In my last column, I discussed how the Rick Boyer faction has dominated the Campbell County Republican Party, driving qualified candidates away. I believe that their strategy was to lure the qualified candidates into a primary election and defeat them at that level. This would have rendered them ineligible to run as independents.
Wisely, none of them took the bait and all filed to run as Independents. This left the Republicans stuck with some of the most unqualified and in some cases, totally off-the-wall candidates.
With the Obama economic slowdown and unfunded mandates from the federal and state governments plus an anticipated reduction in state funding, experience is the key issue this election.
Steve Hutcherson for Sheriff
The only contested county-wide race is for Sheriff. With Terry Gaddy’s retirement, his second in command, Major Steve Hutcherson, is the only qualified candidate. He has Gaddy’s full support and endorsement.
Steve, running as an Independent, has 28 years of law enforcement experience and eight years of administrative experience, making him the only logical choice.
Steve has two opponents. Paul Adams is a retired deputy sheriff. Although he has law enforcement experience, he lacks the all-important administrative experience a sheriff needs. The vast majority of the current deputy sheriffs are supporting Steve Hutcherson.
The Republican candidate, Richard Irvin, lacks both law enforcement and administrative experience. One of his campaign issues is eliminating what he calls “speed traps.” My guess is that he has been ticketed for speeding in the past.
Traffic enforcement is only used when a problem exists, usually when there are speeders in residential areas. It looks like Irvin is siding with the offenders rather than the citizens.
Re-elect Eddie Gunter as Concord
There is also a three-way race for Concord District Supervisor. Eddie Gunter, with 20 years of experience, is challenged by two other candidates.
Eddie was elected as a Republican four years ago but is running as an Independent this year. He has serves as Board Chairman three separate times, cast the deciding vote to roll the automatic property tax increase back to $.46 from $.47, and adopted policies that resulted in turning a projected deficit of $500,000 into a surplus of $300,000 in FY 2011.
Ed Foster, also running as an Independent, almost defeated Gunter last time because many Gunter voters stayed home on Election Day. He is running again this year and is spreading half-truths and distortions among the voters. He is insinuating that board members discuss county matters privately outside the public meetings. Knowing many board members very well, I can attest that this is untrue.
Foster is also saying he would not accept the stipend pay the supervisors receive, just over $6 thousand per year. Policies Eddie Gunter supported saved the county $800,000 as compared to Foster’s $6,000 savings.
The Republican candidate is Gary Stewart, a newcomer to the district. It appears one of the motivating factors in his candidacy is that county zoning would not allow him to build a shed where he wanted to.
The other factor is that Rick Boyer has been trying to defeat Eddie Gunter for years. Up until now, he had been unsuccessful in recruiting a candidate to oppose him. It would appear that has recruited Stewart to be a “spoiler” in this election, drawing votes from Gunter and giving Foster a win. I believe Boyer is exploiting Stewart and really does not care who wins, as long as Gunter loses.
Re-elect Steve Shockley as Sunburst Supervisor
Shockley was a strong supported of Sheila Bosiger last year in the Clerk of Court race, which alienated him and Boyer. What Shockley and the rest of us have learned that if you politically oppose Boyer once, you are persona non grata forever.
Shockley, the current Chairman of the Board, has served with distinction. Unlike his predecessor Boyer, Shockley’s first two years were a period of learning. He spoke little and listened a lot. Boyer, on the other hand, felt compelled to lecture fellow board members, which is probably why none supported him last year.
Boyer recruited Republican Tip Killingsworth to oppose Shockley. A very reliable source told me, “ Tip told me once that as to politics, he just does what Rick Boyer says, because he doesn’t have time to study it on his own.”
It would appear that Boyer failed to tell Killingsworth that when running for office, you need to file periodic financial reports. Consequently, Killingsworth was fined twice, $100 each, for failing to comply and a Special Prosecutor was assigned because he failed to pay the fine within the 60 day period required.
If Killingsworth can’t do a simple thing such as running a campaign, how does he expect to run a county?
Outspoken conservative Josh Pratt had hopes of running for this seat but he made the mistake of opposing Rick Boyer on one issue so Boyer selected Jim Borland instead. Of all the Republican candidates, Borland is perhaps the least objectionable; however he lacks the roots and in-depth experience in the district to serve it well as supervisor.
Paul McAndrews for Commonwealth’s Attorney
With Commonwealth’s Attorney Neil Vener retiring, his chief deputy Paul McAndrews is running unopposed to fill that vacancy. I speculate Boyer would have loved to run for that position, but with the humiliating defeat he took last year, that would have been futile.
Boyer just publicly endorsed McAndrews but failed to endorse any of the other Republican candidates when he had the chance. That begs the question, why would Boyer endorse someone who needs no endorsement? I believe the answer is that Boyer, a freshly minted attorney, needs a job.
If McAndrews should be foolish enough to hire him as a deputy, he will likely be looking at Boyer as an opponent in four years.
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