Sheriff shuns campaign trail, focuses on family

Sheriff shuns campaign trail, focuses on family

Although Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins has 590 corrections officers working under him, he remembers names and ranks as he greets several at the county's main facility in Danvers.

Outside of the prison system, however, it's the inmates who seem to remember Cousins.

"People will come right up to me on the streets and tell me they were in a program in one of our facilities," he said. "The position of sheriff is a unique position in that you have the statutory authority to make changes that affect people. To make things happen. I enjoy that."

Midway through his second term in office, Cousins is savoring his successes: the clean-up of a corrections system that, when he arrived in 1996, was plagued by corruption; the implementation of new substance abuse and job training programs and a reduction in the recidivism rate.

Cousins is also enjoying fatherhood for the first time, as his wife Nicole gave birth to their son in October.

So when acting Governor Jane Swift tapped Cousins to serve as lieutenant governor, Cousins was understandably conflicted. When he turned the offer down, his move made headlines and raised eyebrows, but Cousins says family comes first.

"I'm very motivated," he said. "I work very hard. But there's a difference between being motivated and saying `I can run for state-wide office.' There's a lot of hard work in running a statewide campaign.

"The governor's away from her family sometimes for two or three days a week. It's a hard thing. If you're not prepared to do that, it's not going to work for you."

Cousins' refusal to run marked the second time a prominent African American Republican turned down the lieutenant governors spot on the GOP ticket. Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph Martin also declined to run.

Political observers speculated that the entrance of a prominent black lieutenant governor candidate could potentially draw voters away from Democratic gubernatorial candidates. With conservative Republican Party activist James Rappaport now maneuvering for a spot on the GOP ticket, that scenario seems less and less likely.

Despite his unwillingness to run state-wide, Cousins is no stranger to the campaign trial. His political life began with a successful campaign for city council in his native Newburyport. That was followed by a run for the State House, where he served as one of the few Republicans in the history of the Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus.

Opportunity knocked during his second term in the State House. Then-Governor William Weld offered Cousins an appointment as Essex County sheriff after the former Sheriff Charles Reardon plead guilty to accepting illegal gratuities from deputies.

Cousins inherited a prison system rife with patronage and low morale, lacking in organization and professionalism. A US attorney had labeled the Essex County House of Correction a "house of corruption."

Since taking office, Cousins worked to professionalize the staff in the Essex County correctional institutions, instituting promotional exams and a requirement that new officers hired by the department either have an associates degree or military service.

According to Cousins, the changes have been largely effective.

"We've been getting better candidates," he said. "People who want to work in the criminal justice field. It's a more professional workforce."

Cousins also implemented an affirmative action policy which has boosted the minority hiring at the facility from just one African American guard in 1996 to a workforce that is 18 percent minority.

"It's taken a while," he said. "We wanted to make sure that we used the same hiring standards for everyone."

The prison now has Spanish speaking guards and switchboard operators. The prison, which serves cities including Lawrence, Lowell and Lynn, has a prison population which is 44 percent Spanish speaking.

For the prisoners, Cousins instituted drug and alcohol counseling, programs he says have helped reduce recidivism. Although Cousins says he does not yet have statistics on the prison system's recidivism rate, he notes that the population in the Danvers facility has decreased from more than 1,200 in 1996 to 925 today.

"We think that 18 to 19 percent of the people who are incarcerated for drug activity -- 90 percent of the Essex County prison population -- are not coming back," Cousins said.

Essex County's recidivism figures are not the best in the state In Hampden County, which serves Western Massachusetts, 29 percent of the prison population does not return.

"That gives us something to shoot for," Cousins says of the Hampden County rates.

Cousins says he will likely run for re-election as sheriff in the 2004 race.

"But who knows," he adds. "I'm young. I'm 43 years old. I can do other things."

If one thing seems certain, it's that Cousins will stay in politics.

"I like any job in government. If you're in elected office and you don't like helping people, you can't do a good job. I like any job where you can help people and make government work for them."

Photo (Frank Cousins with Derrick Beasley, Steve Pomerleau and Mike Backry, Jr.)