What is Kim Cole Insinuating Here?

[XLFD]

In the continued quarrel between the Cole supporters and Fiers supporters about who has ran the more honorable and ethical campaign, there have been a lot of claims.  For the most part, I think most of these claims are personal, and viewpoint-driven.  But something that continues to bewilder me is the seemingly blatant personal attack that Kim Cole regularly does in a subtle manner in his "promise" ads:

 

 

This was clipped from Friday's COLDNews.  Sergeant Cole says:  "My promise to the people of Mason County:  I will restore pride, tradition and honor to the Sheriff's Office"  Emphasis added on the verb and abstract nouns of his promise.  Looking closer at the definitions of those terms:

 

restore:  Verb:  1.Bring back; reinstate.   2.Return (someone or something) to a former condition, place, or position.

pride:  Noun: 1. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.

tradition:  Noun:  1. An inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior.

honor:  Noun:  1.  High respect; esteem

To restore these three abstractions, therefore, he is effectively saying that the three have been lacking in the current administration.  That Jeff Fiers has ran a sheriff's office where pride, tradition, and honor have been lost somewhere along the way.  Three questions to Kim Cole or his supporters about Sheriff Fiers:

 

1.  When has Sheriff Fiers not been proud of the MCSO, and the part he plays in it?

2.  What positive traditions of the MCSO has Sheriff Fiers eliminated or ignored during his one term in office?

3.  When has Sheriff Fiers been anything but honorable, to his office or to his subordinates?

 

And then one last question:

 

4.  How specifically will Sergeant Cole restore these when he gets to office, thus fulfilling his promise?

 

The statement Kim Cole makes in his advertisement is negative and insulting, and shows that he may just restore pride in the office, if we consider the fifth definition of pride, which is generally considered one of the seven deadly sins:  "an excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit."  

[cherri jensne]

wow is all I can say

 

[XLFD]

A. Baker,

I kind of knew your answer would be along these lines, but my questions were more to Cole supporters than yourself, and I am pretty sure you've not switched allegiances with your reply.  Feel free to reply to any Cole partisan who takes up the dare.

[Willy]

This is an insult to Fiers. Cole is saying that Fiers has no pride in his work or for the office of sheriff and that Fiers lacks Honor. Tradition? I have no idea what the means regarding the Sheriffs office but to slam another candidate like this is dirty. I was kind of sitting on the fence but there is no way I would support Cole for insulting his opponent in such a manner. Maybe the stories and accusations about Cole are true. If Cole would have said "I will promise to serve with pride, honor and tradition" then that would be acceptable, but this is sour grapes.

[A.Baker]

I feel that the only way inwhich he could restore all of the above would be to quit due to the fact that he has fueled their fire to make Jeff look bad.Instead of going to Jeff to let him know how they were feeling he seen it as a chance to turn them against Jeff to further his election results to his (Coles) favor.

[Sean]

One more day

[Jane]

This shows one thing. That even on the local level people will run the bashing sort of campaign, even though they use passive aggression to do so.

When a person has worked with you for 20(?) years, and they have no problem turning on you and tearing down you and everything you did during a stint as supervisor  would you want them elected to be the new boss. Obviously Cole rallied the troops long before we heard of him being into the election.

If your a kind hearted person but one of the 'cool populars" and some of your fellows is throwing barbs at you,  most others will stand with them, and feed off that persons anger, and throw barbs themselves, even your somewhat friends on the other side will want to appear to upgrade there social status by standing with the barb thrower. Better to be on the mean persons side than to be the one getting picked on. This stands true no matter your in HS or a factory job, a restaurant job, office job, or sherrif dept. I could never work anywhere that had cliques, I guess we all expect our sheriffs to be above this but when they find a leader they will magnetize so as not to be the picked on person.

this campaign is expected on a national level, but locally I think we expect a little more class out of our sheriffs and representatives in government. Sadly, people will be the same always and forever.

[AQUAMAN]

Sour grapes, well I guess so, this is another bash of Fiers, and Cole supporters don't probably even recognize it, or simply don't have the Honor to. I did attend the GOP rally yesterday at the Stearn Motor Inn and enjoyed it, and furthermore, Jeff Fiers was in attendance, front of the room near the candidates, and, I did NOT see Cole in attendance, that say anything about his allegiance to the Republican Party?

[brubaker]

In this case to restore is to bring back the policys of the past ------ lack of funds to run the MCSD---------jail over crowding-----------use of the Ludington Daily News to spread negitive views of operations of the MCSD----- just a few to mention------ So when was the last time under the watch of Sheriff Jeff Fiers did you see any such problems in the local paper? So recall your own memory on Nov 6 when you vote

[XLFD]

Old traditions that many have forgotten over the last four years, including the non-administrative MCSO employees. 

Gee whiz, where have all the Cole advocates gone?  Why aren't they giving a valid answer to any of the above questions or at least telling us that voting for Cole is our best revenge? 

[AQUAMAN]

Probably because a vote for Cole is simply juvenile revenge, not a cogent response and positive for the Mason County residents, plain and simple. Cole claims he reflects HONOR= special respect of high regard, reputation, high esteem, good name, a token of special distinction, virtue, great privilege, a source of credit, and I could go on. Ask yourselves objectively, from all that Cole espouses, his political advertisements, his speeches, and his attacks, does this sound like the type of "honorable type person" you want to have as the new Sheriff? Traditions speak for themselves, in humility and sacrifice, which is NOT undermining your own BOSS! I also heard Cole bespeak of "I thought Ludingtonians were better than that", in reply to accusations of beating the cell bars with his night stick, and not being sued for his actions on duties". Yet, we see NO proofs that these accusations were NOT TRUE! In fact, they have been proven with FOIA's and other evidence on the records. So, you vote accordingly, or suffer the future of returning to deficit spending and chaos with the County Board, as per the past.

[Chuck Finley]

But I see no proof in yours aquaman, for those of us who are closer to the dept than you are well Cole speaks the truth that's all I have to say. Believe what you want

[XLFD]

Chuck, the sheriff's department's unionized deputies do not choose the next sheriff, the people do.  Or at least they should; I think Cole's campaign successfully clouded the issues earlier this summer to get a plurality of votes by painting Fiers as 'unloved and unrespected' by his peers. 

I see that if Kim Cole does become a successful sheriff of the people, he will disaffect the very people who have buoyed him to his position, his fellow officers, along the way.  I fear he will choose their goodwill over being a good sheriff, and fall short in his vision of leadership, and being a good sheriff.  This has been a past failing of previous sheriffs, the inability to walk that fine line in being respected by your peers and the people at large.