In a Guest Column published in the Bend Bulletin Sunday October 18, 2026, two former Police Chiefs and a former Deschutes County Sheriff lay out how Ty Rupert is fulfilling his role as Sheriff. They take the time to share many of the aspects and duties of Sheriff, and how he is performing so far. (see post below)
However, there have been many political hits on Sheriff Ty Rupert in our local media, many of which say he “Broke Campaign Law” (The Source), and “Ethics Commission to Investigate” (The Source and CO Daily). What they are referring to is the OGEC (Oregon Government Ethics Commission) complaint filed by Lt. James McLaughlin’s brother-in-law. Lt. James McLaughlin is also running for Sheriff.
In this OGEC preliminary hearing with Sheriff Ty Rupert, you will see that the complaint is recognized as a possible weaponization of the commission due to campaign issues. The board has a duty to apply the ethics laws neutrally regardless of the intent of the person filing the compaint, so there is an investigation underway. One board member said the information they would need to collect is pretty minimal and would be heading toward a ‘letter of education’. You can view this meeting for yourself here:
September 2026 OGEC Commission Meeting Executive Session (Agenda Items 1-37)
So now we can understand that Sheriff Ty Rupert is facing unfair media scrutiny, particularly by The Source, and political manipulation from his opponent, which undermines a fair electoral process.
DCLO would like to encourage this community to come together to do your part, in supporting Ty Rupert for Sheriff.
Our system is a good one, if we can just run it right. Ty has shown us that that is his intention. Our commitment to our Sheriff, to government process, starts at the grassroots. Please, spread the word, support Ty Rupert in his efforts, vote and get others to vote as well. Then we will have the Sheriff we deserve...
And now for the Guest Column….
GUEST COLUMN
Vote Ty Rupert for Sheriff
Ty Rupert has brought positive and progressive change to our Sheriffʼs Office in his short 15 months in office.
Since Rupertʼs appointment in July 2025, his goals were to calm the waters at the Office, find a solution for the worsening budget crises, ensure accountability, build a positive culture, address members wellness, ensure fair application of policy and rules, and restore public trust.
Quietly, but effectively Rupert has spent the last 15 months assessing and addressing the true operational needs of the department and balancing those needs with the available tax funding. He began with evaluating the number of admin staff positions, a review of fiscal policies, and assessing personnel and operational policies.
His work has paid off. Applying his private sector experience in budgeting, he and his team were able to implement reductions to projects and processes, saving nearly $1 million while not impacting productivity. In his review of the departmentʼs unfilled administrative positions, he determined the Office could freeze the hiring of 4 administrative positions, saving $820,000 and shift that funding to support operational staff. Importantly, none of these reductions impacted responding patrol positions or operations in a negative manner, and he brought in a budget that aligned with available funding. He has produced a leaner, more effective operation.
Administratively, Rupert has implemented several long overdue changes. He has established and hired a coordinator for an employee wellness program. These wellness programs are proven to reduce costs, improve performance of deputies, decrease costly turnover and improve retention of highly trained staff. He is taking applications for a Citizenʼs Advisory Board, which will provide him direct input from tax payers in a timely manner. He has approved the purchasing of new in-car cameras to increase accountability in how deputies provide services and increase transparency to the citizens. He has begun a review of the Officeʼs SWAT teamʼs operations, something also long overdue.
But the most important and impactful, Rupert has initiated the transitioning from the departmentʼs outdated policy system to a 21st century procedural policy system called Lexipol. Lexipol is the leader in law enforcement policy standards. This increases deputyʼs adherence to the highest levels of conduct, is proven to reduce lawsuits, and improve performance. It is important to note; Rupert has directed the Lexipol system to include an Office policy requiring complaints against candidates for sheriff before and after an election to be assigned to a third-party independent investigator to increase transparency and eliminate potential bias.
In our collective opinions, for Rupert to accomplish this much positive transition and changes, while maintaining 24/7 operations, in such a short period is nothing short of amazing.
Lt. McLaughlin has repeated publicly he is the victim of a politically motivated investigation. After Kelli Hayes and Lorena Akehurst walked into the Sheriffʼs Office to file a complaint against McLaughlin on April 22nd, providing a video recording of McLaughlinʼs misconduct, Sheriff Rupert was required by Oregon law, policy and administrative rules to open an investigation.
In the report from the independent investigator, he found McLaughlin untruthful in many his statements, finding he had kept the video of his alleged misconduct hid on his cell hone, never turning it over to his supervisors when asked about the incident, and attempted to backdate summary document related to the complaint against him. These sustained allegations are some of the same findings leading to the decertification of Kent van der Kamp just a year ago.
We urge voters to support Ty Rupert for sheriff, for the progressive change and transparency he has completed. After all, we need a Sheriff who follows Oregon law by investigating citizenʼs complaints of misconduct against Department members, not a sheriff who hides citizen complaints in violation of Oregon law.
-Larry Blanton is the former Deschutes County Sheriff. Cory Darling is the former Sunriver Police Chief. Jim Porter is the former Bend Police Chief.
Two former police chiefs and a former sheriff endorse Ty Rupert for sheriff. BULLETIN FILE