Clark Co. Auditor defeats Democratic challenger

Clark County Auditor John Federer overwhelmingly defeated a former county auditor employee whom he blamed for the 2007 revaluation “debacle.”

The race for auditor was between Federer and Nikki Crawford, a former staff member whom Federer fired months after he took office.

With 100 percent of the precincts counted, Federer was ahead of Crawford 62 percent to 37 percent, according to the Clark County Board of Elections.

Federer said on Tuesday he was pleased with the results of the race.

“I’m very proud of Clark County. I’m very proud of the employees in the auditor’s office and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Commissioner (Rick) Lohnes and moving this county in the right direction,” Federer said.

He said his plans moving forward to increase the use of technology in the auditor’s office, save the county money, provide fair and accurate real estate values and being daily in the office.

Federer took office in 2011 after defeating former Auditor George Sodders in a race in which Federer called the 2007 revaluation a “debacle” after a record 2,836 property value appeals were filed.

Federer, a Republican, blamed the problems with the revaluation on his now-opponent, Nikki Crawford, a Democrat who served as director of appraisal services in 2007.

“The appraisal department was a catastrophe, how it was run. It was not run,” Federer said. “Our data was wrong and those people who were in charge of that and to quote the vendor who before I got here said: ‘They didn’t have the acumen to do the job.’”

Crawford was terminated in 2011 after working for the department in management for 10 years.

During the campaign the race became contentious as Federer told voters that Crawford was responsible for the 2007 revaluation. Crawford, however, admitted the revaluation was a mess, but said she was not the auditor at that time and the multiple errors were not caused by one person.

Federer, a former bank president with more than 30 years of executive and business experience, is an Ohio State University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in real estate and finance.

Crawford is a graduate of Kenton Ridge High School and has attended Clark State Community College, where she has taken courses in accounting and real estate.

She has 10 years experience in management at the Clark County Auditor’s Office, 20 years mass appraisal experience and 22 years of management experiences in the public and private sector.

Crawford said she was pleased with her campaign and did not rule out running again for public office.

“I am super proud of what my friends, family and supporters have done,” Crawford said. “I think we ran a good race. I think we ran a very clean race. I’m excited about it … For the effort that we put forth this time it was incredible there could be a next time. You never know.”

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