Modified Sat, Nov 14, 2009 08:44 PM
Disgraced sheriff seeks second chance
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close xDAVIDSON COUNTY -- Supporters of former sheriff Gerald Hege hope his bid for election to the seat he relinquished in infamy five years ago will reflect the theory that voters are willing to give politicians second chances.
Hege announced this month that he will seek the Republican nomination for sheriff next year, a position he was forced to resign in 2004 when he pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice.
Two other Republican candidates - Sheriff David Grice, who replaced Hege, and retired N.C. State Highway Patrolman Terry Price - have announced that they will run in the May 4 primary.
Few politicians in modern American history have sought office after criminal convictions, and their track records are mixed, two political analysts say.
"It doesn't happen all that often that you have candidates with criminal records trying to make a second try," said John Dinan, professor of political science at Wake Forest University.
The best-known comeback involved District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry, the Democrat arrested in 1990 on drug charges after being filmed smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room during an undercover law enforcement sting. Four years later, District of Columbia voters elected him mayor again.
Federal officials charged former Democratic congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana with bribery in 2006, but he was re-elected later that year. He lost his seat in last year's election while facing trial.
Last year in the U.S. Senate race in Alaska, longtime Republican Sen. Ted Stevens almost won re-election despite being convicted on corruption charges about a week before Election Day.
Earlier this year, Stevens' conviction was vacated by the Justice Department because of prosecutorial misconduct.
In cases where candidates with a criminal past succeed, the passage of time helps. Some voters minimize the offenses, while candidates have the chance to recast themselves, Dinan said.
"But it's not going to be ignored, and it will come up in the race. The question is how do you handle it," Dinan said.
The public perception of the criminal case against a politician can influence the opportunity for a comeback, said Matthew DeSantis, assistant professor of political science at High Point University.
"If the public feels as if the politician was embattled somehow, that it was the system out to get this politician, then they are more likely to turn around and not hold it against them," DeSantis said.
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