Ken Boyd, an Albemarle County Supervisor and now Republican primary candidate for the Fifth Congressional District race, has just announced that he won’t seek to become chair of the county board.
Boyd explains that since former Chairman David Slutkzy was ousted by Republican Rodney Thomas in the November election, county residents had asked him to consider becoming chair for the remainder of the term.
“This would also allow the Vice Chair to fulfill the customary two year term in that position, as all previous Vice Chairs have done in recent times,” said Boyd.
Residents, he said, were “eager for change in the way County government will be run and wanted someone who would champion their concerns.”
Yet, since the Republican Party has opted for a primary to pick the nominee to run against Congressman Tom Perriello later this year, Boyd said the time he will spend touring the district would have diminished the time he’d have to chair the board.
In the statement, Boyd said that the controversy that arose from weekend news that Vice Chair Ann Mallek might be denied her turn “has become an unnecessary distraction that is not in the best interest for County government and delays the hard work of getting Albemarle County open for business. It is for this and other reasons I have already mentioned that I am withdrawing my name for consideration for the job of chairman.”
Reached for comment, Mallek says, “I have talked to Mr. Boyd a month ago about this and actually raised the issue that at that time that I was concerned the citizens might feel that they were being kind of secondary to his run and he needed to be careful about what their perception was, that citizens really want their board to be devoted to their best interests.”
“I am glad to know that this is resolved from his perspective and we will certainly have our discussion," she says. "I have had other who said they would vote to have me be the chair, so, perhaps this will be smoother now.”