Published: March 05, 2008 04:32 pm            

New DA in town

On a night of upsets, this may have been the biggest. Attorney Scott McKee, who once worked as an assistant district attorney under Donna Bennett, took her job Tuesday night. McKee, who has a law office in Athens, held a 20-point margin after early votes were released and never looked back.

When the final votes were tallied, McKee earned 5,699 votes compared to

3,531 votes for Bennett. McKee won roughly 62 percent of the vote.

McKee spent most of the night at the Henderson County Courthouse, shaking

hands and eagerly awaiting the latest vote counts with others. He wore a royal blue campaign shirt on which his campaign¹s main slogan was embroidered: “McKee for change.”

“Just numb, a little numb,” McKee said after the final votes were tallied.

“We’ve worked so hard for the last eight months, and immediately when we

started campaigning, people were talking about the change they wanted.”

Bennett, who was hoping to be elected to her fourth full term, was an assistant prosecutor under former District Attorney E. Ray Andrews when she was elected in 1994 to fill his unexpired term.

After winning her first two contested elections by an average of about 3,000

votes, Bennett saw a much closer race play out in 2004 when she faced Barry

Bilger, then an Athens attorney. She beat Bilger by 760 votes.

Bennett, who said she was going to spend Tuesday night awaiting election

results with family members, was not available for comment.

Early voting results were released around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday night - about 15 minutes earlier than expected. Those results showed McKee ahead of Bennett

by a margin of roughly 60 percent to 40 percent. McKee received 2,043 votes

to 1,333 votes for Bennett in early balloting.

During the campaign, McKee hammered on Bennett¹s record, criticizing her for offering probation in cases involving sexual assaults against children and drug manufacturing. He said probation “probably should never be offered” in such cases.

McKee on Tuesday said he respects the job Bennett did as an administrator in the District Attorney¹s Office, but said it was that philosophical difference in how cases should be prosecuted that led him to run for the office.

“After 13 years, when you¹re in office so long, you tend to get more and

more exposed as time goes on,” McKee said of Bennett¹s tenure, adding that

he wants the office to have an image of being tough on crime. “I want to

change the culture of what people think about the DA¹s Office. I¹d like to

have that type of culture, where we¹re tough.”

For her part, Bennett pointed out a McKee resume she said was short on experience. She said he had only served three years as a prosecutor and ³would not even be qualified² to run as a district attorney in other counties.

McKee offered his support to Bennett in the upcoming months as her office

prepares to seat a jury and begin the capital murder trial of Randall Wayne

Mays - who faces charges of fatally shooting two Henderson County Sheriff¹s

Department deputies last spring.

Two more capital murder cases are on the docket.

While he waits to take office early next year, McKee said he will work to

meet the obligations of his private practice clients.



James Owen as county attorney, but in the end, the voters spoke.

And how.

Sixty-two percent of them said they wanted a change, and that the

37-year-old Davis was the man they wanted to replace Owen as their county

attorney, beginning the first day of next year.

³Most of all I want to thank my family and my friends for their support,

particularly over the last couple of years,² the soft-spoken Davis said from

an election watch party on the third floor of the First State Bank building

in Athens late Tuesday.

Without mentioning names, Davis appeared to be referring to the public call

by local attorney Fred Head to have Davis removed from his position as

chairman-elect of the Athens Chamber of Commerce for allegedly not revealing

his bankruptcy in 2003. Owen also ran advertising mentioning his opponent¹s

bankruptcy.

The Chamber called an emergency meeting the day after Head addressed 15

empty chairs at the Chamber, giving Davis an immediate vote of confidence

and, in effect, appearing to repudiate Head¹s demands.

Whether the voters did the same thing Tuesday is another matter for

conjecture, but the final tally showed Davis with 3,381 votes to Owen¹s

2,224, or 62 percent to 38 percent.

Owen went down much the same way he has conducted his office the last eight

years ‹ in controversy.

Late in the evening, when it was obvious he was going to take an

old-fashioned political thrashing from his opponent, the county attorney

avoided political correctness, as he often has in the past.

³I¹m concerned for the people of Henderson County,² Owen said. ³I don¹t

believe he¹s (Davis) capable enough to do the job because of his lack of

experience.²

Whether Owen was speaking out of anger, or simply from his heart, county

residents will have to argue among themselves.

³I¹m concerned for the people of Henderson County,² Owen said. ³I don¹t

believe he¹s (Davis) capable enough to do the job because of his lack of

experience.²

Davis avoided answering Owen¹s criticism directly.

³I¹ll let him vent and we¹ll leave it at that,² he said. ³In my heart I

believe it was a change that will be good for the county.²

Davis said he has no ill will toward his opponent or anyone else.

Asked if the events of the last couple of weeks may have worked in his

favor, Davis said, ³I don¹t think it was a determining factor. I do believe

it worked to James¹ detriment, but I don¹t think it affected the final

outcome.

³I don¹t hold a grudge or have ill-will toward James Owen or anyone else. I

hope we can put aside our differences and work for the good of Henderson

County.²

Owen agreed with Davis that the events of the last couple of weeks had

little affect on the race. ³The early balloting was before all this

happened, and he had a big lead then,² Owen said.

Asked what he thought happened, Owen flashed a wry grin and said,

³Obviously, I made some people mad.²

As for his immediate plans, Owen said, ³I¹m going to be the county attorney

until the end of the year, just like I promised I would.²

Davis will have eight long months to think about what he¹ll do when he takes

office. ³I¹m looking forward to taking office and working for the citizens

of Henderson County,² he said. Until then, he plans to continue with his law

practice.

And yes, he said, he will definitely give up his law practice and be a

full-time county attorney when he takes office ‹ a promise Davis made to

voters during the campaign while criticizing his opponent for keeping his

law practice alive during his tenure.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.