COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: County Judge Criticized

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County Republican legislators criticized the county’s Democrat executive, County Judge Marilyn Edwards, Wednesday saying she plays partisan favorites when assigning committee leadership.

The Washington County Republican Women, a group affiliated with the larger county Republican Committee, invited Republican justices of the peace to speak at their monthly luncheon.

Partisan politics have been rare in Washington County before last year. Most of the debate usually lies between rural and urban justices of the peace.

“This current administration, they’re the ones partisan, not us,” Justice of the Peace Rex Bailey said. “Five Democrats on the Quorum Court, four of them got chairmanships.”

The county judge selects committee leadership under state law. Edwards was unavailable to comment Wednesday because a family member was giving birth.

“I know that she’s dedicated to the people of Washington County,” said Dan Short, Edward’s chief of staff. “Republican or Democrat, it doesn’t make any difference to her.”

Bailey, along with Justices of the Peace Tom Lundstrum, Gary Carnahan, Butch Pond and Rick Cochran attended Wednesday’s luncheon. Remarks about Edwards were part of several issues addressed by the group, including a county animal shelter and census figures. The group did praise Edwards for the county’s response the Cincinnati tornado.

Of the seven county committees, five are led by Democrats. The Jail/Law Enforcement Committee is filled entirely with Republicans. Three committees have a Republican majority. One committee has a Democrat majority. Two committees are politically balanced.

Bailey said Edwards removed two senior Republicans, Justices of the Peace Micah Neal and Joe Patterson, from the county’s Finance Committee.

The county’s Finance Committee has six members. The committee was politically balanced with each party having three members in 2010 and this year.

Bailey and Justice of the Peace Candy Clark, a Democrat, were the only two Quorum Court members who kept their spot on the Finance Committee. Edwards chose Clark as the committee’s leader.

Two Democrats who sat on the Finance Committee last year are no longer serving terms, Steve Zega and Jack Norton.

Edwards replaced the four vacancies with Republicans Mary Ann Spears and Lundstrum and Democrats Eva Madison and Barbara Fitzpatrick.

Bailey does not lead any committee and said he was not asked to lead a committee. However, he said he was fine with his committee assignments.

“We took some heat at the last budget session about being partisan,” Bailey said. “Well, we’re not that partisan, it passed. This current administration, they’re the ones partisan, not us.”

The Quorum Court could not approve the county’s 2011 budget last December by a two-thirds majority after six of the seven Republicans split with Democrats over a last minute 4-percent cut.

After two failed attempts, the county approved the budget through a simple majority of seven-to-six votes. Spears voted with county Democrats.

The Quorum Court now has eight Republicans out of 13, after Cochran replaced Norton.

“One of my frustrations being on the outside looking in is that we’ve got eight Republicans that we worked our tails off to get elected and five Democrats,” said Robin Lundstrum, a member of the women’s group. “Yet we’re still getting beat by our own. It’s extremely frustrating to watch that process. I would love to see our Republicans manning up and charging up the hill. If we need to get new Republicans, that’s fine too.”

Short said Edwards is a conservative leader. As an example, he said Edwards chose to buy two 2007 Jeep Commanders for herself and him in 2009 when she entered office.

The Quorum Court, he said, gave the county judge’s office $50,000 for the vehicle purchases before she took office. She spent around $36,000, he said.

“I hate to see these types of comments come out,” Short said. “It saddens me that we have to deal with such important matters with this type of rhetoric.”