” she says. “But there’s a lot at stake here. It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I am not going to be intimidated by these guys, and if I feel I can legitimately do things better, I’m gonna try.”
The challenge, according to observers, is that Gillespie is too well-liked, or at least too uniformly acceptable, to inspire a grass-roots shake-up.
“People want to be safe, and status quo is safe,” said Ryan Erwin, a local political consultant. “(Bisch) would have to make a compelling case. She’d have to fire the incumbent.”
If there’s a case Bisch is trying to make, it’s that a top-down attitude change would revitalize Metro.
Yes, she has serious concerns about crime in Clark County. But the biggest plank of her platform is that Gillespie is a poor communicator, an autocratic leader whose hard-nose style has demoralized and fragmented the department. Metro officers are too frustrated or scared to take ideas up the chain, she says.
For Gillespie and his command staff of yes men, “it’s about power and control,” she alleges. “For me, it’s about public service.”
Where Gillespie has spent the past 29 years working up Metro’s chain of command, Bisch is a street cop. Where Gillespie has experience balancing Metro’s more than $600 million budget, Bisch is a small-business owner and mother who has been perfectly content working the streets, not the suit-and-tie boardrooms of Metro headquarters. While Gillespie has run for elected office once, and won once, Bisch has lost a sheriff’s race and, shortly after that, a city council race.
“I have huge hurdles to overcome,” she says. “But I can tell you that people who say, ‘Well, she’s just a cop,’ haven’t met me yet.”
If elected, Bisch would be Metro’s first female sheriff. But while that may be one of her hurdles, it isn’t the most important one, some experts say. What really matters in a sheriff’s race, at least when it comes to running against a popular incumbent, is money, says Steve Redlinger, campaign consultant for 2006 candidate Bill Conger.
Conger, a retired Metro deputy chief who got into the race when former Sheriff Bill Young suddenly backed out, was a favorite among rank-and-file officers. And while this support was certainly a good thing, the late entry meant that Conger couldn’t get any of the high-dollar donations from gaming companies, who had already backed the establishment candidate — Young — before the former sheriff turned over his endorsement, and money, to Gillespie. This was what kept Conger from winning, Redlinger says.
“Among people that fund the sheriff’s race, I don’t sense there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Doug Gillespie,” Redlinger said. “You don’t have to outspend the guy, but you have to be competitive with him, and a couple hundred thousand is not going to do it.”
In 2006 Bisch raised about $200,000 for that campaign — much less than Gillespie’s $1.5 million. Airola bankrolled himself and spent twice as much as Gillespie.
New laws now mandate that candidates must have at least five years of law enforcement experience, a rule that will weed out wild-card candidates like Airola.
Gillespie is calling his prior contributors, but not aggressively raising money. Bisch says she has raised about $60,000 since 2006 and knows she needs more. She also knows she’s not going to get it from the deep-pocketed Strip properties and players in the Clark County political machine — casino companies and moguls that have a vested interest in who’s running the police department. Bisch’s goal is to get lots of small donations from lots of average citizens.
For now, Bisch is booking speaking engagements and promoting her Web site, which was scheduled to go live Monday night with Internet forums — a popular feature on her site during the past election, when people claiming to be police officers, given the cloak of online anonymity, freely expressed dissatisfaction with the department.
Offline, on the job, Bisch says she doesn’t expect overwhelming displays of support from colleagues. But privately her co-workers are supporting her, she says.
“The sheriff thinks he’s got the machine and the money behind him, that’s he’s going to win a second term,” she says. “I don’t agree.”
Discussion: 19 comments so far…
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Yes! Vote for Bisch! We need change, and she is qualified to do that.
Lots of thinks need to change in Clark County, however Doug is not one of them. Our sheriff runs a very solid ship
I just want someone that will keep me safe! You know, go after strippers undercover and do hooker stings. A sheriff that hangs out buying guns with gangstas at gun shows (weekly) and turns a blind eye at violent crime and spends every waking hour going after my peoples private lives. We all know how violent those hookers and strippers are, Gillespie goes 100% after these violent w__res and protects our schools and community. I would right more how great he is, but me and the boys going target practicing with our AK-47's. Boogity boogity boogity, let's go shootin boys!!!
Will she start a drivers training program?
