Loomis brings experience to county clerk election

A resident of Eau Claire for 25 years and the Eau Claire County deputy clerk for the past seven years, Democrat Janet Loomis knows just about everything there is to know about the County Clerk's office.

That is why she is running for the County Clerk position in the Nov. 7 election.

Her opponent will be Republican candidate Denise Gilchrist, who is running for the position for the third time. She tried unsuccessfully in 1982 and 1998.

In her time as deputy clerk, Loomis has tacked everything from County Board meeting minutes and records to tax deeds and marriage licenses.

"I'm very knowledgeable about what goes on in the office," Loomis said. "There's not a job in there that I don't know how to do."

Loomis said that if she wins the election, the office will remain abreast with the latest software and technology. She added that she put marriage licenses on computer during her time in the clerk's office and is now working on changing it to a different PC-based program.

Also, in the next year or two the clerk's office will take on the task of redrawing assembly and congressional district lines due to the latest census.

Loomis says she makes a better candidate for County Clerk because of her experience in the office.

"I know the office," she said. "I know what kind of work we do."

Loomis also cited her good working relationships with municipal clerks and other department heads as another reason she is more qualified to be the next County Clerk.

Loomis said she doesn't know the reasons for why Gilchrist is running for this position again.

"She's never even worked at the county," Loomis said. "She couldn't possibly know what goes on in the office."

Gilchrist has a long background in financing and real estate and has worked at several Eau Claire banks. She resigned from her most recent banking job at Mutual Savings in July in order to pursue campaigning for the county clerk position.

"I think you need someone who understands the requirements," Gilchrist said, "(someone) that has the leadership ability to manage situations that come up, and I think I have that."

Gilchrist has accused Loomis of making "checks and balances" errors as deputy clerk, pointing out a situation that occurred earlier this year in which a grant application that was mailed to the county clerk's office was mishandled and the county lost $27,000.

"It never happened before," Loomis said, "and just because of the fact that I'm there, I suppose it will reflect on me. I had nothing to do with it."

Loomis said that the deputy clerk does not have authorization to go through the County Clerk's mail and that she is not to blame for what happened.

According to Loomis, the County Clerk election should be a close one and she is expecting a large turnout at the polls because of the presidential election being in the same year.