The Warren County Democratic Party has announced their intention to petition for a special election to fill the position of Interim County Auditor, after David Whipple was selected over current Deputy Auditor Kim Sheets in a special meeting last week.

Warren County Democratic Party Chair Jim Culbert said this is not a partisan issue, it is a competency one, and the board should have selected Sheets.

“This is a woman who is highly qualified to do the job, knows what she is doing, and is ready to take over, being bypassed by somebody we don’t know, we don’t know anything about him. I’ve heard he works as a trainer, training safety, and that is great. But the best trainer has to know their subject matter before they can train anybody. How is he going to train a poll worker if he is there reading the same book himself?”

Culbert said he was made aware of several social media posts made by Whipple regarding conspiracies involving the 2020 election and QAnon among others, and said he wants to reiterate this is a non-partisan position.

“This goes back to the Auditor working in a non-partisan professional manner. I haven’t seen the posts, but if you don’t believe in elections how can you be in charge of elections? If you don’t think that they were fair and honest, how is that going to inform how you do the job? We just don’t know this guy, he came out of nowhere.”

If called, the special election will fill the term through 2024, and the position will have a new four-year term up for election in November of 2024.

Find a statement from Warren County GOP Chair Steve Kirby below.

Quote from Kirby –

“I am the Chair for the Warren County Republicans, but when I spoke to the Supervisors on June 6th I spoke as a private person. I am writing this as a private person.

On June 6th the Warren County Supervisors held a special meeting and interviewed two candidates for the position of Interim Auditor: Kim Sheets, Deputy Auditor (Democrat) and David Whipple (Republican). After presentations by both and questions from the supervisors, the supervisors voted unanimously to pick David Whipple as the Interim Auditor.

The Warren County Democrat Party disagrees with the Supervisors and is now engaged in a signature-gathering effort to overturn the Supervisors’ decision and call for a special election.

I find it interesting that of the people leading this effort, I don’t recall seeing any of them at the special meeting. So they are unaware of the nature of the questions asked and the candidates’ responses. They are also unaware of the extensive experience and qualifications that David Whipple has.

Fortunately, the “Indianola Independent Advocate” wrote a June 6th article about the meeting – “Whipple appointed auditor after VanderLinden retirement.”

Here is some information from that article about questions for Kim Sheets from Supervisors Crystal McIntyre and Mark Snell:

“McIntyre said that Whipple’s leadership appealed to her, adding that she was concerned about complaints in some areas under VanderLinden. ‘I really feel the leadership, that was the biggest drawback in your resume,’ she told Sheets. ‘I was really hoping that you would say how your leadership would have changed that…’”

“…Supervisor Mark Snell, noting that minutes and resolutions of the board of supervisors were not kept up for about six months.” [this is the responsibility of the Auditor]

“McIntyre also asked Sheets about concerns with payroll in 2021. ‘When the person for payroll gave their two weeks the auditor had zero plan, no one cross trained,’ said McIntyre. ‘Where was your role in that?’…Sheets said she tried to learn the payroll process…Payroll since has been turned over to the county’s human resources office.”

The supervisors were concerned about various problems over the years in the Auditor’s office and were not satisfied with Kim’s responses as the Deputy Auditor. Consequently, they unanimously chose David Whipple as the Interim Auditor. I was there, and I think it was a good choice.

Now Warren County taxpayers are facing the prospect of having a special election with an estimated cost of $75,000 to $100,000 because folks, who apparently did not attend the meeting, disagreed with the Supervisors’ unanimous decision.”

For more information, tune in to today’s Let’s Talk Indianola.