The embattled elected Sheriff of Pike County has officially filed to seek re-election.
Sheriff Charles S. Reader filed his petition paperwork on Thursday afternoon with the Pike County Board of Elections, as well as the county’s Clerk of Courts.
The paperwork shows that the registered democrat is running as an independent.
Reader, who was first appointed as Sheriff in 2015, won in a landslide election the following year. Under his watch, the county oversaw the state’s largest homicide investigation, which led to the arrest of an entire family. As a result of the Sheriff’s “Buford Pusser” style, criminals were afraid to commit crime in Pike County because they knew Charlie would come knockin,’ Reader’s campaign said in a release.
“Our citizens need a Sheriff who has developed trust throughout his community,” Reader said. “The people need a Sheriff who has the experience to deal with criminals and who will get involved. They need a Sheriff who is not afraid to drive his truck through a field and chase after a convict.”
Reader told his supporters that the office of Sheriff is much more than an administrative position. He said it requires proactive law enforcement work and ensuring the people that when they call for service, their help will be answered with the fullest extent of the law.
“There should be no line that divides a community from their law enforcement,” said Sheriff Reader. “No dollar amount, no manufactured budget crisis by others. That is why my campaign slogan is ‘The People’s Sheriff’.”
Reader said in a news release that as America’s 28th President, Woodrow Wilson once said, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”
“My tenure as Sheriff has ruffled the feathers of those who have long played the good ol’ boys game, where it didn’t matter what you did; it only mattered who you knew,” the Sheriff said. “But when you’ve spent your career chasing down child molesters, rapists, and thieves, you don’t worry yourself too much about ruffling feathers.”
Sheriff Reader is suspended, pending the outcome of cases that should conclude later in 2020, but filing deadlines for the election take place before the conclusion of the process, he said. The deadline to file is next week as an independent candidate. The law does not prevent someone who is facing charges from running for office, however, if re-elected and then convicted, Reader would be forced to resign.
Paperwork shows Reader had 120 signatures on his candidate petition, which is more than the required 89 needed to be considered.
The Board of Elections told the Guardian that the only other candidate to file so far is Interim Sheriff Jim Nelson, who was appointed in July of last year as a stand-in pending the outcome of Reader’s cases.
If he has enough correct signatures, the Board said Reader’s candidacy will be certified or rejected by May 29.
Election Day is November 3, 2020.
The Guardian’s Editor-in-Chief Derek Myers was the Pike County Sheriff’s spokesman until July 2019. Reader’s campaign does business with Gump Communications, LLC, a company formerly controlled by Myers.
