By Staff
in television commercial
Sheriff, candidatehave professional,other connections
By TED STRONG
Staff Writer
When Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue got an endorsement from the fictional sheriff of Mayberry, she already was airing a television ad featuring Beaufort County’s real-life sheriff.
Her campaign is airing an ad featuring real-life sheriffs from Beaufort, Buncombe, Cumberland and Hoke counties. The campaign recently rolled a new ad featuring North Carolina icon Andy Griffith.
Griffith portrayed Andy Taylor, the sheriff of Mayberry, on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Beaufort County Sheriff Alan Jordan said people, including other sheriffs at a professional convention he attended this week, have been telling him they’ve seen him on TV lately.
Jordan, who was filmed two or three months ago, has endorsed candidates before, but he had never been in a statewide advertisement.
In the ad, a succession of sheriffs are shown praising Perdue’s record on law-enforcement issues. Jordan appears in the advertisement twice.
In his first appearance, he says, “And she got more jail time for violent offenders.”
In the second appearance, he says, “The choice is clear.”
Jordan emphasized that he is not in any way representing the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, but only speaking for himself.
The advertisement claims that “every major law-enforcement organization” has endorsed Perdue.
More than 50 sheriffs have endorsed Perdue, said Tim Crowley, Perdue’s press secretary. Perdue’s Web site lists endorsements from the Fraternal Order of Police, the Police Benevolent Association, the National Association of Police Organizations, the North Carolina Sheriff and Police Alliance and the N.C. Troopers Association. The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association does not offer any endorsement, Jordan said.
Jordan was selected for his role, in part, because he knows Perdue on a professional level. Each also has family connections to Craven County.
Those conversations have mainly been at functions where Perdue addressed law-enforcement officers, Jordan said.
The advertisement is part of a campaign effort to portray Perdue as tough on crime, Crowley said.
Jordan said sheriffs endorsing Perdue and sheriffs endorsing her opponent, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, have been cordial with one another.