Ed Packard is currently running to be Alabama’s next Secretary of State and has worked for over 20 years in the SOS office. He is running on his record of voter integrity and security. However, documents uncovered recently show that Packard was demoted by Secretary of State John Merrill in 2017 because of a costly mistake with ballot reprints. Packard cost taxpayers almost $500,000 in 3,000,000 ballot reprints.
In a recently released document called “Ed Packard’s Demotion”, the state personnel office upholds his demotion and notes that Packard had four written reprimands in his personnel file. One was for failing to perform his job properly when he failed to prepare the ballots for mailing. Another was for “disrupting the work environment”. Packard also received a reprimand for missing a statuary deadline to certify a local election and for failing to make the “required number of site visits in accordance with a settlement agreement.”
Here is the document. We removed the cover pages that were provided.
In 2017, Chief of Staff David Brewer recommended Packard be demoted because of his “failure to manage his staff” and for his poor judgment concerning incorrect ballots that were sent for certification and for printing incorrect ballots. One was for “failing to perform his job properly when he did not prepare the ballots for mailing.”
The email that was released to the press emphasizes the seriousness of these reprimands but also stated that these are merely the tip of the iceberg.
According to the second document, titled “Ed Packard’s Dismissal,” Packard used his announcement of Secretary of State to help cover up credible allegations of sexual harassment that were going to scheduled for the same day. In December 2021, Packard was scheduled for a pre-dismissal hearing for allegations of sharing pornography on a cell phone, along with other allegations. Packard has stated publicly that he resigned from the SOS office on December 28th, 2021 at 5 pm in order to pursue running for Secretary of State. However, he was actually scheduled for a pre-dismissal hearing due to credible allegations of sexual harassment inside the Secretary of State’s office at 1 pm that same day.
Secretary of State John Merrill, as well as other staff members, appear to confirm the allegations are real.
The email with these documents were sent to Party Chairman John Wahl. Additionally, the email alluded to the “Montgomery Swamp” and how more people currently in and running for office have secrets that are yet to be exposed.
