Sheriff Chris Clinton will remain on the 2016 Republican Primary Ballot

Towns County Sheriff Chris Clinton will remain on the 2016 Republican Primary Ballot, the Towns County Board of Elections voted 4-0-1 on Monday.

Board member Barbara Shook abstained from the vote.

However, the Board voted to advise Enotah Circuit District Attorney Jeff Langley that information of a 1987 conviction of misdemeanor theft by receiving stolen property in Union County was part of Sheriff Clinton's past.

Langley said Tuesday that he had not received the paperwork from the Board of Elections, so, he couldn't make comment at this time.

The reason to give that information to District Attorney Langley is to determine if Sheriff Clinton has committed felony false statements, said Board Co-Chair Mark Dehler.

Sheriff Clinton's qualifications, namely that he had not been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, were brought into question recently by Independent candidate for Towns County sheriff, Linda Curtis.

Curtis alleged that Sheriff Clinton filed a false affidavit when he qualified for sheriff. She proved that Sheriff Clinton was convicted in 1987 in Union County for misdemeanor theft by receiving stolen property. She spent 19 hours researching convictions in the Union County Clerk of Courts Office, she said.

“Did we lose here today?” she asked. “No, we won here today because the people of Towns County will now know that their elected Sheriff has a previously undisclosed criminal record.”

According to Union County Superior Court records, Christopher Michael Clinton was arrested by Union County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Ronnie Duncan in September 1987 for buying a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun from Mark Lenwood Droze, knowing that the gun had been stolen from Alexander's Store.

The arrest took place in the former Hardee's parking lot in Blairsville, now the location of Burger King, court records show.

The Elections Board left Sheriff Clinton on the ballot based on an exemption allowed by the state, “the above required qualifications shown above in (D), (E), (F), (H), (I), and (J) shall be deemed to have been met by any person who is currently serving as a duly qualified and elected Sheriff of one of the several counties of this state.”

The most important part of the affidavit that was signed is subsection (F), “I have not been convicted of a felony offense or any offense involving moral turpitude contrary to the laws of this state, any other state, or the United States; provided, however, that a plea of nolo contendere to a felony offense or any offense involving moral turpitude contrary to the laws of this state shall have the same effect as a plea of guilty, thereby disqualifying such a person from holding the office of Sheriff.”

Sheriff Clinton said the crime he pleaded guilty to is not a crime of moral turpitude.

“I have never lied,” Sheriff Clinton said. “I’ve had my fingerprints done at the direction of the probate judge every time I’ve run for sheriff. I’ve never lied. I was a teenager once 30 years ago. I got me some traffic tickets, I even got arrested one time. That is not a felony or crime of moral turpitude. They (Elections Board) know that, and they didn’t say it because they wanted off the hook. And this thing is going to drag out through the primary.

“She (Linda Curtis) has nothing to run on, and so it’s real interesting to me, that this thing comes up on the Friday before early voting begins,” Sheriff Clinton said. “And now, rather than say what they (Elections Board) should have said in there, they tiptoed around it and said, ‘Well, yeah, the sheriff’s qualified, but we’ll kick it to the district attorney about this other, whether he lied or not.’ Well, if I’m qualified, then I didn’t lie. That was getting off the hook, and I’m offended at that.

“That being said, this whole dog and pony show has been set up to cast a doubt over the sheriff through the primary,” Sheriff Clinton said.