Suit against registrar in Scott dismissed

A lawsuit that accused the outgoing voter registrar of Scott County, Willie Mae Kilgore, of using her office to retaliate against a political foe has been dismissed.

Kilgore, whose long and sometimes controversial career as registrar will end when she retires Dec. 15, had been scheduled to appear in circuit court this week for a trial in the civil case.

Mary Lane, the wife of the Democratic candidate for sheriff in 2003, had claimed that Kilgore removed her from the voter rolls by falsely claiming she was a felon.

Frank Kilgore, who represented the registrar, said she was relying on information from the sheriff and state records that turned out to be incorrect. The Kilgores are not related.

Attorneys declined to discuss in detail how the case was resolved in late September. But Henry Keuling-Stout, another attorney who represented Kilgore, pointed out that a final order states that the lawsuit was dismissed at the request of Lane.

Lane's attorney, Jerry Gray, declined to comment on the reasons for the lawsuit's dismissal.

Lane's lawsuit had raised questions about whether Willie Mae Kilgore -- whose husband was the chairman of the county Republican Party and whose twin sons, former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and state Del. Terry G. Kilgore, have been active in GOP politics -- ran her office in a nonpartisan way.

In October 2003, Lane went to the registrar's office while working for her husband's campaign and asked for a list of absentee voters. She wanted the list, the suit claimed, because she suspected that Willie Mae Kilgore, Gate City Mayor Charles Dougherty "and others working with them in the Republican Party of Scott County were suspected of violating election laws."

Dougherty later was convicted of election fraud during trials that raised questions about the registrar's office, although Willie Mae Kilgore never faced formal accusations in that case.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.