For Dane County Sheriff
Your neighbor,
not a politician.
Cruelty and violence have no place in our community.
I'm Jack Ordman. I've lived in Dane County for ten years, and I'm a civilian running for Sheriff. On April 18th I stood at Ridglan Farms and watched our own Sheriff's office turn tear gas, less-lethal rounds, and pepper spray on nonviolent people. Someone had to put a real choice in front of voters. So here I am.
Where I stand
This race is about how the whole department is run.
Its budget, its jail, the deputies who staff it, and who it answers to. Here is where I stand.
A Jail That Meets Constitutional Standards
The Sheriff calls his own jail "borderline unconstitutional" while the county pays over $207 million for a new one that was made less humane to save money. Diagnose less. Fix more.
Read the full plank →Standing With the Deputies Who Keep Us Safe
Dozens of unfilled positions, mandatory overtime, a schedule locked in the past, and no retention investment. The people doing the work deserve better than this.
Read the full plank →De-escalation First, Real Limits on Crowd-Control Weapons
Tear gas and less-lethal rounds were used on nonviolent people on April 18th, and not one officer was harmed. Force must be a last resort, never an opening move.
Read the full plank →Why I'm running
Sheriff Barrett promised compassion and accountability.
What I saw on April 18th was the opposite: our own Sheriff's office turning tear gas on a thousand nonviolent people. Days later, the Sheriff went on camera citing "preliminary reports" that demonstrators had jumped his deputies, struck them with their own batons, and tried to take their weapons. The public security footage shows the worst of what actually happened: one demonstrator took a deputy's baton and threw it into the woods. Not one officer was harmed, and he has never corrected the story.
Citing unsubstantiated reports to manufacture a violence narrative is not compassion, and it is not accountability. It is brazen dishonesty, and it has no place behind a Dane County badge. But the failure that day belonged to the command that planned it, not to the deputies it sent in. It is the same leadership that runs a jail it admits is "borderline unconstitutional" and leaves deputies on endless mandatory overtime. I'm running to change how this office is led, not to blame the people who do the work.
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