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Gary Drinkard
DAYTON, Tenn. — Rhea County election commissioners last week rehired former administrator Theresa Snyder in a 3-2 vote that showed the new Republican dominance on the panel.
Republican Election Commissioner Gary Drinkard said Mrs. Snyder was simply the best-qualified person for the job. He and fellow Republicans Dennis Tumlin and Tom Taylor cast the deciding votes on the five-member panel.
“The change to put somebody on there that had been considered qualified by both parties, it’s a good feeling,” Mr. Drinkard said. He wasn’t on the panel in 2007 when Mrs. Snyder was hired by the Democrat-dominated panel. At the time, some Democrats said commissioners suspected Mrs. Snyder of Republican sympathies, according to newspaper archives.
THE STORY SO FAR
Tennessee Republicans in November won a 50-49 majority in the House and took over the Senate, 19-14. All 95 county election commissions lost a Democratic seat and gained a Republican seat in April. Now, many Republican-led offices are replacing election administrators hired by Democrats.
Democratic election commissioners Helen Kincannon and Johnny Harwood said they supported applicant James Campbell but said the switch to the former administrator wasn’t unexpected.
“The Democrats have had (control) for 140-something years,” Ms. Kincannon said. “The Republicans got it and they’re happy, and I don’t blame them.
“Theresa, I’m sure, can do a good job. We’ve worked with her before,” she said. “Once we get all the politics laid down, we work for the good of the community and the office and the people.”
The vote brings the battle for the seat full circle.
Mrs. Snyder was first named to the post in February 2007. In March 2007, Rhea County’s Democratic Party leader was ousted. Two Democratic election commissioners were replaced and Mrs. Snyder was fired in May 2007.
Her replacement was Brenda Dodson, a Democrat, who resigned in March of this year.
Deputy Administrator Christy Hixson has been keeping the office going, but she said Monday she’ll be looking for work soon.
“I talked with (Mrs. Snyder) back in November and she said she was coming back, and she said she had obligated herself to someone else,” Ms. Hixson said.
“That’s how it goes,” she said. “That’s politics.”
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
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