Frank White strikes out in court challenge over who controls COMBAT anti-drug agency

Frank White has lost his court battle with the Jackson County Legislature over control of the county’s anti-drug and anti-violence agency known as COMBAT.

As county executive, White maintained that oversight for the agency and its $20 million-plus budget was his responsibility. But Circuit Court Judge George E. Wolf ruled late Friday that the legislature was within its power last December to give that authority instead to the county prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker.

White initially resisted ceding control of COMBAT and was sued by the legislature. He argued that the legislature’s action was, according to court documents, “an impermissible exercise of legislative power.” The judge disagreed.

Since 1989, when voters first approved the countywide sales tax that funds efforts to fight and prevent drug-related and violent crimes, oversight has shifted more than once.

Initially, responsibility for administering COMBAT (short for Community Based Anti-Drug Tax) fell to the prosecutor’s office and a fiscal commission. Then in 1996, a separate COMBAT commission was created to run the agency that dispenses COMBAT grants to law enforcement and social services agencies.

The legislature gave the county executive the authority to appoint the commissioners. In 2008, then County Executive Mike Sanders was allowed to hire the COMBAT director.

White lost that authority under the ordinance passed late last year. The vote came in the midst of an ongoing feud between White and a majority of the nine-member legislature over a number of issues. White was criticized last year for how he went about finding a replacement for former COMBAT director Stacey Daniels-Young.

Baker felt she had been shut out of the interview process and complained publicly. The legislature denied White his pick and the case went to court.

Now thanks to Wolf’s ruling, Baker’s authority over COMBAT is no longer in dispute. She said Saturday that she will soon begin looking for someone to head the agency. White said he would have no comment until his lawyers reviewed the ruling.

This story was originally published September 1, 2018 at 12:16 PM.