Griffin Seeking County Judge Seat
March 24th, 2022 by Joe Burgess
Retired Army veteran and Drew County Native, Jessie Griffin, has announced his candidacy for Drew County Judge.
Griffin, who recently served as the Drew County Office of Emergency Management Director graduated from Drew Central High School before joining the Army at 17 years old, where he spent close to 27 years, before retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. After returning home from serving his country he has worked in a variety of jobs in the public sector before accepting the job at the Office of Emergency Management.
Griffin has several reasons for running for County Judge which include improving the roads, the landfill and the sanitation department, as well as a desire to improve morale of employees, provide equitable pay and incentives for skilled training. When elected Griffin also plans on working to improve cooperation and communication with City and County employees and officials, to provide more transparency for how tax dollars are spent by having local agencies who receive County funding attend monthly Quorum Court meeting to provide updates and to find more grants to improve Drew County for the citizens
Griffin plans to implement his goals with a comprehensive four-year plan for improvements to roads and the landfill and has already developed a plan to address uncollected sanitation payments. Griffin’s commitment to transparency has been proven by the monthly reports he created and presented to the Quorum Court during his tenure as the director of the Drew County OEM.
According to Griffin, his desire to serve his community is still alive and well, despite his years of public service in the military.
“I still have the desire (to serve my community),” he said when asked why he chose to run. “I know I can do a good job. I am tired of a lot of the us and them with the City and the County. I want that cooperation to come together. There are some things we can’t do, but there are a lot of things we can do. (Linda and I) prayed long and hard about this.”
Griffin believes strong leadership will go a long way to improving conditions in the County and believes he has the skill set to lead with his experience as a Command Master Sergeant in the Army giving him a proven track record in leadership.
“I have a problem with leadership, I think leadership is the function of making everything work,” he stated. “You can’t force anyone to follow you, but you can ask them to join the journey.”
Griffin is married to Linda, a retired schoolteacher who now works in Adult Education with the Arkansas Workforce Center. Together they have two children, Brandon Lloyd and wife Brandy, of Monticello, and Heather Leser and husband Eric, of Raleigh, N.C. and five grandchildren.
Choose another article
Newer article: $100,000. Bond Set for Dumas Shooting Suspect- Full Case History
Older article: Jury Duty Schedule for Next Week
