CAN BUSINESSMAN WILL COX WIN THE CLEVELAND VOTE?

Some people may have pinched themselves at the first of the year when they saw Will Cox had thrown his name in the 2012 Republican primary hat for sheriff. Cox has run for sheriff several times but it has been several years since he made a run. Some may have needed a reality check feeling like they were in some kind of time warp. After all if elected, Will Cox would be seventy three years old near the end of his term.

But don’t look to us to be negative about Will. When running Republican in a local race in Liberty County was a sure death nail to any one brave enough to do it, Will ran at a great personal expense of both time and money. And when he lost narrowly in his first bid for sheriff, what was his response? To run again…

We don’t expect to hear one word of negative political rhetoric from Republicans about someone who was such an important part of keeping the Republican Party alive until these much better times for conservatives. Will’s tireless; often door to door campaigning in the 1990’s set a standard for local candidates that are still referred to by longtime activists as what you should do when everything else has been done.

Will obviously has witnessed the last three years of former Cleveland Assistant Police Chief Henry Patterson’s attempt to fill the shoes of the Liberty County Sheriff and he thinks he can do a better job. According to comments sent into LD the question of whether a 2012 Will Cox candidacy attract a significant number of voters may come ox down to the base of conservative voters in his own backyard. Despite the fact Henry Patterson is thought to be dead in the water in his re-election bid because of his controversial relationships with outsiders and his lackluster performance as sheriff, some people have suggested Will can not hold on to the conservative base of voters he has had for almost twenty years in the Cleveland and Plum Grove area because of friendships and alliances Patterson has in that area.

Whatever happens… Will Cox has already cemented his place in the minds of those who keep up with the history of the rise of the Republican Party in Liberty County. While Liberty Dispatch is supporting Bobby Rader and hopes that the effort to replace Sheriff Patterson and improve, not only the sheriff’s department, but the actual outcome voters witness when they elect a local Republican – we also are concerned the late entry of Will Cox could split off enough votes for change that the outsiders could come too close to getting four more years of running the sheriff than is comfortable.

No doubt, Patterson’s campaign will sooner or later attack Bobby Rader through the mail and robo calls and depend on neighbors not turning to Will in the north part of the county. LD encourages republican voters to salute Will Cox and his years of hard work and (sorry Will) to vote for Bobby Rader. Otherwise, Liberty County voters will open the door to making the outsiders dreams come true – a split vote with Patterson squeaking out enough uninformed voters to get re-elected.