Wanted: County judge

Drama precedes election in Washington County

It’s still hard to fathom just how dramatic the race for the next Washington County judge has turned out this year.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a judge specially appointed to hear the Democratic Party’s legal attempt to keep a Republican off the November ballot determined that the GOP followed proper procedure. That procedure was necessitated by an early July decision by state Rep. Micah Neal, the candidate who very well may have won in November, to drop out of the contest.

Suddenly, Democrat Mark Kinion, an alderman in Fayetteville, was the lone candidate in a race with no incumbent. Marilyn Edwards, the current Democratic county judge, will leave office when her term expires in January.

Neal initially said family and business concerns convinced him to drop out of the race, which he announced plans to seek clear back in May 2015. And, yes, according to testimony in the litigation, he’s not making up excuses. According to Neal’s own description, his family suggested he get busy running Neal’s Cafe in Springdale or get busy in the world of politics, but not both. Sticking with the family business meant he didn’t have to live in Washington County, so he took an opportunity to move to Lowell. A Benton County resident can’t serve as Washington County judge.

The Democrats sued, however, insisting that Neal’s initial announcement of withdrawal did not meet the legal qualifications for allowing the GOP to select a replacement candidate.

Even as the litigation lingered, Republicans reconvened a county convention with three entrants interested in trying to replace Neal. Two former or soon-tobe former lawmakers — Bill Pritchard and Jon Woods — and Joseph K. Wood, a Fayetteville resident who nonetheless works for Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin at the state Capitol in Little Rock. The Republican delegates selected Wood.

So to replace a candidate who lived in Washington County but supposedly moved to Benton County, the GOP selected a candidate who has spent a lot of time in recent years in Little Rock but who still claims Fayetteville as his residence? Residency makes strange bedfellows. But Wood it is. The judge’s ruling mean’s his name can appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. But does that settle it?

It depends on what judges at a higher level say; the Democrats promised they would appeal the ruling.

While Republicans have had great electoral successes across the state in recent years, the Democratic Party stands ready to bar the door to keep a new Republican nominee from even having a shot at a November victory. And, one of the key signs the saga has risen well beyond local politics was the remark by Doyle Webb, state chairman of state Republican Party, after the recent court victory: “The Democratic Party is simply using a smoke screen to cover the inadequacies of their candidate.”

Whew! That’s some hardball politickin’. It might be a sign of things to come.

Wood’s decision to keep his job with the Secretary of State’s Office raised eyebrows. It would seem hard to a lot of folks to operate a campaign for local office in Washington County when there’s state-paid work to be done in Little Rock. Wood says he can take his personal time for campaigning on nights and weekend. Given the way his boss runs the secretary’s office, maybe it should be no surprise Wood can pull off such a long-distance campaign. Or will it be long-distance office work?

Who’s responsible for this mess? We’ll just say there are pitfalls to announcing one’s intention to seek public office more than a year before the election. A lot can — and did — change. Perhaps it was all unavoidable. And perhaps waiting would have also allowed matters to settle out without litigation, political parties and substitute candidates.

Maybe voters can soon start hearing more about how Kinion and Wood propose to lead Washington County and less about the fight over who gets to stay on the ballot.