PLATTEVILLE, Wis.-
A local music store co-owner who changed his name to Andy Griffith to run for sheriff won’t be turning Platteville into Mayberry any time soon. The former William Fenrick finished last among three candidates in Tuesday’s race for Grant County sheriff.
He had changed his name earlier this year to that of the actor who portrayed the fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry on TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s.
Griffith, who ran as an independent, said his goal was to focus attention on a sheriff’s race that otherwise gets little.
Results from the election, as posted on the county’s Web page, had incumbent Sheriff Keith Govier, a Republican who has held the post for 10 years, winning with 8,452 votes, followed by Democrat Doug Vesperman, a longtime veteran with the department, next with 6,985.
Griffith, who had 1,248 votes, said he hadn’t heard the results until contacted by a reporter Wednesday night.
He said running as an independent was a rude awakening.
“What I did not take into account was the dominance of the two-party system,” he said.
“It’s all just a big charade,” he said. “One out of 20 people knows an issue. Otherwise it’s just that people go vote for a Republican or vote for a Democrat, almost like a robot.”
