GREAT FALLS -- Half the faces on the six-member Town
Council will be new on June 1.
Voters ousted incumbents Mike Brunson and J.C. Broom and gave
victories to challengers Kenneth Johnson, Jack Taylor and Henry C.
Wright in Tuesday's town elections.
Councilman Heilman Baker chose to not file for re-election.
Johnson, the highest vote-getter, had 115 votes. Wright followed with
108 and Taylor earned 97. Broom got 81 votes, while Brunson received 76.
"Thanks a million. It's time to get serious," said Johnson, 47, after
election results were in. "Now that I have been elected, I am going to
serve the public with the best of my ability."
Taylor, 64, also thanked local voters for support and confidence in
him as a councilman.
"I hope that all the council members can work together for the
betterment of the community," he said.
Candidate: Error cost me race
Randy Beckham, 45, who campaigned for a council seat, lost his
election bid with just 27 votes but plans to protest the results because
his "name appeared wrong on the ballot," he said.
"They put me on there as James R. Beckham, but everybody knows me as
Randy," Beckham said. "I believe that cost me the election."
Beckham also complained that write-in candidate Don Camp's wife
worked at one of the polling locations Tuesday. Beckham called the state
and county election commissions, and Camp's wife was asked to leave her
post.
State law forbids a candidate or a relative of the candidate to work
at a poll where the candidate's name appears on the ballot, said state
election spokesman Chris Whitmire. But in Great Falls, no law was
broken, Whitmire said. The decision to ask Camp's wife to leave was left
up to the local election commission.
"According to the law, it's permissible for the wife of a write-in
candidate to work at the poll," Whitmire said. "But the municipal
election commission has to make the decision to not have conflict at the
polls."
Tuesday's election was to have been for the mayor's seat and three
council seats, but no one filed to run against incumbent Mayor H.C.
"Speedy" Starnes.
Starnes was declared the winner of a third term as mayor by the local
election commission. The mayor earns an annual salary of about $3,600.
Half of the six-member council is elected every two years. Council
members are paid $2,100 annually.
Denyse C. Middleton • 329-4069
dmiddleton@heraldonline.com
