By The Associated Press

EVANSVILLE — The sheriff of southern Indiana’s largest county has switched to the Republican Party, accusing Democrats of endorsing flag burning, failing to acknowledge God and not supporting police.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding made his announcement this past week outside the Evansville business of major Republican donor Steve Chancellor with Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch in attendance.

Wedding, twice elected sheriff as a Democrat, noted a large U.S. flag nearby and said Democrats “want to burn that thing every day.”

“I’m tired of seeing fires set in our streets,” Wedding said. “I’m tired of people defying God, our church, our police, our government and everything we stand for.

The Vanderburgh County Democratic Party called Wedding’s political switch distasteful “political opportunism” and pointed out his previous complaints about insufficient funding from the Republican-controlled county council and state Legislature.

“Democrats love their country and that’s why we are fighting so hard for the preservation of democracy,” county Chairwoman Edie Hardcastle said. “We are fighting for our flag and the rule of law as long as it is applied to all Americans, and the freedom of religion so we can all worship as we like in the United States.”

The sheriff in neighboring Posey County and the mayor of Hobart in northwestern Indiana’s Lake County also changed to Republican allegiances earlier this summer.