The River Cities' Reader asked ccandidates for Rock Island County Sheriff 14 questions covering four topics and invited them to add an additional comment on any topic(s) of their choice. We greatly appreciate each candidate's participation. One of these three candidates will be the Rock Island County Sheriff for the next four years. Here's your chance to learn how each views the office and their role, should they prevail.

The long Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and is perhaps best known in Chicago as the beginning of its long, hot season of gun violence. The morning-after news coverage typically notes that the holiday “was the most violent weekend of the year so far,” or some such thing. You’ve probably seen the polling, which shows crime isn’t the super-hot political issue it’s often portrayed to be. But don’t kid yourself. It’s still high enough on voters’ lists to make a difference, usually coming in second-place behind economic issues.

Gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin has spent tens of millions of billionaire Ken Griffin’s dollars introducing himself to Republican primary voters. Yet, a recent poll taken for WGN TV by Emerson College Polling shows he’s leading Senator Darren Bailey by just four percentage points, 24-20, with nineteen percent split between the other four candidates and undecideds “leading” with 37 percent.

In the Iowa Primary, there are five Democratic candidates for Scott County Board of Supervisors vying for three positions on the November 8 General Election ballot: Karl Drapeaux, Brinson Kinzer (incumbent), Joseph C. Miller, Jazmin Newton, and Dawson Shea VanWinkle. There are four Republican candidates for Scott County Board of Supervisor vying for three spots on the General Election ballot: Jean Dickson, Jennifer McAndrew Lane, John Maxwell (incumbent), and Ross Paustian. All candidates were provided the following questionnaire.