ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Phyllis K. Hanks, a Pulaski County voting registrar facing embezzlement charges, was fired Monday and her cousin, A.J. Smith Jr., resigned as secretary of the county Electoral Board.
Both departures were effective immediately.
The three-member board was meeting to consider whether Hanks should continue as registrar. On Sept. 24, the board declined to ask for her resignation after meeting in closed session, although its chairwoman, Margaret Farris, said afterward that she disagreed with that decision.
Hanks was charged Sept. 19 with depositing three Bell Atlantic refund checks to her office, totaling $1,721, into her personal account. She had continued working as registrar since then.
When the board convened Monday, Smith announced his resignation and left for a business meeting.
In a letter given to Farris, Smith said he took pride in the training and early results of those who tallied election returns in Pulaski County during his years on the board. However, he said he could no longer continue because he thought that his truthfulness had been questioned in news coverage of board considerations in the matter, and that he needed to devote more attention to his businesses.
``He's been a very good board member, and I do regret that he saw fit to resign. But we all do what we have to do,'' said Farris, who has been on the board about four months.
An article in a Pulaski newspaper said the board got together over the weekend but that Smith had denied there was any sort of meeting.
``I'm a little upset about the situation. I've been a friend of A.J.'s for a long time,'' said Don Sheffey, the third member of the board.
Smith and Sheffey are both Republicans. Farris, like Hanks, is a Democrat.
The board had gone into closed session before Smith declared his resignation. The remaining two members later voted to accept his resignation.
``We didn't have the opportunity to discuss it with him,'' Sheffey said, because Smith left the meeting after stating that he was resigning. ``So, we are without either a registrar or a secretary.''
The two members met in closed session with Hanks, who had talked about staying on through the Nov. 5 elections. But Farris said they thought it was in the best interests of both Hanks and the board that she be fired.
In its statement after its closed meeting Sept. 24, when Hanks' resignation was not requested, the board noted that it would be expensive to place Hanks on leave pending the outcome of her case because the county would have to borrow, and pay, trained personnel from some larger office to take over the functions of the registrar.
There also would be travel, lodging and meal costs associated with a temporary registrar from outside the county, the statement noted. The board said Hanks' working knowledge of the office was needed with the election being so close, and further complicated by the new federal ``motor voter'' program, which placed registration forms at many governmental offices and swamped registrars' offices with applications.
Farris said at the time that she disagreed with that decision, and thought Hanks should go on administrative leave or step down until her case was decided. Smith said he had heard positive public comments on Hanks' behalf.
On Monday, Farris said she knew the situation would make this election a difficult time for the board. ``But things will just have to work out,'' she said. ``I just made the statement [in the meeting] that doing what is right is not always easy, and it is not inexpensive.''
Because Monday was a state holiday, the two remaining board members were not able to contact anyone at the state Board of Elections for assistance or advice.
The board will meet at 1 p.m. today with County Attorney Tom McCarthy to discuss what its next steps should be. Even though there are only two members left, Farris said, ``We can call a meeting, and it's legal for us to do so.''
A Board of Elections official said last month that decisions such as the hiring and firing of registrars are local matters, and the state does not normally get involved with them.
Hanks became registrar April 1, 1991, after serving as assistant registrar for six years.
She surrendered to the Sheriff's Office last month after learning of the warrants being issued for her. An investigation had taken several weeks after the treasurer's office reported the three Bell Atlantic checks were not deposited with the county.
Hanks has made good the amount cited in the warrants. She faces a hearing on the embezzlement charges in Pulaski County General District Court.
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