Do you feel safe? Well, do ya punk? THANK YOU DOUG!!! Keep this filth in jail, so I can go to Walmart without being shot today.
-----------------------------------------
A major bust at a local adult strip club has resulted in 13 dancers being arrested for soliciting prostitution. Police allege the dancers were doing much more than dancing.
Metro made the arrests early Monday morning. Police say busts like this, are not uncommon, but the number of arrests is what makes this one stand out.
"It's a pretty substantial. I don't know how many particular entertainers were working in that establishment that night but 13 is a lot of folks," said Lieutenant Karen Hughes, Metro.
All of the female dancers were arrested for soliciting prostitution. Police say it is now up to them to post bail or wait 48 hours to make a court appearance and be released.
Hughes works with Metro's vice squad, and would not go into detail about how the arrests were made, but says this is part of her team's job.
"They're out there every night, working street operations, hotel operations, book stores, anywhere where people that come to Las Vegas are going to go to find something that's just off the radar."
Doug lost my vote when he went on Television and slandered a citizen (Darling) by flat out lying. I welcome anyone else. I have hope for a sheriff from outside the department. I will however vote for whom ever runs against the current administration.
All the Sheriff had to say was "we are still investigating" when asked about the incident but he didnt! He said his officer had lights on and was hit by a drunk driver. All of that was a lie to push blame on a citizen. I have no respect for the actions of the current sheriff to start pointing his finger at someone before he had the facts. He was the one that chose to call a meeting and then flat out slander the victim in the case. Good luck to anyone who runs against the lying sheriff.
The sheriff isn't being challenged by this upstart lady police officer. He needs to do his job and ignore minor annoyances.
Doug "Lights and Siren" Gilespee, not only slandered Darling, the 4 or 5 witnesses that saw the wreck were also slandered. They were chased off by Metro officers at the scene. All Gilesspee had to say was the accident was under investigation. Who told him the lights and siren were on? Why hasn't that person been fired and prosecuted for lying on a police report? Now we hear the pleas of Metro asking citizenry to "come forward" if they know anything about such and such a crime. Gilessppee had been hiding out since the accident. Well good luck, Metro has earned their lack of public respect and credibility.
If nothing else having some competition should shake Doug's confidence a little. I hope Bisch gets enough support to be a viable candidate.
It's obvious my yard dog stands more of a chance to be elected sheriff than this woman challenger. Fido is a male.
Barney Fife could run for office and do a better job than what we have!Maybe if she gets on the side of the citizens she just may win by a landslide?
Maybe she can talk Sarah Palin in coming down here to run as her undersheriff....
Now, that would be some serious campaigning....
(Where is Playboy and Rolling Stones magazine?)
You can easily tell why this lady officer won't win judging by the last two moronic remarks.
Listen, it's time for a change. Kudos to the person (LAURIE) who wants to make a difference and is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. And, she WILL COMMUNICATE directly with any and all of her colleagues to hear their thoughts. She has the hands-on experience from both sides - the private and public sectors. Again, it is seriously time for a POSITIVE CHANGE in our law enforcement. My vote is LAURIE BISCH FOR SHERIFF 2010.
Or by the previous comment.
Looks as if we may have an officer here? I walked the walk and would be embarresed to work for the current sherriff! But ofcorse that was many years ago,and it meant something to wear the badge instead of abuse it!
I guess afveteran is still living in the 1920's. Laurie Bisch will make a great Sheriff. She truly cares about the community she shares in and sets an example for other officers to follow. She believes officers should act as role models for the community and leads by example. She also believes the executives at Metro need to work with thier officers and community, which our current executive staff doesn't. It is time to rid Metro and Clark County of the "good 'ole boys' club" once and for all.
She has good ideas about policing as well as the direction of the department; serving the community not the interest and egos of the upper management. Citizen victims are being placed on the sidelines when it comes to police investigations and business victims get the attention. Why? The businesses donate large amounts of cash to political machines, and get more media coverage. It's shameful how the citizens in the LVMPD jurisdiction are treated.
I supported Laurie in 2006 and will do so again in 2010. She has become a very dear friend to me. Knowing her well enough to say that, I have to say she is WAY qualified for the job! She's a terrific person, an awesome business woman and an even better friend. Just ask me - she's an inspiration to those of us fortunate to know her.