This email was forwarded to me by Gary Odom. It is a fund raising appeal, but contains information on DeCastro’s unique situation, so I felt it was worth posting. DeCastro’s major party opponent dropped out and has been replaced on the ballot by someone else, causing much confusion and perhaps some legal issues.
I would like to first tell you why I got in the race. In March of 2011, when my one of my opponents first announced he was running for sheriff, he asked me if I would join his campaign team. I looked him in the eye and said “I have one question I need you to answer. If you were given an unconstitutional order, would you obey the order or would you keep your sacred oath to uphold, support and defend the Constitution of the United States?” My opponents answer was, “It depends.” At that point I realized that I could not support a man who’s word I could not depend on, and that’s when I realized that the only way we would have a Constitutional sheriff in Marion County was if I got in the race. During the course of the race I also discovered that my opponent refused to take an unequivocal stand on his position on the 2nd Amendment. So in October of 2011 I entered the race. See the short exchange between my opponent Chris Blair and I on the WESH TV debate on Oct. 16th, 2012 http://www.wesh.com/news/politics/Watch-Marion-County-Sheriff-race-debate-Part-2/-/11788048/17010826/-/la5k0n/-/index.html.
As you may know, this has been a very bizarre election with a lot of moving parts. I only want to touch upon one of the more controversial aspects of the race and that is the Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief that I filed in the circuit court last week. The reason I filed the “Complaint” is that there are between 8,000 and 10,000 absentee ballot voters, many of whom voted for Dan Kuhn prior to Chris Blair officially replacing him in the race and who do not want their vote taken from them and given to someone else. This is a blatant violation of the Constitutional rights of those voters and I am the only one willing to stand up for them. Not only that, but it is also not fair to me that my opponent gets to be the recipient of a lot of votes that were never cast for him. The motion will be heard this Monday morning November 5th, at 9:00 AM in Judge Jack Singbush’s courtroom.
I need to ask for your help in two ways. First I need your financial support. I need to raise $5,000.00 by midnight tonight which is the cutoff point for receiving donations. There are only two ways that you can get the money to me that quick. One is (if you live in Marion County) to call me at 390-0113 and I or one of my team members will come by and pick up the money and give you a receipt. And secondly you can click on this link http://berniedecastro4sheriff.com/campaign-contributions/ and make the contribution using PayPal. My opponent has raised approximately a quarter of a million dollars and I believe that I can beat him with just a little over $30,000.00! Only God can get the glory in a situation like this.
The second way you can help me is by standing on one of the 25 designated intersections on this upcoming Monday and/or Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:00 AM and/or 4:00 to 5:30 PM. All you have to do is hold a yard sign and wave at people as they go to and from work. For those of you who are committed to doing that, please call Lorena at 347-7218 and tell her if you can be there both days or just one day and what times can we count on you for.
And finally, you can pray for success for us in this campaign.
Thank you very much and God bless you and yours.
Bernie DeCastro
www.berniedecastro4sheriff.com