Keko Martinez promises to share salary if elected Rock Island County Sheriff

Right now the magic number is 51. That’s how many days we have until the election.

One local race you’ll decide on November 6 is for Rock Island County Sheriff.

Incumbent Democrat Gerry Bustos won his party’s primary in March easily.

We’ve helped you get to know Sheriff Bustos quite a bit on the issues facing Rock Island County on this program.
    
You might not know much about his Republican challenger.

He’s Francisco Cruz Martinez.

But he goes by the nickname Keko.

Born and raised in Sterling, Illinois.

Martinez joined the Marines after graduating high school.

He spent 13 years on active duty and another 13 in the reserves.

From 1996 to 2000 he worked as a federal police officer on the Rock Island Arsenal with being a sniper as his specialty.
    
Martinez worked in private security later and went on to pursue an undergraduate degree in religious education.

He spends a lot of time these days volunteering as an unofficial chaplain for the Marine Corps reserves.

This is arguably an uphill challenge for Keko Martinez taking on the incumbent sheriff.

He certainly believes he’s up to it.

Keko Martinez joined 4 The Record for a conversation.

There’s no scandal in the department, so Martinez talked about why he’s  running now.

Martinez doesn’t work in law enforcement now, he was a federal officer but never served in a local police department or sheriff’s office.

Martinez talked about what he would say to people who think he’s not qualified for the job and what the biggest change he promises to bring to the sheriff’s office.

Martinez makes some pretty big promises when it comes to your salary if elected and says he would donate 10 percent of his gross salary to his church, 10 percent of his net salary to an employee emergency fund and work with the union to decide who gets a share of that and another 10 percent of his net pay to not-for-profit groups that “promote Christian-based morals and patriotism.”
    
He goes on to say when these are propagated, less crime is typically the result. A lot of people might say that’s a very generous plan.
    
But, Martinez addressed how the last item referring to Christian-based morals could be considered divisive.
 

View the full discussion in the video above.

Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. It’s a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on what’s happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home.