Bernie DeCastro Running for Sheriff

Florida Constitution Party chairman and former U.S. Senate nominee Bernie DeCastro is aiming a bit lower next year, launching a bid to be elected sheriff of Marion County.

DeCastro finished in 7th place in the unusual 2010 Senate contest that also featured then-governor Charlie Crist running as an independent alongside a Democrat and a Republican.   DeCastro polled 4,792 votes or 0.09% on Election Day.

“To be sheriff, you don’t have to have law enforcement experience. It’s all about leadership abilities. If you’re a leader, you’re a leader. If you’re not, you’re not,” DeCastro told the Ocala Star Banner.  “I want to run because — like many Americans — I’m very concerned about federal overreach and federal tyranny that we have never experienced in our lifetimes.”

DeCastro is not entirely unfamiliar with the criminal justice system, having been paroled from prison in 1984 after serving time for a drug-related armed robbery.  The would-be Sheriff found Jesus and turned his life around, founding a work-release ministry.

“I don’t think people will hold it against me,” he said of his criminal past. “The old Bernie is no longer alive.”

This is DeCastro’s second bid for office on the Constitution Party line, he was also a long-shot candidate for state house of represenatives in 2008, running as a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.