Brown County Commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to hold a special election for the position of county attorney, as Shane Britton recently announced his intention to run for Brown County Judge. The election will take place Nov. 8, 2022 but, if no Democrats or independents file for the position, the winner will be determined during the March 22 Republican Primary.
According to Brown County Elections Administrator, Larry Franks, anyone wishing to run for that office needs to apply with Robert Porter, the Republican Party County Chair, or Mike Bullard, the Democrat Party County Chair, by December 13. That is the filing deadline for the Primary Election on March 1st. The application fee is $750 or 245 signatures on a petition. Jennifer Broughton filed Monday with Republican Chairman Porter for the special election for the unexpired term for County Attorney.
Commissioners Courtroom was full Monday morning of interested citizens, most of them attended in regards to the County Attorney position. In regard to an agenda item that Britton step down as county attorney immediately and a replacement be appointed, no action was taken following a spirited discussion that included comments from Britton, Brown County Judge Paul Lilly, commissioners and those in attendance.
Lilly referenced the November 2011 state vote regarding Proposition 10 as to why a new county attorney should be appointed.
“It was designed to enact a constitutional amendment that later became Article 16, Section 65 which is the resign to run law,” Lilly said. “The intent of it was the moment someone sitting in office decides to that they wish to seek a higher office or lateral office, the moment they publicly declare that person immediately resigns that position. The holdover means that the constitution also says that person stays in their office until a qualified successor is appointed. In my opinion, the people have spoken. That article passed in Brown County by a huge margin.”
Assistant County Attorney Terri Moore was in attendance and when addressed by Lilly, she said she would “definitely be willing to serve if appointed, but it would be difficult to find somebody as an assistant given the short period of time.”
Britton spoke and said Lilly was “misleading” people based on Lilly’s interpretation of Article 16, Section 65.
Four people addressed the county commissioners and spoke in favor of Britton stepping down immediately, and more spoke from the crowd later in the meeting.
Earlier in the meeting Brown County Elections Administrator Larry Franks said, “The deadline to file is Dec. 13 which is not time for many applicants. Because of the timing, they would have to go through the primary. (Britton) has technically resigned with his filing, but does not have to step down.”
Brown County Court at Law Judge Sam Moss (shown in the photo) spoke about the need for both the county attorney and assistant county attorney positions to remain occupied.
“I don’t have a dog in the fight, but I need two lawyers in the county attorney’s office,” Moss said. “That’s what we need in order to keep our docket flowing. We’re behind two years already because of COVID and five months with only one prosecutor it will only get worse, not better. There are a lot of capable candidates to appoint as assistant county attorney, but you won’t find someone to fill the assistant role for only a few months.
“We still have a county attorney because holdover provisions say we do. Under the law we have a county attorney as a holdover until the voters of Brown County get to decide. Don’t take the decision out of the voters of Brown County’s hands, let them decide in a few months.”