‘Triple Crown’: Bisbee begins second leg

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

— County Judge Dave Bisbee used a horse-racing analogy when describing this election season and his coming trial.

“I feel like I just completed the first leg of the Triple Crown,” Bisbee said Wednesday.

Bisbee’s second leg will be his misdemeanor trial set to begin June 1, and the final leg will be the June 8 runoff election against Bob Clinard.

The Triple Crown refers to horse racing’s Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The last horse to win theTriple Crown was Affirmed in 1978.

Clinard finished with 6,128 votes (29 percent) to Bisbee’s 5,796 votes(28 percent) in Tuesday’s Republican primary. Bisbee said Tuesday’s result felt like a victory to him.

“There was a certain amount of validation,” Bisbee said Wednesday. “That kind of loyalty andsupport when you have received as much negative press as I have in the lastyear is really humbling.”

Clinard, who lives in Rogers, saw Tuesday’s results a different way. Clinard was encouraged that morethan 70 percent of voters cast ballots against Bisbee.

Candidates Robert Stephenson of Siloam Springs received 5,146 votes (24 percent) and Tim Henderson Sr. of Gentry got 4,006 votes (19percent).

Clinard said he plans to ask people who voted forHenderson and Stephenson to support him in the runoff.

Stephenson said by noon Wednesday Clinard and Bisbee called to congratulate him on a well fought race and ask for support.

Stephenson said he did not know who or if he would endorse.

Henderson said Wednesday he had not made up his mind on who he would back in the runoff.

Bisbee, also of Rogers, admitted he knows the outcome of the runoff will depend heavily on how his trial goes. He is confident he can win when he goes to trial June 1.

Bisbee faces five misdemeanor charges stemming from the way he has handled the bidding process since he has been in office. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

“My integrity has been severely questioned, and I really look forward to my day in court,” Bisbee said.

Clinard said he will use more e-mail, phone calls and signs in his campaign.

“We are going to hit the ground running,” Sue Shadlow, Clinard’s campaign manager, said Wednesday.

The winner of the runoff election will face JeffBroadston of Decatur in the November election. Broadston is a write-in candidate.

E.J. Miller, chairman of the Election Commission, said Tuesday’s primary went as smoothly as one could.

“I have been through these trenches for a dozen or so years and things happened the way I expected them to happen,” Miller said.

Final results were released at 12:17 a.m. Wednesday.

Primary results will not become official until the Election Commission certifies them.

News, Pages 12 on 05/26/2010