Davis County Clerk Margene Isom has announced she will run for the county's combined clerk-auditor position in this year's election.
Her announcement comes two days after the state supreme court ruled against a petition drive aimed at blocking the county's September 1988 consolidation of the clerk and auditor offices."I am announcing my candidacy to run for Davis County clerk-auditor in 1990. I have gained experience operating the clerk's office and plan to continue to do so this year in an honorable and efficient manner," Isom's statement said.
"I am looking forward to the challenge of the combined clerk-auditor position as I am confident that with the experience and exposure I have had these past years, I will be able to bring credibility and respect to the combined office," said Isom.
The county commissioners voted in September 1988 to combine the office of clerk and auditor, nine months after the state assumed responsibility for operating the district courts, which used to be one of the clerk's major responsibilities.
Both Isom and county auditor Ruth Kennington said they oppose the consolidation because of the different responsibilities of the two jobs, but Isom also said she will support the commission's action.
Auditor Ruth Kennington, along with commissioner Dub Lawrence - who voted against the consolidation - still opposes the move. Kennington supported Lawrence in his failed bid to start
an initiative drive to repeal the consolidation. The drive was ruled invalid last week by the Utah Supreme Court.
Kennington and Isom are both Republicans, and if Kennington decides to run for the combined office in November they will first face each other in the party's spring caucuses.
Isom was elected in November 1988 to fill out two years remaining in the term of former clerk Mike Allphin, who resigned earlier that year to take a job in state court administration.
In a complicated shuffle, then-county commissioner Glen Saunders resigned his commission post and was named to the remainder of the clerk's term by fellow commissioners Harry Gerlach and Harold Tippetts.
Gayle Stevenson, a retired school administrator who expressed interest in running for the commission, was appointed to fill out Saunders' unexpired term.
Isom defeated Saunders in the 1988 primary election and was subsequently elected in November to fill out the clerk's term.
Kennington, who has been feuding with the commissioners since she took office four years ago, maintains the consolidation is a political move designed to get rid of her.
Lawrence, supported by Kennington, filed a notice last October that he intended to start an initiative petition drive to suspend the consolidation and put it on the general election ballot in November.
Acting on advice of the county attorney, Isom refused to validate Lawrence's blank petition forms for distribution, saying they had been filed too long after the commission's passage of the consolidation ordinance.
Lawrence challenged Isom's action and appealed to the Utah Supreme Court.
The court Wednesday morning issued a brief ruling denying Lawrence's petition, saying it was not filed in time.