CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli’s support for a movement to recognize local sheriffs as the ultimate law enforcement authority has drawn fire from his opponents and runs counter to an emphatic warning from a federal judge in Casper.
Micheli insists the higher power of elected sheriffs is an extension of states’ rights spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.
In a recent interview, he said that if elected, he would appoint a state attorney general who agrees with him.
“I will appoint an attorney general who understands the 10th Amendment, and who understands states’ rights, and we will do everything possible to enforce them,” Micheli said.
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution specifies that all powers not expressly delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.
“A federal authority, if he comes into a local jurisdiction, should be in communication, and should be working with the local sheriff before an arrest is made,” Micheli said. “The fact (is) that the sheriff is the authority in that jurisdiction.”
Micheli said he didn’t know of any Wyoming cases in which he thinks the federal government is improperly prosecuting citizens or has failed to coordinate with state law enforcement.
Micheli has been endorsed by Richard Mack, a former sheriff in Graham County, Ariz., who is active in the loosely organized movement called the Oath Keepers. The group enlists law enforcement and military personnel to pledge that they would refuse 10 unconstitutional orders, including any commands to confiscate guns or to perform warrantless searches.
Mack is well-known in state sovereignty circles for a 1995 victory before the U.S. Supreme Court. He successfully challenged the federal government’s authority to require local law enforcement agencies to perform citizen background checks for gun purchases required by the Brady Bill.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups nationwide, has called the Oath Keepers a “particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival.”
The center says the group suggests in thinly veiled language “that the government has secret plans to declare martial law and intern patriotic Americans in concentration camps.”
Mack has said that he “prays for the day that a sheriff in this country will arrest an IRS agent for trespassing, or for trying or attempting to victimize citizens in that particular sheriff’s county.” Micheli said he agrees with Mack’s views on the issue.
Matt Mead, another GOP candidate for governor, served as U.S. attorney from 2001 to 2007 and said he worked with local law enforcement when possible. But he said calling sheriffs the ultimate authority “overly simplifies the true nature of what different law enforcement roles are.”
