Primary races set for four counties

3 quorum courts to get new chiefs

Four counties in Northwest Arkansas will have primary races for county judges May 20, three of them without incumbents.

One of the busiest races will be in Franklin County, where County Judge Janet Powell will not run because she is barred from doing so by state law.

Members of the Franklin County Quorum Court appointed her to the position midway through the elected term of her husband, Joe Powell, who retired March 1, 2013, after serving as county judge for more than 35 years.

Under Arkansas law, someone who is appointed to finish a county judge’s term cannot run for county judge in the next election.

In a February 2013 news release, Joe Powell said he was retiring because of his decision in 2006 to enroll in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan, which requires enrollees to retire within seven years or forfeit a portion of their retirement savings.

Powell had indicated that he planned to return to public service after 90 days off the public payroll, but in March 2013, state legislators amended Arkansas Code Annotated 14-14-1310 to prohibit elected officials from being reappointed to any office from which they resign within the same term.

There are four Democrats, two Republicans and one independent on the ballot for Franklin County judge. The Democrats who will face off in the primary are Frank Loren Maier, Rickey Bowman, DeWayne Freeman and Larry Stacy. The Republican candidates are Cody Sosebee and Fred Nichols.

The winners of the primary contest will face independent candidate Joe Flanagan in the general election Nov. 4.

B oone and Johnson counties don’t have an incumbent candidate for the county judge’s office, either. Both Boone County Judge James Norton and Johnson County Judge Mike Jacobs are retiring from public office.

Norton first took office Jan. 1, 2011, and previously served six years as a state representative for District 85. He didn’t return repeated messages seeking comment.

Boone County’s May primary features three Republican candidates: Robert Hathaway, Dan Harnessand Danny L. Hall. The winner will face two independent candidates, Garry Bundy and Bobby Woods, in November.

In Johnson County, Jacobs, who first took office in 1991, will retire in December.

There are three Democratic candidates competing in the May primary: James Melson, Herman Houston and David Graves. Because no candidate from another party has filed, the primary will decide the race.

Jacobs, who is running for the county’s 1st District justice of the peace position, said whoever is ultimately elected county judge will face both financial and environmental regulatory challenges in the management of Johnson County.

Jacobs said the county had been hit hard by the loss of funds from the federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, a U.S. Agriculture Department program. It compensates counties with National Forest land for property-tax revenue they might receive if the land could be privatelyowned or commercially developed.

Although the county was to receive approximately $100,000 in funds from the program in 2013, the federal sequestration that went into effect in January 2013 reduced the funding amount by about a third, Jacobs said.

Jacobs said other issues, including potential new guidelines under the federal Endangered Species Act and frequent overcrowding of the Johnson County jail, will further test the new county judge’s ability to allocate funds and meet the county’s needs.

Benton County Judge Bob Clinard will face two challengers from his own party in May’s primary race: Republicans Dale King and Ronnie L. Smith. Benton County is one of only two counties in Northwest Arkansas with populations exceeding 200,000, the other being Washington County. With no other candidates in the race, the winner will be decided in the primary.

In races with multiple candidates, one hopeful must earn one vote more than 50 percent of the votes to be declared the winner. The primary runoff is June 10.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 03/24/2014

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