Eaton Co. Dems blast wannabe sheriff over suggestive mailer

Sheriff candidate bows out of primary election after ‘political threats’

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WEDNESDAY, April 29 — Joe Jager has dropped out of the race for sheriff of Eaton County after the county’s Democratic Party disavowed his candidacy.

Jager, a Republican turned Democrat who was running against Sheriff Tom Reich, printed about 31,000 copies of campaign mailers that were distributed across Eaton County last month. “It’s time for a change,” it read. “Eaton County cannot afford a Third Reich term!” Third Reich — the name given to the reign of Hitler and the Nazi Party before and during World War II — was capitalized and italicized.

In an interview with City Pulse last month, Jager insisted that he hadn’t thought much to the implication about Reich. Again today, he chalked it up to an unfortunate coincidence.

Officials at the Eaton County Democratic Party didn’t buy his story and were quick to admonish his conduct. And last week, Jager made the decision to withdraw from the election, narrowing the candidate field to three.

“The Eaton County Democratic Party publicly disavows any affiliation with Joe Jager as a candidate for Eaton County Sheriff,” according to a recent press release from party officials opposing his candidacy. “Mr. Jager has never been a member of either the Michigan Democratic Party or the Eaton County Democratic Party.”

Earlier this month, the Eaton County Democratic Party passed a resolution to disavow Jager, noting his mailers were “beyond decency standard for any candidate,” and labeling Jager an “embarrassment to Eaton County.”

“The Eaton County Democratic Party condemns this kind of inflammatory, hate-mongering language,” it reads.

Jager said he withdrew his candidacy last Friday because of personal reasons and political threats. He said he’s in remission after a recent bout with cancer and that his wife pressured him to bow out of the race. He also claimed that he received an “anonymous note” with “political threats” that pressured him to quickly withdraw.

The note: “There’s more where this comes from,” attached to some Lansing State Journal clippings from 1975. The 45-year-old story details allegations that Jager, then a young sergeant at the Sheriff’s Department, misused an unmarked sheriff’s cruiser to frequent Lansing bars, pick up women and have sex with them in his back seat.

Jager was also accused, on another occasion, of misusing a department car by speeding and driving recklessly while being pursued by a marked sheriff’s department car. Both incidents were resolved with internal discipline.

“It was about a deal that happened 45 years ago when I was a young deputy,” Jager said. “I never really defended myself one way or the other at the time. They sent some old newspaper articles. It’s not that I wasn’t willing to face these threats, but given the totality of the circumstances, I felt it best to make this decision to withdraw.”

Jager said the high-speed chase narrative in the State Journal was false, but he admitted to using his cruiser to pick up women at bars in Lansing — just never while on duty. And besides, those were different times, he said. He contends both allegations were fully resolved with a four-day suspension under then-Sheriff Gene Hoag.

Hoag was indicted by a grand jury a few weeks later — days before he was defeated by his Republican challenger — on an unrelated matter. He stood trial the next year on a perjury charge related to testimony in a murder trial.

“I would go to the bars off duty. I was having some matrimonial problems at that time, so there was some truth to the way it was painted in that story,” Jager explained. “The use of that car was a lot more liberal back then. We were under a different sheriff. It was different. My wife and I worked it out,” adding they have been together 47 years.

As for the mailers and the subsequent response from the Eaton County Democratic Party? Jager still insists that he didn’t intentionally imply that Reich was affiliated with the Nazi Party.

“At least on the Republican side, there’s still a good candidate that’s involved with this election,” Jager added, referring to former state Sen. Rick Jones

Jager previously ran as a Republican candidate for sheriff in 2006 and in 2016, and at the time was publicly supported Jones. Democratic officials also claimed that Jager had only filed amid an effort to help Jones win the election.

“The Eaton County Democratic Party believes Jager is working behind the scenes with Republicans in efforts to discredit and disparage Reich, as his literature echoes themes the Republicans have put forward,” a release stated.

It’s a claim that both Jager and Jones have since vehemently denied to City Pulse.

Jones was elected sheriff in 2000, became a state representative in 2004 and was elected state senator in 2012. Term limits ended his legislative career. He said voters encouraged him to make another run because of several perceived “problems” within the department.

“One of my main motivations for running is just to keep deputies on the road,” Jones added. “They cut a lot of deputies over there. Road patrol is way down. I’ve heard some are being mistreated and have very low morale.”

Reich told the Lansing State Journal last year that Jones was a liar and that his department had “no problems.”

As a Democrat, Reich also told City Pulse he had “never been so disgusted” to see Jager’s mailer last month, labeling the assertion that he shares any political viewpoints with the Nazi Party as “ridiculous.” Reich too has flipped political parties, running as a Republican in 2008 but has been a card-carrying Democrat since 2012.

“I was pretty much ousted by the Republicans and the Democrats welcomed me with open arms,” Reich added.

Another Republican candidate, G. Michael Hocking, is also in the running against Reich this year. He’s a local attorney that specializes in divorce and family law and was a former 56th Circuit judge in Charlotte. The primary election will narrow the field to two candidates on Aug. 4. Polls open for the general election on Nov. 3.

Visit lansingcitypulse.com for more detailed candidate information as the elections approach.

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