On WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen,” Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender spoke publicly for the first time since Bruce Childers filed a motion to get put on the August primary ballot. Childers’ motion was denied on Friday.
“The thing I hate most about this is that the integrity of the office was questioned, and the judge denied the motion because she saw that we followed the law,” Bender said. “It didn’t make the decision any easier. I didn’t celebrate any this weekend. As a candidate, it’s not how I want to win. As a supervisor of elections, it’s not how I want my office to be a part of controversy.”
He explained why he refused to give interviews about the Childers’ motions before the hearing. “We just didn’t want to get into a ‘he said, she said.’ They had put their side of the story out. It differed from ours. But again, I couldn’t speak of it firsthand. I wasn’t there. We wanted to let the judge and the court hear our side and make a decision from there.”
Bender has changed office procedures to avoid opportunities for confusion when candidates file and qualify to run in the future.
“No longer will the first check happen with a candidate being right there at the front counter,” the election supervisor said. “Someone will check the paperwork in, maybe give it a cursory overview to see if there’s anything that needs to be done. But the first check and second check will happen away from the front counter, where you can focus on what’s going on. Things won’t be checked until they’re in their hands.”
Bender pushed Attorney Ed Fleming’s insinuation that Bruce Childers was found not qualified to run because the Supervisor of Elections sought revenge for Clerk of Court Pam Childers winning a lawsuit that found the 401a pension plan was illegal.
He said, “I know they want to attack me on the 401a, but I filled out a form that FRS gave our HR department that they gave me. When I found out that it wasn’t the same amount that HR told me, I called payroll and said, ‘Hey, this is more than what they were saying.’ And I was told that the board had voted on it in 2016. I never voted for it.”
Bender added, “Instead of trying to change the amount, we heard it was illegal. And that was why I fought it—I didn’t think it was illegal because the process had been in place since the nineties. But when the ruling came out, we turned it back. We didn’t appeal; we gave it back. My integrity shouldn’t be questioned because I feel I’ve done the right thing every time.”
The Supervisor of Elections doesn’t expect an apology from Bruce and Pam Childers, and he hopes the Clerk’s office will work with his office professionally.
“I want to see us come together and work for the citizens of Escambia County,” Bender said. “Our office had been going into jury duty every Monday morning, and that was cut off over a month ago. We need to get back to serving the citizens of Escambia County.”
Featured Photo by Ian Powell on Unsplash
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