‘I’m still on cloud nine;’ Voters select new Clark County sheriff
There’s going to be a new sheriff in town in Clark County.
On Tuesday night, Clark County Sheriff Deb Burchett lost her re-election bid in the Republican primary.
Instead, voters chose one of her former majors, Chris Clark.
Enough voters decided Burchett would be done as sheriff when her second term is up in January. Clark won the Republican primary by a 20-percent margin.
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“I’m still on cloud nine. You know, I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet,” Clark said.
Clark had been with the sheriff’s office 26 years and was a major on Burchett’s command staff when she fired him last March.
“I was never given any clear explanation other than she did not— she no longer had faith in my fiduciary,” Clark said.
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By the end of the month, Clark launched his own campaign for sheriff. Now, almost exactly a year later, he’s learned he’ll be taking his former boss’s job. Clark will be running unopposed in the November general election.
“It was something that I always wanted to do. It was something that was always part of my career path. Since I started the sheriff’s office in ‘97. And, it was just getting to a point in my career where it was time,” he said.
Burchett didn’t respond to a text, email, and phone call from News Center 7′s John Bedell. When Bedell went to the sheriff’s office in person, he was told Burchett was out of the office for the day.
Clark has been the fire chief in Madison Township for the last 17 years.
He told News Center 7 that when the time comes to be sworn in as sheriff, he’ll step down as fire chief because he does not want to create a conflict of interest or any ethics issues.
