Written by Sasha Reva
This Wednesday, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore announced his plan to retire next month almost a year before the end of his fourth term. The official date of his retirement is Feb. 3. Gore’s law enforcement career spanned 51 years and began in 1970. He began working in the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he was promoted to Assistant Director in Washington, D.C. and then served as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI. He retired after 32 years with the FBI. He worked for one year as the Chief Investigator and Special Advisor.
In 2004,he was appointed as the Assistant Sheriff, then was appointed as the Undersheriff. After that he was appointed sheriff in 2009 by the Board of Supervisors and elected to that position three times by the citizens of San Diego County. Gore released a statement saying, “Serving as your Sheriff for the last 12 years has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my law enforcement career. I will always be grateful to the residents of this county for their continued confidence and support during my tenure. It has also been my honor to have had the daily support from the extraordinary men and women of this department who sacrifice every day for the citizens of San Diego County.” Gore had announced last summer that he would not seek re-election.
Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Nathan Fletcher, will call a special meeting of the Supervisors in March, to consider an Interim Sheriff to serve the remainder of his term, “The voters are poised to make a very consequential decision on who they want to be our next Sheriff, and it would be inappropriate for us to put our thumb on the scale this close to the election by appointing a person who is a candidate for Sheriff,” said Fletcher.
The candidates for the new election are Undersheriff Kelly Martinez, former sheriff’s Cmdr. David Myers, Assistant City Attorney John Hemerling and sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Newsom. Undersheriff Martinez spoke and she said that she won’t seek the appointment from the board of supervisors, “The people of San Diego deserve a fair race for Sheriff as well as an appointment process they can trust,” Martinez said. “I’ll work hard to earn the support of San Diego County voters who want a Sheriff with experience and commitment to public safety.”
Photo Cred: Sam Hodgson
