COUNTY AGREES TO PAY $78,000 ATTORNEY BILL

Lawyer Wayne Malaney represented canvassing board in Sparkman vs. Brimner lawsuit

By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor

Wakulla County commissioners agreed to pay attorney’s fees of nearly $78,000 for representing the canvassing board over three years as the lawsuit and appeal were resolved.
Attorney Wayne Malaney was hired to represent the Wakulla County Canvassing Board – consisting of then-County Judge Jill Walker, County Commissioner Quincee Messersmith, and Tax Collector Lisa Craze – when it was sued in 2020 by candidate for property appraiser Colby Sparkman after his election loss to Ed Brimner, who won by three votes.
Sparkman lost his lawsuit at the circuit court level and then on appeal.
At their meeting on Monday, Oct. 2, county commissioners were shocked at the legal bill, which current Supervisor of Elections Joe Morgan said he had no money in his budget to pay.
County Commissioner Chuck Hess objected to the bill, saying attorney Malaney should have been in contact with the county. County Attorney Heather Encinosa noted it certainly was unusual for an attorney to submit a bill for three years work on a case. Commissioners voted 3-1 to pay the bill with Commissioners Quincee Messersmith, Mike Kemp and Fred Nichols voting to pay; Hess voted no; Commission Chair Ralph Thomas was absent.
The center of the controversy were 12 ballots whose signatures did not match the signatures on file. Sparkman requested the name of the electors on those ballots and contacted at least one to notify them they could cure their ballots. Then-Supervisor of Elections Buddy Wells ordered Sparkman to stop contacting voters, and Wells later acknowledged in his court deposition that he over-reacted and shouldn’t have stopped Sparkman.
Sparkman’s lawsuit sought to give a new opportunity for the ballots to be cured and counted. But when then-Wakulla Circuit Judge Ron Flury found in his March 2022 ruling that “There is no evidence to suggest that there was an ulterior nefarious motive that actually drove the canvassing board’s decision. There is no reason to overturn the will of the people as expressed in the election results presented.”
The 2020 election night had more drama when Sparkman was initially declared the election winner before Wells realized that a number of precincts had not been counted in the race. After those votes were tallied, Brimner was declared the victor by four votes.
After a recount by the canvassing board a few days later, the margin was narrowed to three votes for Brimner.