Clark County sheriff shocked by election loss

Republican challenger Deb Burchett handily defeated Gene Kelly, a Democrat, this week.

Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly was shocked by the outcome of Tuesday’s election and being voted out of office after more than 30 years, he said in his first public comments since then.

“Every person that I talked to assured me that I had their vote and that I was going to be here as long as I wanted to hold this office,” Kelly said. “It was shock and disbelief.”

Republican challenger Deb Burchett handily defeated Kelly, a Democrat, earlier this week and will become the first female sheriff in Clark County’s history.

Kelly dispelled social media rumors that Thursday that his office was cleaned out and he wasn’t planning to return to work two days after he lost re-election.

“It’ll take me two months to clean this office out,” Kelly said. “I have no intention of stepping down until (January). … I’m going to work just like I always have for 30 years.”

A campaign of "hate and evil" against him began a year ago when he "terminated three sergeants for just cause," Kelly said.

He was referring to the 2015 incident when former deputy Chris Dent appeared to be drunk in the lobby for about two hours before he was arrested. Cellphone video from that night shows Dent rolling and crawling on the ground and urinating in the jail lobby. A federal arbitrator ruled last month that one of the three former sergeants should be reinstated without back pay but with full seniority and retain her rank as sergeant.

Burchett ran for office following a 34-year law enforcement career, including 29 as a Clark County deputy. She was the first female sergeant in charge of the investigation division. She most recently has worked as a police officer in South Vienna.

The false social media reports show how uninformed people are, Kelly said. Every word published on one of Burchett’s campaign fliers was false, Kelly said, including that $800,000 was spent on grievances.

“That’s absolutely false,” Kelly said.

The flier also says Burchett plans to use grant money to fund the sheriff’s office, rather than Clark County’s general fund dollars, he said. During her time at the Sheriff’s office, Burchett was never involved in management, budgeting or grievances, Kelly said.

“She never handled any (grievances), except the ones she filed,” Kelly said. “Good luck with that.”

If she didn’t have proof, she wouldn’t have put it on the flier, Burchett said. She has paperwork that shows 80 grievances over the last three years, as well as an audio recording with Kelly saying each grievance costs $10,000, she said — which equals $800,000.

“I’m not going to get into a back-and-forth match with him,” Burchett said.

She plans to hire a grant writer to seek out every state and federal grant possible, Burchett said.

“Do I believe that we can get state and federal grants to run the sheriff’s department? Absolutely not,” Burchett said, “But we can can get grants to help the sheriff’s office, and that’s what (the flier) says.”

During the campaign, Kelly questioned Burchett’s work ethic several times, she said. As far as management, she didn’t work in the office with management, but worked in every division there, she said.

“I had very good work ethic,” Burchett said. “I was never written up or in any kind of trouble in my history at the Sheriff’s Office.”

Burchett did not use a campaign of hate against Kelly said.

“We only presented the facts,” Burchett said.

The “Trump Effect” absolutely played a role in this year’s election for the Republican party, Kelly said.

Two other Democratic incumbents — Clark County Clerk of Courts Ron Vincent and County Commissioner David Herier — were also defeated thanks to Donald Trump’s pull to get rural voters to the polls, local experts said. Kelly compared the election to 1976 when Jimmy Carter led Democrats to victories across the country “from the White House to the courthouse,” he said.

Kelly plans to continue working after he leaves office, he said. He also hopes to write a book about his career, Kelly said.

He doesn’t know what kind of transition there will be for Burchett, he said.

“That’s going to be up to the new person to do their own homework and prepare themselves,” Kelly said.

Kelly hasn’t had contact with Burchett since they debated last month, he said.

Burchett would be willing to speak with him before the end of his term, she said.

“I feel like he should’ve called me,” Burchett said. “Hillary called Trump.”

On Wednesday, Kelly was out taking down his signs, he said. Kelly is not planning to run for office again in the future, but will continue to do charity work, he said. Kelly has received multiple letters and phone calls from supporters, he said.

“I know what we’ve done and I’m very proud of it,” Kelly said. “I certainly didn’t want to go out this way, but I’m a professional, 100 percent, and that’s how I’m going to maintain myself.”

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