Yesterday afternoon a source contacted me with information that Ken Gross had posted on his Facebook page that he was out of consideration as the Fifth District County Commissioner. Later in the evening, I received a message from Mr. Gross indicating that he was out. I asked if a County Commissioner had told him he was out of the top three and he indicated that he had. I did not ask for him to reveal who the Commissioner was, but I asked Mr. Gross I wonder how the Commissioner knew you were not in the top three unless he/she has talked with other Commissioners or used an intermediary to communicate with him/her who are the top three candidates. Of course, either ways are violations of the court order of the Commission in Jordan et al. -vs- Knox County. Mr. Gross said he didn’t know, but he was out. My question was more of a rhetorical question, I explained to Mr. Gross.

However, it begs to question how are the Commissioners distributing this information to potential applicants without violating the court order? This isn’t the first appointment where it could indicate that Commissioners are talking and/or using an intermediary.

There are now 8 candidates for the Commissions consideration for the Fifth District appointment. Mike Manning, Tamara Boyer, Ron Rochelle, J. Kelly Clancy, John H. Gueser, David Freeman, Grant Standifer and John Schoonmaker.