Sam Cochran, the newly minted Republican nominee for Mobile County sheriff, was set to be sworn in as interim sheriff on Friday afternoon, taking the reins of a department that had passed through turbulent hands over the preceding months. The ceremony was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the ceremonial courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse section of Government Plaza, and the public was invited to what officials expected to be a brief occasion.
Cochran, 51, who had recently retired as chief of the Mobile Police Department, won the GOP nomination for sheriff by claiming 55 percent of the vote against four other candidates, enough to avoid a runoff and take the nomination outright.
An outright win in a crowded field
Outright victories are far from guaranteed in crowded primaries, where a large field often splits the vote and forces the top two finishers into a runoff. Cochran’s ability to clear a majority against four opponents spared his campaign the expense and uncertainty of a second round and let him turn immediately to the general election and, now, to the interim duties of the office he hoped to hold in his own right.
Filling a vacancy
The interim appointment made Cochran the successor to David Evans, whom Gov. Bob Riley had tapped weeks earlier to fill the post temporarily. The office had come open when former Sheriff Jack Tillman left under a plea bargain with the district attorney’s office. From the outset, it was understood that Evans would serve only until the Republican Party settled on its nominee for the fall general election, a role Cochran secured with his primary victory.
Interim appointments of this kind are common when an elected office falls vacant between elections, bridging the gap until voters or, as here, a party can settle the succession. For the deputies and staff of the sheriff’s department, the arrangement offered a clear chain of command after a stretch in which the top job had changed hands more than once.
A fall contest still ahead
The swearing-in did not end the political questions surrounding the sheriff’s office. Democratic opposition was anticipated in the November general election, though there was some dispute over who would carry the party’s banner. DaVon Grey had won the Democratic primary, but his victory faced a challenge over his campaign’s failure to file financial disclosures as the rules required. Bail bondsman Clint Ulmer had finished a distant second to Grey in that primary.
From police chief to sheriff
For Cochran, the interim post amounted to a return to the top of county law enforcement, capping a career that had carried him through the ranks of the Mobile Police Department to its chief’s office. His allies pointed to that experience as an asset, while the interim tenure would give voters a look at how he ran the sheriff’s department before they rendered their verdict at the polls in the fall. The ceremony itself promised little pomp. Its practical effect was simply that, as of Friday afternoon, the badge of Mobile County sheriff would rest with Cochran, offering a measure of stability to a department that had seen more than its share of upheaval.