By Ray King
Jefferson County Election Commissioner Theodis (Ted) Davis was censured by his two fellow commissioners during a meeting Friday night.
Commission Chairman Mike Adam and Commission Secretary Stuart Soffer voted for the censure, which Soffer had called for in a letter to Adam dated Friday.
In that letter, Soffer said Davis “delivered a partisan political attack on me at the Sept. 10 County Board of Election Commissioners meeting.” He went on to say that Davis’ statements mirrored a similar attack against him by the Chairman of the State Democratic Party, who has lodged complaints against against both Soffer and Davis.
During the meeting, Adam said that during that Sept. 10 meeting, “one commissioner (Davis) decided to bring up personal items that had nothing to do with election commission business.”
Minutes from that meeting, prepared by Soffer, said “the attack was about an obscure blog post in another country which had nothing to do with Jefferson County Elections or Commissioner Davis as an election commissioner.
Davis was responding to comments Soffer allegedly made about the Pulaski County Clerk, and after the meeting said Soffer had called the clerk “a bitch.” He also listed what he said was a number of incidents involving himself and Soffer including Soffer having pulled a gun on him following a meeting several years ago.
Adam adjourned the meeting shortly after Davis asked “what’s going to happen to me? Am I going to go to jail?’ and Soffer saying he would make the appropriate entry into the minutes. After the meeting, Adam said Davis was simply warned that his comments were unacceptable.
In other business, Soffer said the issue of County Judge Gerald Robinson disallowing approved vouchers has been resolved. He said he met with Robinson’s Chief of Staff Pam Jenkins and provided additional information on some of the claims.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Soffer said. “Some people don’t understand what we do.”
This is a developing story. Check back later for more details.
