Sheriff candidate backs GOP foe

Democrats now have a candidate for sheriff, but his strategy is irking party leaders.

John Kallas, a former Spokane County sheriff’s deputy and Tukwila, Wash., detective, said he would work to make sure every crime is investigated and fingerprints taken at every crime scene – even if that means an increase in taxes. He announced his candidacy on Thursday.

Kallas, a former vice chairman of the county Democratic Party, has an unusual message for party faithful: vote Republican. Kallas is asking Democrats to vote for Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich over Spokane Valley Police Chief Cal Walker for the GOP nomination for sheriff, saying Walker would be a bad sheriff.

“I will get down on my hands and knees, and I will beg every Democrat to vote for Ozzie Knevovich,” he said.

But voting in the primary is strictly by party ballot; anyone who votes in the Republican primary won’t be able to vote in the Democratic primary.

George Orr, a Democratic candidate with primary competition for county commission, said Kallas’ tactic is “unacceptable.”

“If you like a guy, you get on his campaign,” Orr said. “You don’t try to skew the campaign.”

Spokane County Democratic Party Chairwoman Sharon Smith said the party does not condone Kallas’ support for Knezovich.

“We think that Democrats should vote for who they think the best Democrat is,” Smith said.

Smith said she learned this week that Kallas was running and doesn’t know if his strategy would stop him from earning a party endorsement. If he runs without a party nod, he doesn’t get party money or other resources.

Kallas was sentenced to a day in jail and two months’ probation in 2003 when he was convicted of negligent driving. He was pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving after leaving a Democratic Party function, he said.

Since retiring from Tukwila in 1996 after nine years, Kallas has worked as an apartment manager and a manager at the White Elephant store in the Valley, where he remains employed.

Before his job in Tukwila, he worked a dozen years at the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the last six years as a crime analyst.

Kallas said he had a range of experience on the Tukwila force, including work with gangs, prostitution and gambling, and has also done police work in a housing project in neighboring Seattle.

“I was probably one of only a few white guys who went in there at night and came out alive,” Kallas said.

Walker said Kallas’ announcement won’t affect how he runs his campaign.

“There is still only one candidate who had the proven team-building experience I have,” Walker said, adding that he enjoys support from Democrats.

Knezovich said he doesn’t have a problem with Kallas’ endorsement.

“I’ll welcome anybody’s support,” Knezovich said. “I’m happy with the bipartisan support I have.”

If elected, Kallas said, he would promote minority hiring and keep the Valley precinct open all hours. Jail crowding should be solved through alternative programs like drug courts and home monitoring, not by building a new jail, he said.

He said he would reduce the number of administrators in the department because there are “too many chiefs, not enough Indians.”

Kallas, who lost bids for Spokane Valley City Council seats in 2002 and 2006, said he will not raise money for the campaign.

“I am not accepting anything,” he said. “They can give it to Knezovich for all I care.”