Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper has said that state Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, does not have to step down from his House seat if the Republican party nominates him for Hamilton County sheriff in the Aug. 7 election.
State law says no member of the General Assembly can be “nominated or commissioned” to be sheriff.
“We think that the term ‘nominated and commissioned’ as used in (the law) is best read as referring to the final selection of a sheriff by qualified voters and not the nomination of a candidate for sheriff by a political party,” the attorney general’s opinion states.
The Hamilton County Republican Party will select its nominee March 27.
Also seeking the nomination are former Chief Deputy Jim Hammond, Hamilton County Chief Ranger Fred Fuson, Chattanooga police Lt. Tim Carroll and former Red Bank police Chief Ronnie Dodd.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.
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