Mike Sharp resigned as Jackson County sheriff amid scandal. Now he wants his job back
Two years after resigning amid scandal, former Jackson County Sheriff Mike Sharp is running to unseat his replacement, former Kansas City police chief and now Sheriff Daryl Forté.
Sharp made his candidacy official 2 1/2 hours before Tuesday’s filing deadline for the 2020 election. He and Forté will face off in the August Democratic primary.
The outcome will almost certainly determine who will hold office the next four years as no one from another party had filed as of the deadline. Only two Republicans have ever been elected sheriff of heavily Democratic Jackson County, the most recent one leaving office nearly a century ago.
Forté was chosen by County Executive Frank White to become interim sheriff after Sharp’s resignation in April 2018. He went on to win election that November, voters choosing him over Republican Dave Berrnal to serve out the remaining two years of Sharp’s third, four-year term.
Asked to comment on the coming matchup, Forté issued a terse statement in a text message. “Voters will vote accordingly,” he said.
In a written statement, Sharp said he was eager to return to his old job and help oversee a new jail and bring “positive change” to the sheriff’s office. He also apologized for the behavior that led to his resignation.
“During that extremely difficult time in my life,” he wrote, “I learned an important lesson, and a lesson that will keep me focused this time around. I want everyone to understand that this campaign will focus on the positive plans I have for the elected office for the future, not past issues.
“We all make mistakes and we all endure tough times. The benefit of hindsight helps us understand our mistakes and learn from them. When we know better, we do better. Since we cannot go back in time, it’s what we learn from those mistakes and how we move forward that defines us and will ultimately determine how great an impact we can have on those around us.”
Sharp was elected sheriff in 2008 and easily won re-election twice. He quit the job after a lawsuit alleged he had a romantic, sexual and financial relationship with a female employee of the sheriff’s office while she had a pending lawsuit against Jackson County for harassment.
In a deposition, Sharp acknowledged that he gave Christine Lynde $8,000 as a down payment to buy a house after Lynde sued the county for harassment.
Court records showed that Sharp and Lynde, an administrative assistant in the sheriff’s office, owned a house together. Records also said Sharp approved multiple promotions and pay raises for Lynde, as well as perks that other county employees did not get.
Other issues regarding Sharp’s management of the sheriff’s office are bound to come up during the campaign, as well.
Shortly after taking office, Forté accused his predecessor of showing favoritism toward certain employees and running a slipshod operation.
“I was appalled at the lack of urgency the sheriff’s office had taken regarding sex offender registration,” Forté said after a 2018 state auditor’s report showed that Jackson County did a poor job of keeping track of where those sex offenders resided.
In the statement he released Wednesday, Sharp addressed that issue and others.
“My plan as Sheriff will be to continue the many improvements that I worked hard to facilitate, such as close supervision of the 2,200 convicted sex offenders in Jackson County, vastly improving courthouse security and providing a better environment for the essential first responders and staff at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office,” he said.
In the only other county race this year, incumbent county prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, a Democrat, will face Republican Tracey Chappell-Vick in the general election. Chappell-Vick formerly worked in the county counselor’s office and is the prosecutor in Blue Springs.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 12:35 PM.
