Former election commissioner speaks out; Holt responds
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WEAKLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — Wayne Chester served on the Weakley County Election Commission for more than 14 years until he was removed over the weekend by State Rep. Andy Holt. Both said it is because of the commission’s upcoming decision on who should replace the outgoing administrator of elections. Holt said in last week’s election commission meeting he asked the commissioners to consider Alex Britt to be appointed as their administrator. Britt is one of Holt’s campaign volunteers. “Loyalty should beget loyalty, and that’s why I made the recommendation for him [Britt] to serve in this capacity,” Holt said. Former Election Commissioner Wayne Chester said the commission wanted a more transparent method to hire a new administrator and should open the job up to applicants. “He [Holt] wanted to submit his man for the job, which is a perfect right, but my personal opinion and the opinion of the other two commissioners was that this should be more transparent than that,” Chester said. Holt said he felt like the commission immediately dismissed his referral in last week’s meeting. Chester said he felt pressured to support Holt’s recommendation or they would be dismissed from the commission. “If we do not agree to support this person, then he [Holt] has the privilege of replacing us and re-appointing three new people who will do his bidding for him,” Chester said. Because of previous and following conversations with the commissioners, Holt felt it was best to “change some of the players out” to help better serve the county. Weakley County Republican Party Chairman David Hawks said this conflict has split the Republican Party in Weakley County. “There’s no middle ground they seem like they can reach, so when that happens if you don’t have that working relationship, things aren’t going to progress,” Hawks said. Hawks said at this point he wants to focus on reunifying the Republican Party in Weakley County. Holt said he believes this rift in the party will heal in a few weeks after replacements for the election commission are finalized. Chester also agrees the party needs to work together to avoid disintegrating the Republican Party in Weakley County. Holt denies Alex Britt was his campaign manager or was ever paid by his campaign .
The new election commissioners will be official after the State Election Commission approves the appointments.
