Where’s Cannaday?

Former Irving police chief and city councilman Lowell Cannaday made a big splash when he beat former Dallas County sheriff Jim Bowles in an April runoff election. The win secured the Republican nomination and a shot at incumbent Democratic sheriff Lupe Valdez in the November election. But is it just me, or have we not heard anything from him lately?

I’m sure he’s out fundraising and shaking hands, I even saw some of his supporters at the Lake Highlands Fourth of July parade, but it seems to me Sheriff Valdez has given him some opportunities to get his name and positions out there, and he hasn’t taken the bait.

Take for example last week’s back-and-forth between Valdez and the county commissioners court. Valdez was going to let a crew from the Discovery Channel film inside Lew Sterrett for an episode of an upcoming program.

Valdez said the documentary would give the county an opportunity to show the jail in a positive light and highlight the improvements that have been made during her two-year term. The county commissioners took exception to the filming, and said it could open the jail up to potential liability lawsuits, eventually putting a stop to it.

So where’s Cannaday out there picking sides? Maybe he agrees with Valdez, and that’s why he didn’t say anything, but it just seems to me that he’d want to put some issues between himself and the sheriff, if for nothing else to get some press.

The show was supposed to show “day in the life of” vignettes of various jails, and the county jail popped up on Discovery’s radar because of it’s well-publicized five consecutive failed inspections, as well as the high percentage of female officers that staff the jail.

Campaigns like this don’t really get ramped up until a month or two before the election, but it just seems like a missed opportunity for Cannaday.