MACHIAS – A Washington County sheriff’s deputy – one of the losing Republican primary candidates for the sheriff’s position last week – said Friday he was fired for tampering with campaign signs.

The civil violation carries a $250 fine.

Deputy Jeffrey Bishop of Cherryfield was cited Thursday evening by a state trooper who saw campaign signs floating in the Narraguagus River, below the bridge in Cherryfield where Bishop had parked his truck.

“It was unprofessional and childish, what I did,” Bishop said Friday. “I know I shouldn’t have done it. I have no excuses, but I have my reasons.”

Bishop said he plans to fight his firing through the union.

The biggest sign in the water belonged to Rodney Merritt, another sheriff’s deputy. On June 13, Merritt had won the Republican primary election, beating both Bishop and Richard Price.

Bishop and Merritt had talked only days ago about helping each other remove their signs from around the county. Merritt had, in fact, collected about 70 of Bishop’s signs as he went around to take down his own.

Candidates have 10 days after an election to remove all their signs. Friday, June 23, was the tenth day.

That Merritt’s sign went from the back of Bishop’s pickup truck into the water was Bishop’s undoing.

Trooper Alden Bustard pulled up when he saw Bishop at the bridge.

“He saw me in the road, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out,” Bishop said. “He was very professional about it.”

Once home, Bishop called both Merritt and Chief Deputy Sidney Hughes to tell them firsthand of the violation.

Merritt was understanding, Bishop said, and had told Bishop he didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Merritt did not return phone calls on Friday for comment. Hughes was also unavailable on Friday.

Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts, who is on vacation, learned of the incident and, by morning, had made his decision to terminate Bishop. The department sent officers to Bishop’s home to collect his cruiser, uniform, gun and keys.

The cruiser, with Bishop’s belongings inside, was returned to Machias, however, as of 6:30 p.m. Friday Bishop had not yet received the termination letter that he had been told that morning was on its way.

The incident comes just two weeks after both the sheriff and the district attorney had warned the public that tampering with political signs is an offense. All three of the Republican primary candidates had seen their signs go missing in recent weeks – sometimes, in spring, a prank by high school students.

On Thursday night Bishop tossed some signs into the river, both his own and Merritt’s. He said it was a moment he will regret forever.

“It is certainly, absolutely, nothing I am proud of,” he said.

He was filled with frustration and pressure, he said.

On the day of the primary, his grandmother, Flora Bayrd, died. She was his only remaining family member in Cherryfield, where he grew up, and she had raised him.

By that evening, he had finished third in the primary. Merritt drew 1,127 votes to 402 for Price of Jonesboro and 391 for Bishop.

The Merritt sign that went into the river had been placed on private property along Route 182 – land that had belonged to Bishop’s grandparents for years, until his grandmother had to sell it.

“There are all kinds of places to plant a sign, and Rodney put one right there,” Bishop said. “I felt that when he didn’t come pick it up after the election, he was continuing to rub my face in it.

“He knew it was riding on me, and I let it get to me. I managed to get through the entire election process with all the crap they were flinging at me. Then last night, this happened.”

Bishop has been a member of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department for 12 years. Before that he had worked for police departments in Milbridge, Jonesport, Baileyville and Ellsworth.

He said he will appeal the decision to the Washington County’s Sheriff’s Department. He has retained an attorney, Donald Brown of Brewer.

“This is not the first time the sheriff has said he would fire me, but it is the first time that he has actually gone through the paperwork,” he said.

“What I did was totally childish, but there is a lot more behind the scenes than people know. There were so many things that I let slide. There was a huge build-up of little things, little things, little things.

“I had the sheriff telling me that I’d never make it through the election, that I wouldn’t be employed by the time he got finished [in December].

“Losing my grandmother on the day of the election, on top of everything else, was hard, too.”

Tibbetts is publicly backing Merritt, one of three deputies in the department – now two – who is seeking to succeed him as sheriff in January. Merritt faces Democrat George Bunker, formerly a state legislator and now a private investigator, and independent Donnie Smith, a 14-year sheriff’s deputy, in the Nov. 7 election.

Paula Johnson, the administrative assistant at the sheriff’s department, and Merritt’s sister, initially said the department had “no comment” on the events of Thursday and Friday.

She later said the department had prepared a letter involving Bishop, but that the contents could not be revealed because the department had not been able to share the letter with Bishop.