This evening, the saga and fate of the Election Administrator of Unicoi County ended as the Unicoi County Election Commissioners voted to keep Mrs. Bailey. Bailey, a Democrat, has been under tremendous pressure since the Republicans gained control of the state legislature in the November election.

Prior to the meeting, two of the newly appointed Republican Election Commissioners (Charles Apple and Richard Parshall) resigned. After discussion on various routine business matters and after several people spoke in behalf of Mrs. Bailey; including several elected Republican officials, the subject turned to Mrs. Bailey’s position. Commissioner David Logan read a resolution to keep Mrs. Bailey. All three Commissioners voted to keep Mrs. Bailey.

The situation with Mrs. Bailey’s job became solely political and heated when a letter from David Hawk, Representative of District 5, surfaced, encouraging the Unicoi County Republican Party to oust Sarah Bailey because the Administrator’s position was a politically appointed position, in his view. The letter was dated March 24th and addressed to Terry Haynes, Chair of the Unicoi County Republican Party at that time.

The real political eruption occurred when the state GOP overrode the wishes of the Unicoi County Republican Party in April by rejecting their three nominees for Election Commissioners. Under a veil of secrecy and lies, three new Republican Election Commissioners was named.

In April, the Unicoi County Republican Party vented its displeasure and anger with the decision of the state to override the wishes of the people of the county. Mr. Hawk responded that he submitted the names received by the party to the state. But Tennessee Election Commissioner Tom Dubois, from Columbia, said he never saw the list of the three slots that the Unicoi County Republican Party put forth.

Mr. Hawk responded to local Republican criticism of him with an interview in the Johnson City Press on April 10th, stating that it was the leaders of the Unicoi County Republican Party who wanted Mrs. Bailey replaced. GOP county chairwoman Kristan Allen said that she always felt Sarah should keep her job but stated they were under the impression that the change had to be made. Hawk said that county Republican officials were concerned about alleged activities by Mrs. Bailey and requested the letter he sent on March 24th that encouraged replacement of Mrs. Bailey.

One week after this exchange between Mr. Hawk and Mrs. Allen, Mr. Hawk was warmly welcomed by the Unicoi County Republican Party at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Unicoi County.

The situation with Mrs. Bailey’s job took an even more bizarre twist, four days later when new Commissioner Mr. Charles Apple said, “Administrator’ Bailey, by her own volition, choose to embrace a platform ideology, which is extremely liberal in its values and principles and opposes those values upon which our Republic was founded”. These comments were met with a firestorm of outrage by Unicoi County citizens mostly consisting of Republicans. Democrats remained quiet throughout the months of bizarre events surrounding Mrs. Bailey’s job.

Sadly, Mrs. Bailey, a new mother, had to weather this political storm that kept her a hostage and victim of this purely political situation but she remained professional and focused on her job throughout the storm that waged around her. In the end, the majority of people in Unicoi County did the right moral thing and supported Mrs. Bailey.