Observer,

That doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Wyrick held the officeof interim Clerk for only a few weeks, while Ms. Swaim was Clerk (and sat onthe money) for nearly a year before she turned the money over at a politicallyopportune time.

Observer wrote: Mike,   I've been watching this race for awhile.  My question regarding Jeff's claim about the $1M dollars would be that if the money was there before Mary took office why didn't he or his predicesor return it when they had the chance in previous years?  I do enjoy his bio particularly the part where he describes himself as being treated as a "rock star" at Association meetings.

Observer,

If I understand the mechanics of it correctly (and I amunsure that I do), it had always been the policy under previous Clerks of Courtto transfer surpluses to the General Fund once a year at the end of the fiscalyear. The small surpluses in previous years made this a non-issue until anincrease in fees and the “cash for clunkers” program caused surpluses to grow.

When former Clerk of Courts Cindy Carpenter became a CountyCommissioner, Jeff Wyrick (who had been working in the Clerk of Courts officefor ten years) was appointed interim Clerk of Court but served inthat office for only a few weeks.  He waspreparing to return the surplus funds on a monthly basis when the CentralCommittee met to appoint a Clerk to serve until the next election.  Mr. Wyrick lost by only a few votes to MarySwaim (his opponent in the upcoming primary election).  Ms. Swaim, chose NOT to turn over the surplusfunds but instead sat on the surplus until she felt she could make a politicalpoint out of it.