Textbook Campaign Leads To Landslide for CWA Cop

There's a new sheriff in Salt Lake County and he carries a CWA membership card.

Fed up with no raises, threatened job cuts and a disciplinary process with no checks and balances, new Sheriff Jim Winder co-founded the Salt Lake Deputy Sheriffs Federation three years ago. The federation is part of the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers-CWA.

Early this year, Winder decided he could do even more for deputies and citizens by vying for the top job himself. In a stunning turnaround, Winder — running as a Democrat in the conservative county — got 64 percent of the vote on Nov. 7.

Just a few months earlier, Winder was at 30 percent in the polls and former Sheriff Aaron Kennard, who'd been in office for 16 years, was polling above 60 percent. By the time the election rolled around, polls indicated Winder would win, but he figured it would be by just a few points. "I was stunned by the size of the victory," he said.

Shawn Roberts, a Salt Lake County detective who co-founded the federation with Winder and serves as president, said the federation launched a grassroots campaign, with deputies and Winder himself going door-to-door in every neighborhood and speaking to every community group possible.

After a debate between Winder and Kennard, deputies voted 100 percent to back Winder. They launched an e-mail chain that spread rapidly through the county, bought billboard ads supporting him and put campaign signs in their home windows. All of which made things around the office with the current sheriff "very tense, like walking on eggshells," Roberts said.

"This was at great risk to a lot of people's careers, to publicly campaign against our current boss," he said.

Currently a sergeant in the sheriff's training division, Winder started as part of the agency's canine unit in 1994. He believes his union background will help him in his tough new job and said it sets him apart in a state that has historically feared unions.

"There's a kind of mentality among police administrators here that any kind of organized labor group is a chink in the armor — that somehow we're here to take advantage. They don't realize that it's one of the primary mechanisms for good communication," Winder said. "If labor is not a voice at the table, how can we possibly make long-term directional changes?"

Were You Elected?

We know CWA has other members across the country who won seats in state legislatures, city councils, school boards and more Nov. 7. Please let us know if you or someone in your local holds a public office. E-mail information to Janelle Hartman at the CWA News at jhartman@cwa-union.org.