Candidates question county

The death of Loudon County Commissioner Harold Duff earlier this month leaves commission the task of appointing a replacement.

By law, commission has 120 days to fill the vacancy in District 5, seat A. The term of the appointment will last until the next county general election in August 2024.

Commissioners briefly discussed the issue at a Nov. 21 workshop. The first time commission can vote on an appointment will be at Monday’s regular monthly meeting.

Fellow District 5 Commissioner Van Shaver said at the workshop he will be recommending Joe Morrison, a District 5 resident.

Morrison is a 25-year employee of Covenant Health where he works in the IT Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Tusculum College and an associate degree in business management and information technology from Roane State Community College.

He said he has always been interested in state and local politics.

“I am a conservative Republican,” Morrison said. “I knew Mr. Duff for 40 years and we share the same values, especially a great interest in education.”

Morrison is married to Duff’s niece.

Shaver said historically commission has chosen a family member to finish the term of a deceased elected official. In 2001 at the death of Commissioner Ted Randolph, his daughter-in-law was appointed. In 2017 at the death of Loudon County Board of Education Member Ric Best, commissioners appointed his wife to finish his term, Shaver said.

Shaver introduced Morrison to other commissioners at the workshop. Morrison also briefly addressed commission.

“It would be an honor to finish out Mr. Duff’s term,” Morrison said.

Duff, Pat Hunter and David Ball ran for the seat in the May primary. Duff received 1,097 votes, Ball garnered 700 votes and Hunter finished with 382 votes.

Ball and Hunter believe they should be considered for the appointment.

Ball said he has not been contacted by anyone on commission in regards to the vacancy.

“The problem I have with this is that Mr. Morrison did not run a campaign; he did not invest his own money or raise money for his campaign as I did,” Ball said.

“Mr. Morrison has not spoken to the voters; he has not made known his views and overall politics.”

Commission has a big responsibility to make the right choice, Ball said. Because the election was six months ago, the commission decision is not for a “temporary replacement” but nearly the full term, he said.

“It is my belief that the candidate with the second-highest vote total should be automatically considered and that each county commissioner can recommend an eligible resident if they so choose and that the county commission must have a unanimous vote for the replacement,” Ball said.

Hunter said she believes the appointment should be made based on qualifications, including attending commission meetings, knowledge of the issues and commitment to the office.

“I believe they should be considering the candidates that ran for that office,” she said. “They showed the commitment to run in the election.”

She said selecting someone for office based on who they are related to is nepotism and should be discouraged.

“This county does not have a nepotism policy and it’s because nepotism is behind everything, including county hiring policies,” Hunter said.

Shaver said he didn’t believe appointing any of the candidates from the August election would be the correct course of action.

“This isn’t NASCAR, there are no points for second and third place,” Shaver said. “The voters have already rejected those candidates.”

Eddie Simpson lost a bid for District 5, seat B against Shaver. Simpson lives in District 5 and is a member of Lenoir City Council.

Simpson said he thinks appointing one of the candidates from the district who ran in the election would be a fair way to decide the issue. He said he has not been contacted about the position and doesn’t think it would be right for him. He also said he has no objections to the appointment of someone from the Duff family to the seat.

Another name mentioned in discussions about the appointment is Julia Hurley, former commissioner from District 2. Hurley lost in the primary and has since moved to District 5. She said she has not been contacted about the position.

Hurley said appointing the next highest vote-getter would be fair but probably wouldn’t happen due to “small town politics.”