Shepperson A. Wilbun Jr., known as “Shep” personally and professionally, is taking aim at another Juvenile Court clerk’s race – this time in 2010.
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Shep Wilbun
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The county primary is scheduled for May 4 and the county general will be held Aug. 5.
“The Juvenile Court clerk’s race is one that I’m 99.99 percent I’ll make once I complete all the preparations to make a run,” said Wilbun, who resigned last week from the Shelby County Election Commission.
Steve Stamson, the current clerk, plans to retire at the end of his second term. He beat Wilbun for the job in 2002 and 2006.
Appointed to fill the clerk’s position in late 2000, Wilbun wants to recapture the seat he lost to Stamson following a high-profile indictment for “official misconduct” while he served as clerk.
The charges against Wilbun eventually were dropped.
“The reason he announced his intention to run is because he knows I’m retiring,” said Stamson. “I hope he does a better job than he did last time.”
Wilbun said Stamson’s retirement won’t be the deciding factor in his decision to seek to recapture the clerk’s position.
And if he does go after the job, Wilbun said his next clerk’s race would be geared toward bringing people together – a strategy, he pointed out, that carried A C Wharton Jr. to victory in the special election for city mayor earlier this month.
Wilbun said each time he sought the clerk’s position he was intent upon making Juvenile Court “user-friendly and efficient as possible” for families and children.
“I never ran against Stamson per se,” he said. “The first time I ran for a full term, he ended up beating me. The second time I ran, we lost by a mere 320-something votes.”
Regardless of who succeeds him, Stamson says the job requires tending to the needs of families and children.
“It’s a low-profile job,” he said. “It’s a full-time job. You deal with personnel and all kinds of issues.”
Stamson said, “I went in there (after Wilbun) and cleaned up a mess and performed the duties of the clerk.”
Wilbun said he wouldn’t respond to Stamson’s criticism and instead plans to run a positive campaign.
