ST. LOUIS — When Sheriff Vernon Betts finished giving the Holly Hills neighborhood association his reelection pitch — he boasted of adding deputy training and pay raises, among other things — his challenger got up and called him a crook.
Alfred Montgomery pointed to the entourage of deputies in the back of the meeting room and said Betts was forcing them to be there on the taxpayers’ dime. He said Betts was squandering millions in taxpayer money elsewhere, too.
“It’s time that you don’t allow the sheriff’s office to put a veil over your eye,†Montgomery, a former sheriff’s deputy, told the audience. “Something has to change.â€
By the end, Betts was standing at the back of the room disgusted, muttering “lie†to himself after each Montgomery statement.
“This lyin’ sack,†he said.
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For months, the Democratic primary race between Betts and Montgomery has been one of the more animated tussles for power this year. They have sent mailers and social media posts blasting each other as either corrupt or unqualified. They have traded barbs in public meetings, like the one with Holly Hills this spring. At one point, they went head to head on a bill in the state Legislature that would have made Montgomery ineligible for office.
On Tuesday, voters will render their verdict at the polls.
The incumbent, Betts, says he has professionalized the office and will continue to do so. But he has also spent a lot of time putting his foot in his mouth, and he has gone back and forth about retiring in the middle of his term.
His challenger, Montgomery, says Betts is incompetent and has hammered on his former boss’ most unfortunate remarks. But Montgomery has issues with his resume — he could not, for instance, verify his college degree — and a habit of making questionable remarks of his own, including a promise to take over operations at the city jail, something the law leaves to the city corrections division.
All of this is over one of the more limited jobs in city government. Unlike counterparts across the state, the sheriff of ºüÀêÊÓƵ is not responsible for running a jail or for general law enforcement. Sheriff’s deputies here transport prisoners to and from court, provide courthouse security and serve legal papers, such as eviction notices and protection orders.
But the job pays more than $120,000 per year. And it’s one of the handful of elected city positions that can still make political hires 80 years after the introduction of merit-based hiring for most of City Hall. That’s led to a font of stories about clumsy deputies over the decades — and tension with judges, who have indicated multiple times that they would rather hire their own staffs.
About a decade ago, judges even tried to get the state Legislature to let them appoint the sheriff.
Those efforts, so far, have proven fruitless.
‘You don’t mess with me’
Betts has served as ºüÀêÊÓƵ sheriff since 2017, when he replaced a retiring Jim Murphy, who had presided over some of the more memorable gaffes in recent memory: Deputies were caught working second jobs on the taxpayers’ dime, double-dipping on car allowances and partying with a sequestered court jury.
Betts, a retired Ameren worker, says he has spent much of the past seven years trying to professionalize his charges. He says a big part of that push has been putting dozens of deputies through state peace officer training, which allows them to provide security on MetroLink and work weekend details downtown.
Betts has also managed modest increases to starting salaries for deputies and promised to continue lobbying the state Legislature to raise pay near that of police officers, despite a failure this past session.
“We’re going to go after that again,†he said.
But he has yet to put a stop to the embarrassing headlines. In late 2022, deputy Steve Chalmers sued Betts, alleging he was demoted and discriminated against for failing to support Betts’ 2020 campaign. A few months later, Betts was caught on tape blasting Chalmers, saying he “should have fired his ass.â€
“Whether you love me or not, you don’t mess with me, and that’s what he did,†Betts said on the recording.
This year, another recording leaked of a roll call meeting where Betts joked to deputies that if they saw someone opposing his efforts to get a bill passed at the state Legislature raising salaries, they should “shoot ’em.â€
He also tried to push a bill through the Legislature pairing raises for deputies with a provision that could have disqualified Montgomery from running because he is not a state-licensed peace officer. Montgomery protested, noting that Betts wasn’t licensed when he became sheriff, either, and the bill ultimately died on the House floor.
Around the same time, Betts said he might not serve another full term if he wins, though he said he was waiting on guidance “from the good Lord†before deciding for sure.
“I’ll be 72 this year, and you want me to do another four years?†he said. “I’ll be 76 — too damn old for anybody to be messing around in law enforcement.â€
But Betts and a spokesperson brushed off the recent controversies:
Betts wasn’t serious about retiring, they said. The Chalmers case has been dismissed. The deputies that follow him to neighborhood meetings do so off the clock.
As for the “shoot ’em†comment?
“That was a joke,†said Betts, “just like my opponent’s qualifications.â€
Did Montgomery attend ASU?
Montgomery, 27, has cast Betts as the real joke.
Betts fired him from the sheriff’s office shortly after Montgomery announced he was running for sheriff in 2020. Betts said the termination was for substandard work, absenteeism and insubordination; Montgomery said it was political retribution.
Montgomery’s first campaign didn’t go so well. Betts trounced him, 61% to 28%. But Montgomery started campaigning earlier this cycle and seems determined to turn the results around.
He has repeatedly blasted Betts for his indiscreet remarks in , casting him as an out-of-control embarrassment.
He says there needs to be an audit of the office to find squandered money that could have been used for further raises.
“Your tax dimes have been misused in our sheriff’s office,†he told neighbors at the Holly Hills neighborhood meeting.
He has also laid out a plan to take over the city jail and enact a host of reforms, including a rigorous reentry program he said would better prepare detainees for life outside jail.
“We won’t release them until they are educated,†he said.
But the city charter and longstanding court precedent have long put jail operations under the mayor’s administration, not the sheriff.
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones has endorsed Montgomery in the race, telling the Post-Dispatch she is tired of Betts criticizing her in the media. But she has no plans to give him the keys to the jail.
“There has never been a discussion to put the sheriff in charge of the jail, regardless of who wins,†said Conner Kerrigan, a spokesperson for Jones. “Never. Not just no, never.â€
Montgomery has also had some issues substantiating his credentials. He claims a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Arizona State University. But the ASU registrar’s office couldn’t find any record of his attendance.
Montgomery said repeatedly he would send over transcripts to prove otherwise, but he never did.