In the latest twist in the monthlong turmoil at the Knox County Election Commission, attorney Dennis Francis was named Monday afternoon by the State Election Commission to fill the spot vacated on the county body by departing Commissioner Cameron Brooks. Francis, a former member and chairman of the Commission who has also served as its legal counsel, gets one of the two Democratic seats on the five-member board, alongside three Republicans. There had been speculation that local Democratic legislators would name recently-fired Elections Administrator Greg Mackay to the post, but in naming his longtime friend Francis, they seem to have done the closest thing. (In an interview, Mackay says he is looking for a new job and weighing "a number of options.")
Francis' appointment may be the last shoe to drop in a series that has included the questionable voting record of new Republican Commissioner Rob McNutt, the revelation of a memo detailing accusations of sexual harassment by Deputy Administrator Scott Frith, and the naming last month of attorney Clifford Rodgers to fill Mackay's old job.
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