There is a saying in politics that “Any Press is good Press!”, something Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is obviously a firm believer in. The question that must be asked is whether or not Ozzie is using a despicable political tactic in using the horrific Freeman School shooting to “Gin Up” his base, so I’ll present a few facts and you can decide for yourself. Ozzie will of course chalk up the facts as being “Fake News”.
As we all know our man Ozzie being the politician that he thinks he is, jumped right in to what he thought might be Cathy McMorris-Rogers open spot head first, that of course didn’t work out for him.
You might recall that other politicians, City Council President Ben Stuckart, State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, and State Rep Matt Shea were also considering jumping into the fray.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/dec/09/knezovich-stuckart-announce-runs-for-mcmorris-rodg/#/0
Since Ozzie has made his political aspirations, other than being Spokane County Sheriff well known, coupled with his move in residency from the County into the City there is a lot of speculation that Ozzie intends to run for Mayor of the City of Spokane. It would be pretty easy for him to simply move his contributions which are now primarily from big business from the run for Sheriff to a run for Mayor.
Now that Ozzie has recently paved the way to leave the Sheriff’s Office by hand picking Dave Ellis as his Under Sheriff the speculation that Ozzie intends to run for something has increased.
For now, Ellis is still settling into the office down the hall from his boss, who has already announced his bid for re-election in 2018. Down the road, Ellis says a run of his own isn’t out of the question.
“It’s something I’ve considered,” he says, adding that he wouldn’t launch a campaign until Knezovich retires.
https://www.inlander.com/spokane/new-under-sheriff-in-town/Content?oid=5507291
During Ozzie’s press conference where in most cases a law enforcement officer would stick to the facts, out of respect for the families and fear of helping to set the stage for Bevin Maxey to use a mental health or insanity Defense strategy, Ozzie uses the presser to espouse his usual rhetoric blaming, the media (Fake News), the Mental Health System, other elected officials, a counterculture of violence, a culture that is enamored with school shooting, video games, and on and on, even before any of the true facts are known.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/sep/14/spokane-county-sheriff-breakdown-of-society-media-/#/0
At least this time he didn’t blame Obama!
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/mar/06/knezovich-stands-behind-heated-comments-blaming-ob/#/0
As any politician, including President Trump, knows in this age of social media where we have things like Facebook and Twitter it offers a good way to get your electoral message out, and Ozzie is no different, at every opportunity he continually uses social media, pressers, and even videos to get his out, which of course is a proven strategy, no matter what the cost to others might be.
As an example; any politician knows that if during a presser you call out the media you are likely to get a story from the media supporting their own position that will bring out at least some of your base to extol what they perceive to be your virtues, and it worked for Ozzie, at least to an extent, of the 60 comments the majority were from Ozzie’s base.
Not all the comments were rosy for Ozzie, I think Phil Tyler and I agree on this one… NOT THE TIME FOR IDEOLOGY. Of course, one would have to consider Ozzie’s wife Paula Knezovich part of Ozzie’s base.
Ozzie got more play on his own Re-Elect Ozzie Knezovich FB Page with 863 comments at this point. The odd thing about that FB Post of Ozzie’s is that this time he blames the Freeman Shooting on “those who have adopted violence as a way to achieve their political goals” and “those who preach radicalized hate”. It’s pretty hard for me to believe that wasn’t a run at Matt Shea and crew. The thing about this FB post is that Ozzie is now getting some push back… imagine that!
https://www.facebook.com/ozzie.knezovich?ref=br_rs
If you have any question in your mind about how widely Ozzie wanted to use the horrific Freeman School Shooting tragedy to disseminate his political views these might give you the answer.
Then again, maybe the speculation about Ozzie running for Mayor or some other local position is all wet and Ozzie has political aspirations far and above. Perhaps President Trump should keep an eye on this guy?
I can’t help but wonder if Ozzie does run for something and with football season upon us if we will see his Elect Ozzie adds during NFL games. The problem is if he did a spot during at an ongoing game he would have to leave his weapon locked up somewhere!
https://examplepro.me/2017/02/12/interesting-personalized-pistol-grips/
One thing is for sure, If you intend to run for a local office, make darn sure you clarify you are only attacking the National Fake News, and not the Local Fake News! 😊
The sheriff is known for his commentary on certain issues- violence and mental health among those. He acknowledged that in today’s press conference.
“Folks, you’re going to find that I am very much not politically correct, and the older I get the less my filter works,” he said.
Knezovich did have strong words for media and elected officials.
“This young gentleman got sucked into a counterculture of violence, a culture that is enamored with school shooting. And, media, you are to blame for that,” he said. “To those in the political world, knock it off. Enough.”
Knezovich did later clarify to KXLY that the comments were directed at national news specifically, though both national and local crews were present at the press conference.
He did not offer specifics on how to change the “culture of violence” he described, but did extend a call to action.
I don’t make this stuff up, it’s all out there for you to decide.
Buffalo Brian Breen 