IDABEL – Six McCurtain County residents have filed declarations of candidacy to fill the District 2 County Commissioner seat vacated April 19 by Mark Jennings after an audio recording of him talking about lynching Black people was publicized.
Contenders for the post includes two men, Tony Hill and Ronald Gene Barnes, who previously vied for the office. The other aspirants are Tina Foshee Thomas, Byron Hamil, Terry Joseph Wendt, and Douglas DeWayne “D.J.” David Jr.
• Tony Hill (D-Idabel) is making his fourth bid for the District 2 commission seat.
In 2012 and 2016 Hill was defeated in the Democratic primary by incumbent Joe Coffman. In 2020 Hill captured the Democratic nomination but was beaten in the November general election by Jennings, who garnered 69% of the vote against two challengers in the Republican primary.
“After the last time I had decided to never run again,” Hill told Southwest Ledger. “But all of this recent stuff lit a fire in me again and I decided to jump back in it.” He said he believes he can “change things for the better.”
Hill, 60, is the sanitation manager and the municipal landfill manager for the City of Idabel, where he has lived “all my life.”
He attended Langston University, Central State University (later renamed the University of Central Oklahoma), and the E.T. Dunlap Center for Higher Education.
• Ronald Gene Barnes (D-Idabel) lost to Tony Hill in the 2020 primary. Barnes is a McCurtain County employee who, when contacted by Southwest Ledger, said, “I really don’t want to make no comment right now.”
• Tina Foshee Thomas (R-Idabel) is a former mayor of Idabel. During a brief telephone conversation May 9, she indicated she would return the Ledger’s call or reply to an email but did neither.
• Byron Hamil (R-Haworth) did not include an email address nor a telephone number on his declaration of candidacy.
• Terry Joseph Wendt (R-Haworth) is a lifetime McCurtain County resident whose family has lived in McCurtain County for several generations. “It has been a blessing to raise my family here, as well,” he said.
Wendt, 59, was graduated from Haworth High School in 1982 and from Southeastern Oklahoma State University at Durant. “After receiving my degree from Southeastern, I was able to follow my parents’ footsteps in education.”
Both of his parents worked at Haworth schools for many years. In addition, his father taught chemistry in Idabel and became the superintendent at Battiest. “My dream became a reality in 1986 when I got my first teaching job,” Wendt told the Ledger.
He also has worked at “multiple jobs in the county, including Weyerhaeuser and McCurtain Memorial Hospital. He also was employed in the McCurtain County Assessor’s Office for the past 15 years, retiring in February.
“I eagerly anticipated getting to spend my time fishing and doing nothing, but the Lord had other plans,” he said. Wendt served on the board of trustees of the Town of Haworth for two years and was appointed Mayor of Haworth just last month. Recently he “embarked on a new career: learning to do X-rays and perform basic lab functions.”
And on May 2 Wendt filed for the open District 2 county commissioner office. “Just like with the position of mayor, I know I will have a lot to learn if elected,” he said. “But my desire is to lead and serve the great people of McCurtain County openly, honestly, with utmost integrity and best intentions. I was fortunate to have grown up in this great county and would love to pay it forward for the next generation.”
• Douglas DeWayne “D.J.” David Jr. (I-Idabel) told the Ledger, “I love the people” of McCurtain County “and would appreciate the opportunity to serve them.”
He said his grandfather served three terms as a county commissioner “starting in my teenage years.” David said he “loved to see how my grandfather was able to give back to his district. I feel with my background and experience I could make a difference.”
He has not filed for or held a public office before. “I’m far from being a politician,” he said.
David said he works in construction management. “I also have a background in health care management and property management,” he added, and he also is “on staff at a local church, where I serve as the youth/associate pastor.”
Primary election 6/13, General election 9/12
Governor Kevin Stitt called for a special primary election in the county on June 13, and the general election is set for Sept. 12.
The winner will serve a little over a year that remains on Jennings’s four-year term. The commissioner-elect probably will be sworn in “just as soon as we can get the district judge to administer the oath of office,” Commission Chairman John Williams told the Ledger.
Jennings’s assistant, Ray Bamburg, is serving as the legally authorized District 2 commissioner during the interim until the successor is elected.
The newly elected county commissioner will receive a monthly paycheck of $4,184.38, County Clerk Trish Ricketts said. In addition, the new commissioner also will receive either a $700 per month travel allowance or use of a county-owned vehicle.