Roman Buchberger is a Republican candidate running for Lake County Sheriff. He is a self proclaimed “constitutional sheriff” candidate. The Constitutional Sheriff is a fringe movement which stems from denying that Donald J Trump lost the 2020 election and proclaims the January 6th 2021 attack on the US Capitol did not occur. It has since expanded its radical beliefs to hold that a sheriff’s authority supersedes all other laws. Buchberger is manifestly unqualified to hold any office by virtue of the belief structure he would bring in with him.
The far right movement was founded by former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff Richard Mack. It has ties to anti-government groups such as the sovereign citizen movement, and militia networks like the Oath Keepers. These groups were key parts of the attack on the US Capitol which came about from Donald Trump insisting the 2020 election was stolen. Members of the Constitutional Sheriffs participated in the attack.
The job of a sheriff is to enforce laws. A sheriff who nullifies laws he personally does not like undermines the rule of law and the constitutional system of checks and balances. Often targeted laws include gun control measures, public health mandates, land use rules and environmental regulations.
Interpreting the US Constitution is in the province of judges who have spent their careers studying law, hearing cases and making rulings. Sheriffs have no such training, experience or authority.
A sheriff who believes he has the supreme authority to decide which law will be enforced and which ones will not is not only delusional, he is a threat to our system and each of us as citizens. It is necessary for our community to reject Buchberger’s far right extremism and tell him no this November 3rd.