County attorney wins 432 votes, former county attorney wins 98

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Tampa resident David Mueller is the official winner of the race for District 2 county commissioner after votes were canvassed and finalized Friday.

After preliminary votes were tallied, Mueller led opponent Michael Beneke by just 45 votes, 623 to 578, but in the official count after votes were tallied, Mueller won with 645 over Beneke’s 594.

Outgoing District 2 commissioner Dianne Novak, eliminated during the primary, nevertheless got four votes. Tom Britain, running a write-in campaign for District 4 commission seat on an anti-wind farm platform, followed closely with three votes for District 2 commissioner.

David Crofoot won District 4 over Britain by a landslide of 1,151 votes to Britain’s 65. Britain also was written in for District 5 commissioner, county attorney, and sheriff.

Others getting votes for District 4 commissioner included “Anyone but the clowns we have,” Darvin Markley, Mueller, Beneke, wind farm opponent Randy Eitzen, and “Holub” — apparently former county commissioner Don Holub.

Jonah Gehring, running unopposed for District 5 commissioner, lost six votes to Britain and one each to Darth Vader, Elsa, Goofy, “NA,” “None above,” and “None of the above.”

County attorney Joel Ensey ran for reelection as a write-in candidate because he did not file for election before the deadline to have his name appear on the ballot. He took the lead with 432 votes with properly-spelled and closely-spelled names. However, his brother Jeremy Ensey, CEO of St. Luke Hospital in Marion, gave him a bit of competition with eight votes of his own.

Former county attorney Susan Robson got 98 votes, “Susan” got two votes, and Susan Robertson got one.

Marion attorney Bob Brookens got 50 votes for county attorney.

No Clue, No Idea, No One, None, and Null got 11 votes between them.

Getting one vote each were Clint Eastwood, Daffy Duck, “Diane Novak,” George Carlin, “Howdy Dudy,” Jesus, “Jonah Goering,” Lou Thurston, Mickey Mouse, Scooby Doo, and Brad Pistotnic. Defense attorney Seth Meyer netted three votes.

Sheriff Robert Craft was reelected with 5,356 votes, but several other law enforcement officers both real and fictional gathered votes. Hillsboro officer Randal Brazil got 34 votes and Marion police chief Clinton Jeffrey got four votes. Others getting votes were Derek Fetrow, Duane McCarty, Jessie Hiebert, Jimmy Philpot, Steven Janzen, Travis Wilson, Wyatt Earp, Jessie Hiebert, and Festus Hagen.

Also getting votes for sheriff were Barack Obama, Clint Eastwood, Joel Ensey, Lester Kaiser, Beneke, “Literally anyone else,” Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Randy Eitzen, “Someone relevant,” “anyone else,” and “any other.”

Also running unopposed for reelection was county clerk Tina Spencer. Florence resident Bev Baldwin got two votes in the race for clerk, and Micky Mouse, Novak, and “Yer Mum” each got a vote.