A recount of the votes in last week’s election showed the same results as those released on election night.
Tracy Brooks, a candidate for probate judge of Jackson County, has asked for a recount of last week’s election results. Election superintendent Lori Wurtz said Wedneday afternoon that the results were the same.
Brooks had 78 votes less than the second place finisher, Donna Sikes. Brooks had 3,032 votes, while Sikes had 3,110. Sherry Moore had 3,502 votes.
Moore and Sikes are set to be in the run-off election on Aug. 21.
Election recount held: Probate judge numbers the same
Defined tags for this entry: Election
about his experience in Hall County.
Check back here early this coming week for updates and the facts.
He will do and say anything to win. If he can't be truthful on his experience
then how are we going to trust him with the power of the sheriff office?
More coming soon.
Irregularities in the HCSO budget and spending prompted a prominent real estate professional in Hall County to make an Open Records request in June 2011. This prominent citizen of Hall County then released a 60+ page report in September 2011 (with exhibits) as a result of information provided by the HCSO. This report, linked below, uncovered many serious concerns with the financial management of the Sheriff department. Remember, Gilbert has repeatedly stated one of his finest credentials is to have managed a $30million budget. Within this report you will find: major discrepancies of arrest records between Sheriff office and the county gov’t, that no budget or financial information was provided prior to 2005 due to a mysterious systems problem, that Overtime in the detention center that Gilbert managed was a runaway train and was almost 8% of the Sheriff budget – at the same time the private sector was reeling due to the recession, that promotions were handed liberally without no controls, that morale was very low due to poor management of the patrol car take home program and poor administration of the car replacement program. An eye-opening finding in this report is that Ramone Gilbert was a CONTRACT employee to the Sheriff office! As a contractor he still received over $12,000 annually for medical insurance. In private industry, if you are a contractor, you normally do not receive benefits from the company you are contracted with. Why hasn’t Gilbert told us he was a contractor? It is unclear if he was exempt from the furlough days as a contractor. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.
In summary - this open records request was made in June 2011, the following linked report was issued in September 2011 and then in October 2011 Ramone Gilbert retired after only 24 years in the Hall County Sheriff Office. Normally people don’t retire in their 40’s with less than 30 years experience. In closing, I will let you read the report and let you decide if Ramone Gilbert should be our Sheriff. Remember that he wants us to know about all the great things he did in the HCSO in managing the finances and the jail. Take a few minutes… Read this report, then decide …IF he indeed had managed 450 people daily, controlled the $30million budget and ran the 1000 bed jail THEN… he has a lot of explaining to do with the irregularities and issued uncovered with this report. The prominent and well known real estate broker that made this open records request and issued the following report was quoted as saying "As in any report or study, one question leads to twenty, twenty leads to 100, and this study leaves, unfortunately, the reader to ask many more questions” Ask yourself those questions and then think carefully before casting your vote for a person who was directly involved with the problematic HCSO operations and its finances.
Here is the link:
http://www.hallcountytruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Sheriff1.pdf
Yes, Major Gilbert was a contract employee as were all Majors and Colonels. What you failed to mention is that no furloughs were covered in his contract. BUT HE STILL TOOK FULROUGHS EVERY MONTH. Retirement freeze was not in his contract. BUT HIS RETIREMENT WAS FROZEN JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSES. When this review board suggested that all employees that lived outside of Hall Co. lose their take home cars. MAJOR GILBERT GAVE UP HIS TAKE HOME CAR. He didn't have to do all of these things freely because he was under contract. BUT HE DID! He is a man who stands with his employees. He is fair. He RETIRED because he was running for Sheriff in Jackson County and it was the right thing to do. Sort of makes me wonder why all of the employees of the Jackson County Sheriffs Department were allowed to keep working and politicing on duty.
Jackson County would be lucky to have his as Sheriff.
