A Sullivan County Commissioner from Bristol on Friday confirmed plans to leave behind an office he’s held for less than a year so he can run for a county-wide office.
Last week, Commissioner Bart Long of Bristol, Tenn., submitted a stack of petitions to county election officials hoping to get his name on the ballot to run for the county’s register of deeds office in the county’s May 4 Republican primary election.
“Our register of deeds department has a lot of opportunities that we’ve not taken advantage of,” Long said in a Friday interview with Herald Courier.
He also said this decision means he will be ineligible to run for another term on the commission representing voters at the Anderson Elementary School precinct in Bristol.
Long owns a real estate and auction firm in Bristol, Va.
Long, who was elected to the commission in August 2008, has thrown his support to Robert Neal, who is the only other candidate so far to pick up petitions to represent the commission’s 3rd district.
Unless someone challenges him in the May primary, Long will face current Register of Deeds Mary Lou Duncan in the Aug. 5 election.
Duncan, a Democrat, has held this position since 1974. Last month, she turned in a complete set of petitions to county election officials hoping to get her name on the ballot.
“It’s a free world,” she said when asked about Long’s plans to challenge her next year. “We’ve come a long way with records since I’ve been here.”
According to the Tennessee State Constitution, a county’s register of deeds takes care of any legal document dealing with real property, including: warranty deeds, deeds of trust, liens, judgments, and powers of attorney. The person holding this office in Sullivan County earns a state-supported salary of $80,474 each year.
Voters in the August election also will cast ballots for county mayor, county trustee, county clerk, commissioner of highways, county attorney, sheriff, circuit court clerk and all 24 seats on the county commission.
Candidates for any of these offices have until noon on Feb. 18 to give county election officials petitions with signatures from 25 registered voters and any other qualifying paperwork to get their names on the ballot in either election.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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