6-4-14 fdl county sheriff's candidate bill ledger

A Fond du Lac police detective says he is running for sheriff, in part, to try to mend a rift he says exists between the Sheriff’s Office and police department.    Dectective Bill Ledger is challenging incumbent sheriff

Mick Fink in the August 12^th  primary election.  "I've personally had the opportunity to see the direct conflict between the two departments,"  Ledger said.   "For whatever reason when you get into the upper echelon there is this rift between the two departments."  At the same time Ledger acknowledges the police chief and sheriff, detective bureaus and patrol ranks work well together.  Ledger talked for the first time about posting disparaging comments on his Facebook page after Eric Toney defeated incumbent District Attorney Dan Kaminsky in a primary election two years ago.    On his Facebook page Ledger criticized Toney's lack of experience and also verbally attacked sheriff Fink for his endorsement of Toney during the campaign.   "Obviously when there's two sides, there's a heated debate going on.  There's going to be things that are said.  There is one thing that I do regret, that is respecting the process of the voters.  The voters spoke and they spoke clearly about who they wanted in that position."   Ledger says he has since made amends with Toney and today says he thinks Toney has done a good job.  "I've had the opportunity to sit down several times with Eric and discuss what was said and discuss where we went from there.  Eric and I have an outstanding work relationship at this point."   Ledger says another reason why he is running is because he doesn’t believe the sheriff’s office has been proactive when it comes to fighting crime.  "I think its static over there.  I'd like to see a sheriff's department that's more proactive."   Ledger says he wants to see the sheriff's office doing more criminal interdiction on the highways and a larger K-9 unit.  Ledger is running as a Republican and defended his signing of recall papers against Republican governor Scott Walker.  "I don't think I'm the only Republican that did that.  My family consists of two public employees,"  Ledger said.  His wife works in Corrections.  "That was a decision that came down to finances for us.  I never disputed the fact that I did support that."   Ledger has worked in the Fond du lac police department for 19 years.