What we must remember is that times change. What worked 8,10,12 years ago doesn't work anymore. We need someone who can lead us forward. I check the website that Mr. Gilbert referred to last week in his ad. State Certification in my opinion is a very good thing for our dept. And unfortunately, Mrs. Mangum didn't do her homework befor throwing out that ridiculous number in her ads. Is this what we want in a Sheriff? Someone, who doesn't check out the facts before hand?
No thank you.
GILBERT FOR SHERIFF
Checking last weeks paper I read the following:
In Mangum's ad "A candid interview with J. Mangum" the first question stated: The sheriff's office has the largest budget in JC govt. How will you handle the tax payers $.
Mangum's first 3 paragraphs bashed her opponent and again mentioned the $1 million certification. In her last paragraph she stated "I will ensure that the Shreiff's office continues to protect the citizens of this county and not break the taxpayers back doing so." The question was how will you handle the $. Again the question was not answered by Mangum.
As a law enforcement officer you should 1st get the facts - that means research. State Certification cost approx. $6000 ( with existing staff). Go to gachiefs.com/statecertification/index.htm. for verification - GET THE FACTS!!!!
As relates to the second question concerning management skills.... Mangum stated she has learned how to organize a staff to put the right people in the right positions. How has this been learned???
If you go to the web site and listen to the political forum on 6/12 (Jefferson), Mangum states:
"I was commander over the jail at one point."
"I was commander over the criminal investigations division for a while."
I wonder what happened - did she ask for a demotion or was she given one.
Gilberts ads have carefully described his vision for moving our county forward once Mr. Evans retires. Don't take my word - check both candidates ads.. Mangum's ads give no information or vision for moving our county forward.
Without doubt both candidates are good people but we must consider which has the best qualifications for sheriff.
Thank you Mr. Gilbert
Win or lose, He is THE MOST QUALIFIED, MOST EXPERIENCED, AND HAS THE MOST INTEGRITY.
That's Janis Mangum too. She's got everything it takes to do the job. I'm proud of her and I will be casting my vote for her. To me there is no comparison (sorry, Andy) to the other candidate. What he MAY possess in skills and experience he surely lacks in knowing the county and what we will need in the future.
I'm excited about having Janis Griffith Mangum as the next sheriff of Jackson County. So I guess you could say I'm voting for Andy Taylor too.
I want someone who can start doing the job on Day 1, not someone who has to learn on the job and "surround herself with good people" as she stated in the forum. Ramone knows the county as well as anyone. He lives here, his kids go to school here, and he has been serving the community since they moved here. His years of experience in Hall County performing various roles will serve him well.
I have to cast my vote for who I know will be the most effective and make the county the place we all want for our children, so I will be casting my vote for Ramone Gilbert.
Romone speaks and the refuse to take questions. He immediately leaves and gets on a 40 foot motor home with huge signs on the side , Gilbert for Sheriff. He then heads directly to Crows lake to campaign.
One of these people has class, Gilbert obviously has none. Take a ride to Arcade and look for yourself at the trailer park he owns. A police officer and a Christian should be ashamed of themselves. The trailers a mostly unlivable, the entire property overgrown with weeds.
I think Janis will continue to be what we need in this county. Please vote Janis
You want someone who is a forward thinker, who can anticipate the problems that will face us in the near future and down the road, not someone who is satisfied with the status quo. Again, if that were the case, anyone could run for the office. That is how governments run into problems, by not thinking of fresh ideas.
I will vote for Ramone Gilbert based on his experience and knowledge. And certainly not vote for someone else because of the bashers who are making stuff up on this site.
You are correct on one point, and that is that anyone has the right to run for office. But just because I am passionate about space exploration does not qualify me to be an astronaut. I could apply, but that doesn't mean I could do the job. And that's the case when you compare these candidates. One is actually qualified and the other is not.
And gender has nothing to do with this. If the resumes were switched, I would still vote for the most qualified person. Sometimes people write on these blogs, thinking that they are helping their candidate, but actually wind up embarrassing themselves and the candidate they support.
I heard today that many independent voters, nation wide, are no longer voting over negative campaigning.