Lawsuit claims Perry can’t be elected Corbin mayor

A second candidate for Corbin mayor is now facing a legal challenge to his campaign that, if successful, could make a scheduled May primary election for the position unnecessary.
Melvina Stephenson, a resident of 16th Street in Corbin, filed a civil complain in Whitley Circuit Court last Tuesday questioning the qualifications of Dr. Truman Perry, a specialized family medicine physician who is one of three men seeking the office.
The complaint, filed by Corbin attorney C. Wayne Shepherd, who is representing Stephenson, alleges that Perry does not meet legal requirements to seek the office of mayor because he does not live within the city limits.
On official candidate filing forms, Perry lists his residential address as 121 Bishop Street in Corbin. Stephenson says in the complaint he actually resides at 426 McNeil Corn Creek Road in the Rockholds community.
Kentucky law requires that a candidate for mayor reside in the city where he seeks office, and must have been a resident in the city for at least one year prior to his election.
The lawsuit asks that Perry’s name be removed from the primary election ballot.
Perry called allegations in the lawsuit “inaccurate” and defends information provided on candidate forms as truthful. He said he lives in an apartment at 121 Bishop Street and has resided there since 2004. The address, referred to as Doctor’s Park, contains the business and medical offices for Dr. Michael Watts and Perry, among others, as well as a pharmacy. He added that he owns a doublewide trailer on a farm in Rockholds, but only stays there occasionally and when his children visit.
“I have an attorney and we plan on fighting this,” Perry said. “This will not in any way, form or fashion make me drop out of the mayor’s race. In fact, it makes me more determined to stay in this race.”
Perry said he’s never met Stephenson and claims her lawsuit is likely backed and funded by others.
“It seems funny to me that two out of the three candidates for mayor are being sued,” he said. “It’s an aggravation because nobody is focusing on the issues. The candidate who’s behind this, as far as I’m concerned, doesn’t have any issues. He wants to sue everybody so he doesn’t have to worry about it … so he doesn’t have any competition.”
Perry said he expected the lawsuit and was threatened with legal action by another attorney earlier in the year.
Corbin attorney David O. Smith, who is representing Perry in the case, filed an answer to the lawsuit denying the allegations, and also filed a counterclaim accusing Stephenson of legal action only as a “malicious” and “vindictive” attempt to hurt Perry’s reputation because of “a dispute with physicians that practiced medicine” at Doctor’s Park. Smith is asking the lawsuit be dismissed and that Stephenson pay at least $4,000 in punitive damages.
A hearing on the issue is schedule for May 1 at 9:00 a.m. in Whitley Circuit Court.
In early April, a similar lawsuit was filed against Corbin Mayor candidate Randy Smith. That complaint claims Smith, a supervisor for Corbin’s three area McDonald’s restaurants, actually lives in southern Laurel County. No court date has been set to hear the case.
Retired Postmaster Willard McBurney is the only Corbin mayoral candidate not to have his legal qualifications for office challenged. He said despite suggestions to the contrary, he has not encouraged lawsuits against his opponents.
“I would be defensive too if I were guilty,” McBurney said. “I don’t know anything about these lawsuits. It would probably have looked better for the whole race if there were never any controversy at all. It’s kind of tainted it with all these accusations and everything. I’m just running my campaign and not worrying about things like that.”
Last week, Whitley County resident Paul Cummins filed a lawsuit against Fourth District Magistrate Candidate T.O. Elliott asking Elliott be removed from the ballot for lying on campaign forms about where he lives. David Smith, who is representing Cummins in that case, claims Elliott really lives about a mile and a half outside the Fourth District.
In a motion filed last Wednesday, Cummins asks Whitley Circuit Judge Jerry Winchester to transfer the case to another judge because “he is a clear friend to Doyle Elliott, nephew of T.O. Elliott, Jr. and to the Elliott family in general.”
A hearing on the issue is scheduled today in front of a special judge. Winchester is currently recovering from heart surgery.