I am sure that most people are getting sick of hearing all the negativity around the political races. I know I am. I have always wanted to hear from the candidate running for office what they were going to do to make things better. This is what I am interested in hearing from the people who are asking me to vote for them.

I am not interested in hearing from a political action committee or someone else bashing one candidate or the other. Not everything they put out is the complete truth or they are statements taken out of context used to make one look bad. I want to hear what the candidate is going to do to change things and make them better.

The Freeborn County sheriff’s race has become extremely nasty and cowardly. I am a firm believer that if you have something to say, take responsibility for it. Don’t tell lies and half truths in a website and no responsibility.

This makes me extremely suspicious as to the motive behind it and who is behind it. Whoever is behind the information, they don’t want you to know what the truth is or they would have explained the lawsuits and the accidents they list and would not have used a photograph out of context and cropped. Why didn’t the website tell you how many calls Kurt Freitag has handled so far this year? This is the way terrorists operate — they want you to be afraid of something or someone. Not a lot of integrity there!

To say Freitag is member of a motorcycle gang, was that meant to scare someone or make him out to be a bad guy? Freitag rides a motorcycle and belongs to the largest law enforcement motorcycle club in world: the Blue Knights, an international club. This club is a nonprofit club and every chapter does charitable work. There is a website if anyone wants to check it out. Just because Freitag rides a motorcycle doesn’t make him bad, as the website suggests.

Freitag has responded to many allegations made in a website and letters to the editor and news articles. The latest incidents involve a video being released of Freitag conducting an interview at the Law Enforcement Center and the sign incident where detective Marc Johnson from the Sheriff’s Office reportedly told the other guy to go to the media should be proof beyond any doubt that someone inside is trying to do everything that they can to make Freitag look bad. I think that was despicable. The only thing that was accomplished with those attempts was to show how far someone will go to smear Freitag.

I have known Freitag ever since he started in Law Enforcement in Glenville and have worked with him during the time he has been on the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office. I have always known Freitag to be honest and knowledgeable about his job. I have never known him to ditch a call because he thought he should take a break instead.

It is a common practice in law enforcement to take a call for a fellow officer so that he or she can take a lunch break or get some reports finished in the office. This in no way should be interpreted as ditching calls, as some people would have you believe.

Kurt Freitag spent 20 years serving our country in the military, and he served in Bosnia after the combat operation had ceased. He has also served as a law enforcement officer for over 20 years. Maybe the people who are trying to defame the man should just say “thank you” instead.

I can still hear my mother saying “If you can’t say anything nice about someone, then don’t say anything at all.”

Apparently some people never had a mother who said that or they did not pay attention. Bashing Freitag is not going to change the fact that he is a military veteran and an experienced law enforcement officer with leadership experience, integrity and a plan to put the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office back on track.

I have known Kurt Freitag for over 20 years and believe in him and I trust him. On Nov. 4 Freitag has my vote, and I ask that you vote for him also.

Albert Lea resident Frank Kohl is a detective with the Albert Lea Police Department.