Ross, Richardson to duel, once again, for sheriff

BANGOR – Nearly 20 years after they first faced off for the sheriff’s seat in Penobscot County, Glenn Ross of Exeter and Timothy Richardson of Hermon will be doing it again this November.

Richardson won the Democratic primary Tuesday, defeating Joseph Dauphinee of Bangor and Richard Stitham of Levant.

But already Richardson, who was a controversial sheriff, has stirred up concern from some who question how he acquired confidential information from Dauphinee’s county personnel record.

On Wednesday morning, Sheriff Edward Reynolds said he planned to order an internal investigation to find out how Richardson got the information that Dauphinee had failed a basic Criminal Justice Academy test almost 20 years ago. Richardson announced that information during a candidates forum in Glenburn last month.

Richardson defended himself Wednesday, saying he learned of the information about Dauphinee’s test from the director at the Criminal Justice Academy.

“You [the press] could have learned the same information. Everything was done aboveboard. I called and I asked the questions and they gave them to me,” Richardson said.

It could not be confirmed Wednesday night whether the information was released by the Criminal Justice Academy.

With all precincts having reported Wednesday morning, Richardson, who served as the county’s sheriff from 1980 to 1984, had received 3,488 votes compared to 2,931 for Dauphinee and 2,080 for Stitham.

Ross, the current chief deputy for the department, easily defeated his Republican opponent, William Birch, 6,921 to 3,204.

All of the candidates except for Richardson are current employees of the Sheriff’s Department.

Several candidates came forward last winter after Reynolds announced that he would not seek re-election because of his continuing battle with cancer. Reynolds, a Republican, has served as sheriff since 1984 when he defeated Ross who was then a Democrat. That year, Ross who had served as Richardson’s chief deputy, resigned that position to run against Richardson in the Democratic primary. Ross defeated Richardson and then lost to Reynolds in the general election.

Reynolds hired Ross back into the department and in 1994 promoted him to chief deputy, at which time Ross switched party affiliations.

Richardson’s win Tuesday came despite a news story last week that revealed that a restraining order had been issued against him in August 2000 after a former girlfriend complained that he was stalking and harassing her and had showed up at her door holding a gun to his head.

Because a restraining order is a civil matter, rather than a criminal matter, it did not disqualify him from being sheriff.

Richardson, 55, who is married, admitted to having an affair with the 36-year-old woman, but denied having ever put a gun to his head, saying he was “not a nut case.”

Meanwhile, Reynolds said Wednesday that Richardson must think “we are all foolish or senile” if he expected to be able to get away with digging into and publicizing confidential information from Dauphinee’s employee file.

“I can’t tell you how angry that made me,” Reynolds said. “It’s very obvious that that information came from someone inside the department and was then provided to Timmy. I really thought the people in that department were above that, and I’m disappointed and extremely angry and I plan to try to find out who is behind it.”

On Wednesday, Dauphinee said he was very disappointed in the loss and that he was proud of running a clean and honest campaign.

“I have been very touched by the amount of support I have received. I think the votes were clear that my name is very marketable and I’ll say one thing, you haven’t seen the last of Joe Dauphinee,” he said.

Richardson meanwhile said he planned to run a clean campaign against Ross and said he had the education, the experience and the votes to run the Sheriff’s Department.

“I have made mistakes, but I don’t want to see my family hurt anymore. None of that has anything to do with my ability to run that department. Glenn Ross and I are good friends, we just have differences on how the department should be run and that’s what this race will be about,” Richardson said.

Richardson said he did not think his past should play a part in the race.