Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn. Photo courtesy of Thomas Laehn
The Greene County Board of Supervisors recently approved a 28E agreement for the County Attorney’s Office.
The agreement that was approved by the Board on March 16th allowed the Sac and Calhoun County Attorney Ben Smith to run for Greene County Attorney in the upcoming November election. Current Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn is not seeking re-election after serving two four-year terms, but is running as a Libertarian candidate for US Senate.
Laehn points out that he has been trying to develop a transition plan for his office with his top option being the full-time Assistant County Attorney Laura Snider would run for county attorney. However, he says Snider declined because she is not a Greene County resident and because of personal reasons, she is not able to move to the county, which then left his plans in a lurch.
“No one else has expressed any desire to run for county attorney. It is not a coveted office. A person who works the number of hours a county attorney works could make three times the salary in the private sector, and there’s a shortage of attorneys in rural Iowa to begin with. So, it’s very hard to entice someone away from a lucrative private sector job to run for county attorney.”
Laehn states that he had nothing to do with setting up the 28E agreement, but he believes this is the next best option for his office to see a smooth transition. He explains that having another county attorney run for the same office in another county is allowable under Iowa law and he has known Smith for the last eight years.
“He is also a great prosecutor (and) he’s a great county attorney. He and I have been aligned in our efforts to ensure local control of the administration of justice. He and I have gone to battle together against encroachments from Des Moines, from the state. He and I share very similar philosophies regarding the aggressive prosecution of crime. I have great confidence in him.”
Laehn adds that Snider will also continue to serve as the Assistant Greene County Attorney and the other full-time assistant, Kate Willms, will be leaving at the end of this month, but not due to the 28E agreement. He will be looking for a part-time attorney to help fill in any gaps, while he continues to serve as the county attorney until the end of this calendar year.
Additionally, Smith was able to get at least the 50 required signatures to be on the June Primary ballot by the established deadline, as he is running unopposed as a Republican candidate, and there is no Democrat candidate in that same race. Click the link below to view the 28E agreement.