In election for sheriff,
Day faces fired employee
By Queenie Wong
Robert Clark, the former deputy who was hoping to replace Rockbridge County Sheriff Bob Day in today's election, still questions the honesty of his former boss. Results of the countywide election, which includes Lexington voters, are not yet known.
Last April, Day fired Clark after word spread of the deputy's interest in running for sheriff. Clark says it was not an isolated incident.
"The sheriff has made a habit out of firing people," Clark said.
Clark brought up a 1992 case where three deputies -- Vernon Reynolds, Ron Hall and Thomas O. Hickman -- sued the sheriff for failure to re-hire them after Day first won the election. Reynolds and Hall argued that they were not re-hired because of their political affiliation. In a federal lawsuit, they said that was a violation of their constitutional rights. Hickman dropped out of the case when it went to trial.
Day argued that their job performance was the issue, not political affiliation. When asked about the case, Day said that he didn't consider the incident a firing because the deputies technically never worked for him.
U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding Hall $66,743.72 and Reynolds $44,412.40, according to federal court documents.
After the case, Hickman and Hall worked at the Virginia Department of Corrections. Hickman retired, but Hall is currently the lead investigator for the department's internal affairs division in Richmond.
Vernon Reynolds, now the deputy superintendent of the Middle River Regional Jail, said that he's rooting for Clark, but acknowledged defeating Day in today's election would be a challenge.
"I say he's got an uphill battle to defeat Day," said Reynolds.
In a previous interview with The Rockbridge Report, Day said of his firing of Clark that it would be foolish to keep paying deputies who did not support him.
Clark said that he would not follow Day's lead by firing any current deputies if he won today's election.
"I know what it feels like," he said.
But that was not the only new issue Clark was stressing days before the election.
He accused Day of hiring and promoting employees based on their race and gender. Clark said he would base his hiring and promotion policies on qualifications alone. He said Day would not hire a woman to patrol the roads.
Day acknowledged he has no females on road patrol, but he said that gender does not play a role when he hires road deputies. He called Clark's accusations against him a sign of desperation.
The candidates also disagreed on another point – whether overtime paid to deputies to patrol the interstates comes from a state Department of Motor Vehicles grant or from the county.
Clark said it comes from the county, and that Day was misleading the public to say it comes from a DMV grant. Day said his opponent needs to check his facts.
County Finance Director Robert Claytor clarified the issue, saying both men are partly right. The extra hours deputies spend patrolling the interstates are funded by both the DMV grant and local money from traffic fines, he said.
County supervisors gave the sheriff the authority to use the traffic-fine money for the first time this year, Claytor said. County tax dollars do pay for the deputies' gasoline bill, though, he said.
Since the race for sheriff started, Day has spent almost twice as much on his campaign as his opponent, according to documents from the county Registrar's Office. Day spent $4,387.54 to Clark's $2,400.02.
The sheriff, undefeated in the last four elections, said that there were no new issues in his campaign since he last spoke to The Rockbridge Report.
Both candidates said that their campaigns had gone well.
Clark said that despite the outcome of the election, he's already made new friends.
"It's been a great experience," he said.
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd