Soap opera continues
District Attorney General Neal Pinkston must have bad luck or bad timing. On the same day this week that he officially kicked off his campaign for re-election, Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd called on him to fire his wife and brother-in-law from positions in his office and then for him to resign, and a former employee of the office filed an incident report with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) detailing a bitter internet exchange with Pinkston’s wife.
“I hope DA Pinkston terminates his wife and brother-in-law immediately,” Boyd said Wednesday, “… and I duly and respectfully ask for his immediate resignation because I think he’s failed the office. He’s failed the community.”
After a recent report from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office determined that employing his wife, Melydia Clewell, her husband’s chief of staff, and his brother-in-law, Kerry Clewell, an investigator, was in violation of the Tennessee State Employees Uniform Nepotism Policy Act, Pinkston put them on paid leave.
Following that, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III wrote the district attorney general, agreeing with the findings of the comptroller’s office.
Meanwhile, Pinkston announced his re-election bid, saying, “I did not take your faith in me lightly when you allowed me to be your district attorney in 2014.”
On the same day, according to an online news source, the former employee filed a report after a Facebook message exchange between her and Clewell, a screen shot of which an HCSO investigator said had been uploaded to evidence.com.
Pinkston faces Republican primary opposition from Coty Wamp in May. Former Hamilton County Commissioner John Allen Brooks, a Democrat, will be on the August ballot to face the primary winner.
Free rides for four
Four candidates for the Hamilton County Commission will get free rides through the primary and general election.
When qualifying closed last month, incumbent Chip Baker in District 2, incumbent Warren Mackey in District 4 and Lee Helton in District 7 had no opposition in the May and August elections.
Greg Martin in District 3 drew a Republican primary opponent in longtime Chattanooga Public Works Department administrator Justin Holland, but Holland withdrew his candidacy in time so that his name would not be on the ballot.
As many as four commission hopefuls haven’t faced primary or general election opposition since 2002, when four candidates found themselves in the same fortunate position.
In that year, incumbent Richard Casavant in District 2, incumbent Jo Ann Favors in District 5, incumbent Ben Miller in District 6 and incumbent Bill Hullander in District 9 faced no opposition in either election.
We mentioned last week that Helton was the first non-incumbent candidate to face no opposition in a county commission contest since the Rev. Paul McDaniel in the county’s first commission race in 1978.
We wish all candidates were opposed, though.
Even if a current office-holder is doing a good job in office, we feel an opponent forces incumbents to cite what they’ve done for their constituents and answer questions on the record instead of giving pat information, and it can allow voters to hear conflicting opinions on important issues in the county.
Garrett first in 50 years
Austin Garrett, chief deputy with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, also is on a direct flight to election as sheriff in August, having no Republican primary or general election opposition.
He is the first candidate for the office in more than 50 years to be so unencumbered.
In 1970, then-Sheriff H.Q. Evatt did not face anyone in the May Democratic primary or the August general election. Since then, either election or both have been contested.
One would have to go back even farther than 50 years to find the last non-incumbent sheriff’s office candidate to have no opposition.
Nearly three years ago, Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond said he wouldn’t run for a fourth four-year term, and endorsed Garrett. That early endorsement may have cautioned others who might have been considering the race.
Another day, another rumor
Hamilton County mayoral candidate Matt Hullander, a Republican, has taken to Facebook to quash rumors about his campaign.
“[I]f the day ends in a ‘y,’ there’s probably going to be a new rumor about our campaign,” he said on a Facebook post.
The most recent, he said, was that he just plays golf and goes to Hawaii. He had been to Hawaii, he said, about eight or nine years ago, and he said he hadn’t played golf “in months.”
And then, he said, this “assumption that I’ve made it through life riding my daddy’s coattails.” His father, Bill, is the Hamilton County trustee and before that was a longtime Hamilton County commissioner. To counter such thoughts, Hullander showed numerous plaques on his walls, emblematic of the service the company that he bought from his father and sold last year did.
The last rumor, he said, was that his family foundation “was bogus.” He said anyone who questioned it could call the Generosity Trust or his attorney.
“If you’re a buddy of mine,” he said, “I’d appreciate you sticking up for me.”