He’s been Bluffton’s sheriff for 20 years. Why did the town turn its back on him?

Following a humbling defeat in his hometown of Bluffton, questions are being raised about why Bluffton turned its back on longtime Sheriff P.J. Tanner in June’s primary — and whether he can effectively police the town going forward.

Tanner, a Bluffton-area resident since birth, who has served as the county’s sheriff for 20 years, lost 14 of the town’s 16 precincts.

He scraped out wins over a former employee in the Bluffton 4D precinct, which includes Hampton Hall, by just one vote (119 to 118) and Bluffton 3 precinct, which includes Colleton River Plantation, by four votes (72 to 68). Challenger Joey “JoJo” Woodward, who also lives in Bluffton, resigned as a captain with the Sheriff’s Office in March to run against Tanner.

The Bluffton defeat was a surprising snub for Tanner, who had not even faced a challenger in 16 years. In 2002, Tanner faced no Republican competitor and squashed Democrat Butch Polk, winning nearly 76 percent of the countywide vote, including every Bluffton precinct.

Tanner, 58, remains the county’s sheriff with jurisdiction over Bluffton. Elected countywide, he secured nearly 55 percent of the overall vote and is guaranteed another four years in office barring the unlikely event of a write-in candidate toppling him in November’s general election.

But the election result in fast-growing Bluffton is raising speculation that the longtime sheriff could be vulnerable to future challengers.

“This may be the first notification he’s either going to have to re-engage or begin thinking of retirement,” said Scott Huffmon, a political scientist at Winthrop University in Rock Hill. “While perhaps the sheriff is still safe in the general election, that may not be the case in future (Republican) primaries.”

Tanner said he remains focused on leading the Sheriff’s Office and winning November’s general election. While Bluffton is serviced by its own police agency, the Bluffton Police Department, it and the Sheriff’s Office must work together routinely, helping residents evacuate and re-enter their communities during hurricanes, collaborating on arrests when suspects have warrants in both jurisdictions and conducting murder investigations.

“As long as I feel like I am contributing to it 100 percent, I will work as long as I possibly can or I will work as long as the citizens of Beaufort County want me, and that’s their decision,” Tanner said.

Some Bluffton voters, like Anna Kendrick, point to the election results as proof that residents are “extremely divided” on Tanner.

She voted for Woodward, 55, a longtime family friend.

“I would hope that (Tanner) is humbled and has a plan to restore faith with the citizens of Beaufort County for the next four years,” she said.

What’s Bluffton’s beef?

A common theme runs through much of the Bluffton criticism lobbed at Tanner: He’s hard to get along with, which hinders joint law enforcement efforts and fuels discord within the Sheriff’s Office ranks, say his critics.

Two former Bluffton police chiefs made the point during the election, although they were short on specifics.

“The sheriff must be willing and able to bring public safety agencies together so we have coordinated efforts to address the issues that threaten our communities, not to purposely be divisive as is the current situation,” wrote former Bluffton Police Chief Joey Reynolds in an endorsement letter mailed to every Bluffton home. Reynolds served as Bluffton chief from September 2012 until his June 2017 retirement.

And in a separate letter to voters, former Bluffton chief Joe Manning wrote that Woodward would rebuild relationships with law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal level.

“This is something that Beaufort County desperately needs as the relationships have been fractured over the years,” wrote Manning, who served as Bluffton’s police chief from July 2017 until April 2018, when he took a police chief job in Sevierville, Tennessee.

During the campaign, the criticism gained traction through a sizable group of dissatisfied former deputies living in Bluffton. They actively campaigned for Woodward, attending debates and rallying family and friends to cast ballots for him. Bluffton Town Council member Larry Toomer also backed Woodward.

It proved an effective grassroots boost for Woodward, who was often hesitant to speak to the media and reluctant to criticize Tanner. Despite a campaign slogan of “It’s Time for a Working Sheriff for Beaufort County, ” Woodward said it was not a criticism of Tanner’s work ethic.

Woodward did not return multiple calls, texts and emails seeking comment for this story, but said during a newspaper endorsement interview prior to the election that he wanted to “rebuild relationships and the morale in the Sheriff’s Office.” Reynolds and Manning also did not return several phone calls, texts and emails seeking comment.

Three critics of Tanner, who asked not to be named, say the Sheriff’s Office is top-heavy and cliquish.

Tanner, who said he has a command staff of just 15 for 340 employees, denies a rift in his office’s ranks, saying he eliminated the “good ol’ boys network” when he took over as sheriff.

“The Sheriff’s Office is not broken,” he said.

It’s not the first time Tanner has been called out by a fellow public official. Tanner and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone began feuding in 2014 when the two agencies pointed fingers over who had mishandled evidence that derailed a murder case against three men who were accused of killing 8-year-old Khalil Singleton. The disagreement came to a head two years ago when Tanner’s wife, Angela McCall-Tanner, unsuccessfully ran against Stone.

Tanner pushes back

Tanner said there’s more to the story than the Bluffton chiefs let on, saying Reynolds and Manning made decisions that did not sit well with him.

The tensions first began, according to Tanner, when Reynolds hired officers at the Bluffton Police Department that were either fired or resigned in lieu of being fired from the Sheriff’s Office for ethical violations, ranging from creating fraudulent documents to lying to fellow officers.

“Joey Reynolds turned right around and hired them,” Tanner said. “Bluffton is in Beaufort County, so when I terminate your employment in Beaufort County, another municipality picking you up for employment within the same county is a problem for me.”

After Reynolds retired in June 2017, Manning was promoted from deputy chief to chief. He and Tanner made plans to team up their two police agencies to better fight drugs through a joint drug task force.

But Manning wanted to put two officers on the team who had been fired from the Sheriff’s Office, Tanner said.

Tanner told Manning he would not give officers he fired jurisdiction over the county again. Manning said those were the only officers he had for the drug team, according to Tanner.

Despite the quarrels between him and previous Bluffton chiefs, Tanner said the tension has not affected the quality of law enforcement for citizens or officers.

“As far as the troops on the street and the everyday work that we do, it’s ongoing, it’s progressive, it’s transparent,” Tanner said. “It’s doing the right thing.”

New Bluffton chief, new chance to get along?

On July 23, Christopher Chapmond, assistant police chief in Hot Springs, Ark., was named Bluffton’s next police chief.

“I’ve got high hopes for him, and we’ll give him all the support he wants,” Tanner said.

He said he thinks the new police chief hire will “absolutely” be a new start for the relationship between the agencies but noted that Chapmond will be Bluffton’s eighth police chief, including interim chiefs, during Tanner’s tenure.

“I think the new chief will do a good job in Bluffton as long as Bluffton supports him — and this would be the elected officials in Bluffton — as long as they support him but yet at the same time get out of his way,” Tanner said.

Chapmond said he and Tanner haven’t had a chance to speak, but he hopes for a good relationship as well. “It’s usually what’s good for us is good for them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tanner and Woodward are unlikely to make amends. Tanner says they have not spoken since the primary and maintains that Woodward lied to him several times when asked whether he intended to run against him.

Woodward said Tanner asked him about it only once. “I only really made up my mind about three months before I resigned,” Woodward said in the newspaper endorsement interview.

Still popular in his hometown of Bluffton, Woodward plans to continue his law enforcement career somewhere in the county.

“I am going to be somewhere,” Woodward told The Island Packet in June after securing 8,114 votes, 45 percent of the countywide total. “I love being a law enforcement officer. I am just waiting for the next chapter.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 2:15 PM.