The Lee County Supervisors this week appointed Christy Jordan to serve on the board once her husband vacates his District 3 seat to become mayor of Tupelo.
Todd Jordan turned in his official letter of resignation on Monday. The resignation will become effective June 30, the day before he is sworn in as mayor. Ultimately a special election will fill the remainder of Todd Jordan’s term. With the special election scheduled for November, supervisors chose to fill the seat with an interim appointment so residents in that district would not be without representation.
This is not at all unusual; neither is appointing a spouse or other loved one to a vacated seat — though it is more common when an officeholder dies than when one resigns for other reasons, even to move to another elected office.
What becomes questionable, however, is when those appointed — related or not — decide to seek the office full-time. Such arrangements reek of political cronyism and backroom political deals. Using an unearned position of incumbency automatically gives an appointee an advantage over other candidates who — like the appointed officeholder — never won an election to get where they are.
In the case of Christy Jordan’s appointment, this should not be an issue. She confirmed to the Daily Journal that she will not run for the office in the upcoming special election.
She and the board of supervisors are taking the right path by ensuring continued representation for the people in District 3 while also guaranteeing everyone seeking the office in the special election are on equal footing. This is a testament to both Christy Jordan and the board.
As for her time as an appointed supervisor, Jordan enjoys the full rights and privileges as any elected supervisor sitting on the board. In choosing interim appointments, board members in this situation are entrusted with a great deal of responsibility to appoint someone who is representative of the people they will serve and who is capable of carrying out the duties. In Christy Jordan, the supervisors made a good choice.
All involved also did their due diligence to ensure there would be no conflicts of interest between her work as a supervisor and her full-time position with Tupelo Public Schools.
This should be the model for all interim appointments — not necessarily a relative being placed into the role — but appointing someone similar in mindset to the elected officeholder and someone who pledges not to seek their own term. It makes the process as transparent and fair as possible.
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