Six seek to unseat indicted Jackson

Challengers cite need for integrity, openness

With the backdrop of a criminal indictment, six primary candidates want to deny incumbent Otis Jackson a second term as Shelby County General Sessions Court clerk.

On the primary ballot are Democrats Marion Brewer, County Commission chairman Sidney Chism, Ed Stanton Jr. and Karen Woodward along with Republicans James R. Finney and Rick Rout.

Jackson, a Democrat, was elected in 2008. In July 2011 he was indicted on four counts of criminal misconduct, accused of pressuring staff members to contribute to his re - election campaign. His trial is July 16.

The clerk’s office has a budget of about $8 million and receives more than $24 million in revenues.

With 28 years of experience in the Criminal and General Sessions Court clerk’s office, Stanton said he knows what the problems are and how to fix them.

“We’ve done extensive work to make the computer system more user friendly and we’re equally concerned about the security of the records and the accounting system,” said Stanton, who has

run the office since August following Jackson’s suspension.

It was poor customer service that propelled Woodward, a small business owner, into the race.

When a lifelong friend was killed by a drunk driver, it took help from friends in attorneys’ offices to navigate the clerk’s office and get information on the case, she said.

“We pay for this. We have already paid for this,” Woodward said

She said it will take the right person to bring together a team that will use technology and new procedures to make for easier accessing the clerk’s office by telephone, the Internet or in person.

Another big problem there is the longtime status quo, Finney said. As a process server, he’s dealt with the office for 24 years.

DEMOCRATS

“The way it is today is the way it’s always been,” Finney said.

Workers are afraid to speak out, but they’ve Karen told him they Woodward want change.

“The people seem to get elected and they get in their cubbyhole and they forget about the public,” Finney said. “The court (clerk) as long as I’ve been there has never been sensitive or included the general public in a lot of ways.”

Brewer agrees that the office doesn’t serve the public well, particularly those with low incomes.

He said they should be allowed to take a “pauper’s oath,” which allows them to have fees waived when filing court papers.

And in light of Jackson’s troubles, Brewer would establish an ethics committee. “So workers would know what to expect, what they James Finney can do, what can be demanded of them and what shouldn’t be demanded of them,” Brewer said.

It was Jackson’s problems that prompted Rout to run, he said. Rout was approached by supporters from both parties who wanted someone in the office who could work both sides of the aisle, he said.

“We’ve got to restore the honesty and integrity and accountability of that office,” he said. “The second thing is restore public confidence.”

Chism stated at a recent candidates forum that he is running to restore integrity to the office.

But Jackson said at that same forum that he believes his legal problems are “political.” — Linda A. Moore:

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